Using VGChartz data, I decided to look back at the sales of Mario games on Nintendo consoles and handhelds since the 1980's. This includes the main series of platformers, karting and sporting games, RPg's, puzzle games, and Luigi's Mansion. Although I excluded spinoff series like Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario, and a few games lacked VGChartz data (Mario is Missing is missing), I still had 119 skus to work with, and was able to chart out the Mario franchise.

Note that the following line graph shows the combined sales of every Mario game released the prior five years. For example, "1987" shows combined sales of Mario games from 1983 to 1987.

Some Items of Interest

• The earliest years are indicative of the limited extent of Mario games at the time. Although Super Mario Bros sold over 40 million, there were few non-platformers of note. Although not clearly indicated above, this changed with 1990's Dr Mario, which sold over 10 million across platforms.
• The first major peak, that in 1992, is the result of the Mario franchise really hitting its stride from 1988 to 1992. There were five main series entries in this time: Super Mario Bros 2 USA, SMB3, Super Mario World, and the Super Mario Land duo. This was in addition to games like Super Mario Kart and Dr Mario, each of which sold over 10 million copies.
• 1995 is the second lowest point on the chart, but this is unsurprising seeing how it falls perfectly outside the realm of both Super Mario World and Super Mario 64. The only major game since 1992 would have been Super Mario All-Stars.
• The actual low point of 1998 is perhaps more surprising, seeing how the N64 titans of SM64 and MK64 were released during this era. This is partially indicative of how mario was largely overshadowed by distinct spinoffs during this era. Yoshi's Island marked the dinosaur's secession from the series, Wario hijacked Mario's handheld adventures, and Donkey Kong supported the SNES in its latter life rather than Mario.
• Mario's stability and eventual return to glory from 1998 to 2003 was largely due to the diversification of the franchise. Mario Party, Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis became notable series during this time, series like Mario Kart had their first handheld entries, and older platformers were brought to handhelds under the Deluxe and Advance monikers. Note that Super Mario Advance, its SMW-based sucessor, and MK: Super Circuit were each released in 2001 and sold over 5 million copies apiece. Luigi's Mansion was also released in 2001.
• 2005 marked a new period of growth for the Mario franchise, with the highest 5-year-period sales yet. In addition to the previously mentioned GBA games and Luigi's Mansion, the GBA and GameCube had Super Mario Sunshine, MK: Double Dash, a number of Mario Party titles, and various spinoffs. The launch of the DS was particularly important, with games like Super Mario 64 DS and Mario Kart DS selling millions upon millions.
• The Mario franchise hit its high point in 2009, covering everything from the latter GameCube and GBA library into the DS and Wii eras. Over the course of these  five years, four Mario games were released that each sold over 20 million copies (NSMB, NSMBWii, MKDS, and MK Wii). Many other games also sold millions of copies, most notably Super Mario Galaxy, the best-selling Mario Party titles (DS and MP8), and Olympic crossovers with Sonic.
• It can be hard to analyze the past few years of sales accurately, since Mario games on the 3DS and Wii U continue to sell in 2016. Games like Mario Kart 7 and 8 are still selling decently years latter. That said, it still seems like the franchise has declined somewhat in recent years, especially as the high of the DS and Wii has worn off. That said, there have been positive notes. The major 3DS games of 2011, 3D Land and MK7, each sold over 10 million, and even after declining, the NSMB games are still hits. Compared to their predecessors, many Mario spinoffs seem to sell decently, including the RPG's, Luigi's Mansion 2, and Mario Party. Even Wii U Mario games have sold fairly well considering the limited popularity of the console, including the new Super Mario Maker. All in all, mario currently seems to have reverted to its popularity as of ten years ago.

Anyone have any thoughts about Mario's rise, fall, re-rise, and second decline?

Funny. I was gonna make a mario thread :P

Also, Mario is doing quite fine. the huge spike is only due to the Wii+DS being insanely successful. NSMB, NSMB Wii, Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii sold like hotcakes. Add in the spinoffs like mario strikers and that's $$$

This generation is doing quite well. If Nintendo were to put Mario on mobile, the results could be unthinkable...

Super Mario Galaxy 3 or Super Mario Universe could revive it

You can also use this shipment data straight from Nintendo for Mario sales. It's way more accurate:

(units are in millions)

It's insane how good the Wii era was for our favorite plumber.

Great research and great thread! Well done! It's kinda sad to see such a great OP getting so little interest from a site which focuses on numbers and statistics.

Considering the huge successes of Wii and DS it's only natural the series would decline following the less than stellar successors to these platforms, but it's interesting to note that Mario is still more popular now with low selling 3DS and Wii U than it was in the 90's when Nintendo sold more HW. I'm guessing this is a result of a diversification of Mario with all them spinn off games and such.

this are amazing sales!

More spinoffs is part of it but the mid-late 90s didnt have a whole lot of major Mario releases (mainline platformers/Mario Kart).

N64/GBC had Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 & Super Mario Deluxe while 3DS/Wii U has NSMB2, NSMBU, 3D Land, 3D World, MK7, MK8.

If Gameboy Color had a Mario Kart, an original 2D Mario & N64 had a Mario 64 sequel than it would probably be alot more even.

Ay, that's probably true