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The Mushroom Kingdom (キノコ王国, Kinoko Ōkoku?) is the setting in the Super Mario series where most of the games take place. It is a monarchy and its heir is Princess Peach. The chancellor of the kingdom is its head of government in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars; however, he has not appeared since. Its capital, first appearing in Paper Mario, is Toad Town. Surrounding Toad Town are several territories, such as Dry Dry Desert. Though Princess Peach and the Mario brothers are human, most citizens of this area are the mushroom-like Toads. While the majority of games in the series take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, there are some exceptions:
Super Mario Bros. 2 introduced "Subcon", a mysterious world from Mario's dream. It was taken over by the frog king, Wart.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is set in the "Mushroom World", a collection of eight kingdoms. Seven of these are "Mushroom Kingdoms", and are ruled by independent Mushroom Kings. The eighth world is referred to as "Dark Land", and is ruled by Bowser, King of the Koopas. The instruction manual for the game states Bowser had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Mushroom Kingdom is a gateway to the Mushroom World. This is never elaborated upon in Super Mario Bros. 3, but Super Mario Galaxy reveals that the Mushroom World is a planet.
Super Mario Land takes place in "Sarasaland", a region set outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. It is ruled by Princess Daisy. The species in Sarasaland are range from tiki monsters to aliens to gigantic sphinxes, as well as enemies similar to enemies from other games in the series.
Super Mario World introduced "Dinosaur Land", a separate continent where Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool go for a vacation after the events of Super Mario Bros. 3. Its areas are food-themed, such as "Donut Plains" and "Cookie Mountain". Yoshi's Island, the setting of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, is located within Dinosaur Land.
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins introduced "Mario Land", a region which belongs to Mario.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is set on Kitchen Island, another realm with food-themed locations. Its location relative to other areas is not divulged, but in the game, Mario is able to reach the island by helicopter.
Super Mario 64 introduced "Peach's Castle", which serves as a hub world. The worlds in the game are reached by jumping into paintings, which are portals to imaginary worlds created by Bowser. As such, the game is largely not set in the Mushroom Kingdom. However, Peach's Castle itself is located in the Mushroom Kingdom and specifically Toad Town as seen since Paper Mario. This was also shown to be the case in more recent games like Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Super Mario Sunshine introduced "Isle Delfino", a tropical island taking place somewhere outside the Mushroom Kingdom. It contains several harbors, beaches, hotels, parks, and villages. Its main village, Delfino Plaza, serves as the central hub world in Super Mario Sunshine, in which different areas of the island can be accessed through portals created by spray paint in different parts of the plaza. Instead of Toads or humans, most of the residents on Isle Delfino are tropical creatures called Nokis and Piantas. While Isle Delfino has only appeared in one game in the Super Mario series, it has been commonly used in Mario spin-off games, including the Mario Kart series.
Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are instead set in outer space.
Read more about this topic: Super Mario (series)