Super Mario is a media franchise and a platform game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and published by Nintendo.
The series started in 1985 with the game Super Mario Bros., which was introduced for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game already featured the basic concepts and elements used in almost every Super Mario version developed ever since. However, it was only in 1996 that a more or less consistent Super Mario logo appeared.
The cover of the first release included a stylized depiction of a fragment of the game. The name of the game was set in an unpretentious sans serif type. The lettering “Mario Bros.” was large, while the word “Super” above featured small letters. The designers who worked on the project opted for the red color, which was eye-catching enough and provided decent legibility despite the black background.
On the whole, the script was so simple you could hardly call it a real logo.
We should mention, though, that the 2006 version of the game (New Super Mario Bros.) already showcased more refined writing. The glyphs were rather plump, with rounded elements and rectangular corners. Most importantly, some of the letters were inspired by the elements seen in the game.
In contrast to its flat predecessor, the wordmark featured black shades, which added dimension.
This is the first real Super Mario logo, which was widely used for the franchise. It was inspired by the title logos of both Super Mario World and Super Mario 64. The style was introduced with the release of Super Mario 64 and was last seen in Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010).
Here, the name of the game was set in casual, playful letters in various bright colors. Neither of the letters had a “regular” shape – each of them had at least one tiny unusual nuance. The “M,” for instance, had part of its leg “cut out,” while the “O” looked like a hexagon.
The combination of colors included red, blue, yellow, and green. The glyphs had a black border and rather light, semi-transparent shades.
The letters grew slightly plumper and straighter. For instance, the “M” recovered its “cut out” part. And yet, the overall playful and uneven style remained unchanged.
Another important modification was the darker shades. They were now solid black and filled almost all the space between the letters.
Also, in the updated version, more letters partly overlapped than in the previous one. It looked as if the place grew scarce, so the designers had to push the glyphs towards each other a bit.
The palette remained unchanged, although the way the colors were divided between the letters slightly altered. For instance, the previous Super Mario logo included the red “S” and the blue “M,” while in the new version, the “S” was blue and the “M” was red.
The updated design was unveiled with the Super Mario 3D Land.