PixlBit

For BaD this year, I decided to write about Mario spin-off games. Mario is gaming's biggest character, so of course he's been in everything! Now let me be clear: to qualify as a spin-off game, it must be a Mario-specific game, not just one in which Mario appears (otherwise there would be a lot more). All of these are Mario games, but they dabble in other genres (basically, anything except platformers). This list is not exhaustive, as I'm only doing 21; some are very famous while others are obscure (perhaps you've never even heard of some of them). So let's get started with the first one. 

Platform: Famicom Disk System

Released: 1986

Developer: Nintendo/Royal Industries

Genre: Sweater maker

I am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater was released exclusively in Japan in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. Created in conjunction with Japanese company Royal Industries, users could design their own Super Mario Bros.-themed sweaters. The design would then be sent to Royal Industries, where they would make the sweater for a fee. The user doesn't get much freedom in what to do. They would simply pick out the design (15 patterns in all) and tweak it if they need to. They can inspect their sweater before finalizing it and sending the design to be made. This sounds ridiculous today because we can easily buy a Mario sweater at the store, but back in '86, how cool this must have been! This game also makes history as being the first Mario spin-off game ever! 

Check out the video below to see what this "game" would look like. Be warned! It's pretty boring.