Mario Games With The Best Dialogue

Key Takeaways

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder offers comedic dialogue through talking flowers, making it an underrated game for its humor.
• Super Mario 64 DS has extensive dialogue, varying based on the character chosen, adding depth to heroes and villains.
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door surpasses all with massive amounts of witty dialogue per character, making it the best for speech.

The Super Mario games are known for their unique cartoon charm, infamous heroes such as Mario and Luigi, and notorious bosses like Bowser and King Boo. Throughout the series, Mario is pitted against numerous villains in the quest to save the Mushroom Kingdom from all manner of threats.

Luckily for the brave plumber, he usually has a vast range of powerups and abilities at his disposal.

However, while his abilities are numerous, he lacks the speech of many of his game counterparts, confined to classic taglines such as Its A-Me Mario! In this respect, many Mario games have made up for the lack of oration from the big man in red with superb supporting dialogue.

5 Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Quirky, Humorous Dialogue

A potentially contentious pick, Super Mario Bros. Wonder may not come first to mind when players think of excellent dialogue. The most recent 2D Mario platformer on the Switch, Wonder, is quirky in every sense of the word and an outlier in the series for its rather abstract ideas. One of these is the various talking flowers that feature real-life voiceovers.

These flowers sometimes point players in the right direction to discover secrets and often provide odd one-liners bound to make players snigger amongst the game’s mayhem. These flowers are generally funny, with lines such as ‘you must be sweaten’ or ‘can’t I get some shuteye around here’. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a heavily underrated game for its comedic dialogue, making it deserving of being on this list. Nonetheless, it does lack main and supporting character dialogue, placing it last on this list.

4 Super Mario 64 DS

Varied, Character-Driven Speech

One of the first Mario games to feature extensive dialogue from the series’ heroes and villains was Super Mario 64. Mario 64 changed the game for 2D platformers, giving the popular Nintendo franchise a new coat of paint in glorious 3D. Super Mario 64 also had great dialogue with popular villains like Big Bob-omb, ushering a range of great taglines such as “I’m the Big Bob-omb, lord of all blasting matter, king of ka-booms the world over!

The remeaster of Mario 64 – Mario 64 DS took the game’s dialogue up a notch, with varied conversations depending on the player’s character. For example, if the player chooses Yoshi, the dialogue of Big Bob-omb will vary with lines such as “I’m the Big Bob-omb, baron of all blasting matter, king of ka-booms the world over! Incredible! You’ve made it this far, even without a mustache. I commend your courage.

Besides villains, heroes such as Koopa the Quick, Lakitu Bro, and Mario were given new dialogue options in the remaster. Super Mario 64 DS is one of the best Mario games with dialogue due to its varied and often long, funny monologues that add depth to the game’s characters, settings, and story.

3 Super Mario Odyssey

Immersive Sandbox With Numerous Talking NPCs

Super Mario Odyssey saw players take control of Mario as he travelled to various kingdoms in search of elusive power moons aboard an airship called the Odyssey. The game introduces new enemies and a new sidekick for Mario in the form of Cappy, a creature that becomes Mario’s cap, assisting him in capturing enemies. Cappy has extensive dialogue in the game, saying lines like ‘“We’ve collected…let’s see… 999 Power Moons! Wow! That’s amazing!” and other cues to aid the player throughout the game.

Alongside Cappy, Mario speaks more than in most games, with other characters such as Toad, Luigi, and Princess Peach having the most and best dialogue in the series. However, where Super Mario Odyssey shines is its great back and forth between the residents of New Donk City. “Welcome to New Donk City! The Big Banana! No place like it!” is just one line said by New Donkers Daily, which makes the game feel immersive and lived in. Furthermore, the sheer quantity of dialogue throughout the game’s many characters overshadows most games in the series.

2 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Extensive Witty Dialogue

While Super Mario Odyssey has extensive dialogue, it has nothing compared to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Released in 2004 on the GameCube, Thousand-Year Door was the second game in the Paper Mario series. This Paper Mario wins the award for the most dialogue in any Mario game with huge quantities of speech per character. Stand-out lines include “Am I Mario’s baby–sitter?” and “Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I am Bowser, businessman of legend! Fear my accounting!“.

The game has a large list of witty dialogue, placing this Paper Mario title ahead of the rest in the lingo department. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door comes second on this list as having the best dialogue in Mario games due to the quantity of witty and often quality conversation.

1 Mario Teaches Typing 2

Charming, Pun-Filled Mario

The best Mario game for dialogue is Mario Teaches Typing 2. Mario Teaches Typing 2 is the second and last Mario typing game designed for young players to improve their typing skills. Released in 1997 on the PC, Mario Teaches Typing 2 was a remake of the first game, adding improved features.

With its simplistic nature, requiring the typing of words to defeat enemies such as Bowser, the game is purely educational. It has the series’ best dialogue, featuring a floating Mario head that narrates the various typing lessons and even tells puns. Mario also sings the song known as ‘That’s Amore” to amuse players. Consequently, Mario Teaches Typing 2 has the best dialogue in the series, with the main character speaking and doing more with his voice than in any other game; despite lacking in the sheer quantity of dialogue compared to other titles, it more than makes up for in quality.