Best Mario characters

Rosalina wins 53% of its duels and tops the Mario ranking ahead of Yoshi.

The 22 ELO points separating Yoshi from Luigi mark the sharpest gap in the top 5, more than twice the distance between Rosalina and Yoshi at ranks 1 and 2. While Rosalina holds the top spot with 1327 points, Yoshi commands a higher win rate at 62%, suggesting fierce competition at the summit. Luigi sits third with 1287 ELO and a 61% win rate across 464 duels, proving the green plumber has devoted fans. Toad and Bowser Jr round out the top 5, both hovering around 53% success rates and surpassing 490 duels each. At the bottom, the ranking reflects the community's indifference toward generic enemies: Green Koopa Troopa trails at 1074 ELO, with Goomba barely ahead at 1089 points despite facing 408 duels. Even Red Koopa Troopa, ranked 15th, sits well below the midpoint at 1127 points. The gap between beloved characters and forgettable foes could not be starker.

The 4252 duels collected from 78 players across 17 contenders paint a clear picture of which recurring characters resonate most with fans of the series. This ranking was last updated on 11 October 2026. Cast your own vote and see how your preferences compare to the community's, or challenge the current hierarchy by voting for an underdog from the lower ranks.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →