Mario Chat / Mario Timeline
« on: January 20, 2013, 04:43:01 PM »I have arranged the games in the most logical sequence of events. Typically they are in chronological order of release date. There may be some flexibility, however, and if so, I have indicated it.
Under each game, I mention the year (and possibly month) of the earliest release date, list what games it references and provide examples, list what games reference said game, and provide other notable information.
There appears to be a "main" timeline, which contains games that are intrinsically connected to other games in the series. However, some games are less interconnected, and may in fact indicate a "branching" timeline. If so, it means a game has ties to a past game(s) in the timeline, but is either never clearly referenced in a future game that its events transpired, or the future game only has ties to the previous game (and possibly the same games it referenced). This does not mean that these games do branch from the main timeline, just that it's a possibility. If a game might "branch," I indicate so in its entry.
This timeline is by no means complete. I tried to include as many pertinent references as possible (that allude to a sequence of events), but I'm sure I missed some. If anyone knows of any I'm missing, I'd love to add them. Also, aside from Sticker Star, I have not played any Mario games released beyond Super Mario Galaxy 2. So I'm missing any information from games after that. There are also several older games I haven't played, including most of the puzzle games, a few games in the Yoshi series, Yoshi's Safari, and Super Princess Peach.
NOTE: I have not included the spin-off games and any of their references unless the spin-off game was explicitly referenced in a "main" game. Currently the only spin-off games included are Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64.
While some spoilers may be unavoidable, I did the best I could to add spoiler tags where I thought might be necessary.
Synopsis of the Timeline Sequence:
Yoshi's Island [1995]
Yoshi's Island DS [2006]
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Past) [2005]
Yoshi's Story [1997]
Mario Bros. [1983]
Super Mario Bros. [1985]
Super Mario Bros. 2 [1986 or 1988]
Super Mario Bros. 3 [1988]
Super Mario World [1990]
Super Mario Kart [8/1992]
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars [3/1996]
Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS [6/1996; 11/2004]
Mario Kart 64 [12/1996]
Paper Mario [2000]
Luigi's Mansion [2001]
Super Mario Sunshine [2002]
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga [2003]
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door [7/2004]
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Present) [2005]
New Super Mario Bros. [2006]
Super Paper Mario [4/2007]
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story [2/2009]
New Super Mario Bros. Wii [2008]
Super Mario Galaxy [11/2007]
Other games:
Super Mario Land [1989]
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins [10/1992]
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 [1994]
Donkey Kong's history is so convoluted, what with his identity being inconsistent, that I'm not even going to attempt to include his games—even the Mario games involving him—in the timeline. However, none of these games have real ties in-'verse to the rest of the series, not to mention there's no clear place they occur on the "main" Mario timeline. The Mario games with DK don't even have a clear order, themselves. The Mario vs. Donkey Kong series probably occurs in chronological order, and all occur after the original Donkey Kong game. The Donkey Kong Country series plus Donkey Kong 64 also occur in chronological order and after Donkey Kong. (I'm not gonna provide references.) But beyond that, there are no real references that indicate an order. Unless I'm mistaken. So yeah. If someone else wants to tackle that beast (pun intended), go for it.
I'm pretty unfamiliar with the Wario series, so I didn't include that in the timeline, either. For the most part, the only real ties it has is through the Super Mario Land series, which doesn't fit anywhere in the Mario timeline, either. So if someone else wants to cover the Wario series, go for it.
And now for the main attraction! (Starting in the post below.)