Mario Cosmology

Introduction

The Mario series has a vast multiverse the is rarely talked about, mainly due to games (even cosmic ones like Super Mario Galaxy) normally being on a universal scale. Though there have been times that the Mario universe has had multiverse-scale stories.

Mentioned/Shown Universes

The stories typically take place in Mario's own universe. Interestingly, areas like World 6 of Super Mario Galaxy 2 shows a huge black hole in the background of it, and the ending of Super Mario Galaxy has a massive black hole suck everything up. In this game, Rosalina explains the universe is in a cycle of life and death where it will die and be reborn again. Though there are some other universes.

There are some other dimensions such as Shake Dimension in Wario Land: Shake It, which Wario went to after being offered the Bottomless Coin Sack.

Smithy from Super Mario RPG comes from his own world that is accessed by the gateway, Exor.

In Donkey Kong Country Returns, there is a golden banana in which both DK and Diddy enter another dimension. Cranky Kong states: "They say there is a banana out there that not only tastes great, but warps you to an alternate dimension. I say, yes please!".

In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, at the start of the game, a different world from Mario's world is shown.

Super Paper Mario has an object called The Void, stating it would destroy all dimensions. The game's worlds are constantly described as dimensions accessed through dimensional doors. There are a total of 9 worlds (The Underwhere and Overthere being separate), with Flipside and Flopside adding 2 more. However, The Ancients many years ago were stated to create multiple worlds, with it being revealed that Bleck and others lived in a different dimension that it isn't able to be found throughout the game. The exact amount created by The Ancients is unknown. There also exists Flopside, which is a parallel to Flipside. Once arriving there, while talking to Nolrem (Merlon's counterpart), he states that everything has a front and a back when asking about Flopside's existence. This seems to imply all universes Mario would have an opposite world, much like Flipside and Flopside.

Paper Mario: Color Splash has a few universes shown within the game. There's a mini-game that can be accessed with a door that lets one play a game called Paint Hunter. The instructions before the game starts state that Mario has been taken to an alternate dimension. There are a total of 6 different stages in the game. In Vortex Island, there's a pipe that takes Mario to a parallel world. The amount in this game are more than one, since Huey stated that there is another parallel universe, after already being introduced to it. There are 3 pipes in total. One from Vortex Island, Lighthouse Island, and Fortune Island. It should be noted that these worlds were also referred to as a universe.

Infinite Space

In Super Paper Mario, inside the world Outer Space (not space in Mario, but rather different dimension), there is an alien you can speak to. He states that space is endless, along with stating within that infinite space is filled with dreams.

Though one could say that this is a random NPC's text, which is a valid point. Tippi, a major character who acts as Mario's guide, states that the alien in question often drives his thoughts about the endless space. Additionally, Tippi herself refers to Outer Space as "infinite reaches", which could support the alien's statement.

Second Quest are Parallel Worlds

There are a couple of cases of Mario games where second quests are referred to as "Parallel Worlds".

In Super Mario Bros, you can enter another world that's very similar to the original one, with just different enemies. Being treated as a parallel universe.

In Super Mario Bros. 2, beating the game enough times unlocks a special world, which was stated to be a parallel world.

In Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina mentions another world one can travel to, which just happens to be Super Luigi Galaxy.

Dream Worlds + Size

Dream worlds are common area in the Mario series and differ in the fact that they are normally treated as physical and tangible places the Mario cast can enter. While it was harder to understand this in Super Mario Bros 2/BS Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, games like Mario Party 5 & Mario & Luigi: Dream Team both solidified that Dream Worlds are physical areas one can visit.

In Super Mario Bros 2, Subcon, a dream world, has been referred to as a world. In the same manual, the people of Subcon refer to Mario's world as the real world, giving us a comparison that these are two separate worlds. It's also been directly called a universe. For supporting evidence, Subcon also appears to have a day and night system, along with stars in the night sky. It's also stated that there are as many Subcon as there are people dreaming. One can also access Subspace, which is a parallel dream one enters. Meaning even dreams have a parallel.

In Mario Party 5, levels like Future Dream are an entire universe out in space. Misstar, and Eldstar refer to Future Dream as a universe, additionally being called infinite in size.

In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dreambert refers to Mario's world as the real world, while also constantly using the word "world" whenever talking about dream worlds. Giving us another comparison between two words. When fighting the Zeekeeper, he creates a portal that pulls Dreamy Luigi in. When going inside it, Dreambert states that he's actually crossing dimensions during the battle. This fight takes place within a dream world, so he must have been referring to other dreams. It's also shown that many stars and space exist within dream worlds, along with various constellations.

Thus even if there could be some argument that some dreams aren't universe in size as dreams vary depending on the dreamer, a lot of them in the Mario series have shown to be full universes that are interactable.

The Star Spirits state that dreams arrive in the Dream Depot everyday, which means there's a high number of dreams produced.

In games like Dream Team, dream worlds happen when people simply fall asleep.

Many Worlds Interpretation

The Mario multiverse runs on many worlds interpretation (MWI), the theory that each possibility is a timeline. This is shown from the several amounts of time travel within the series.

In Yoshi's Island DS, Bowser travels to the past to defeat past Yoshi and baby Mario. Bowser remains unaffected and suffers nothing from doing this.

In Yoshi's New Island, Bowser (and Mario) travel through time and space essentially repeating what they did last time.

In Mario & Luigi Partners in Time, the Shroob Army attack Mario's past, of which none of the present is affected at all. It's also consistent within sports that the baby characters will travel to the future, even ignoring the time paradoxes.

Finally, in both Luigi's Mansion 3DS and 3, time travel is involved. This is the most important and blatant case. E. Gadd during the events of Dark Moon sent out his prototype of Gooigi in the past. However, Gooigi makes his return in Luigi's Mansion 3, in which E. Gadd even mentions he had help from past Luigi. Yet Luigi knows nothing about Gooigi, despite having an entire adventure in the 3DS remake.

As shown consistently, affecting the past in Mario does not affect the future. Anytime one travels to the past, it's actually a separate timeline.