At an unknown time, Archie Comics pitched a comic adaptation of Super Mario to Nintendo, written by Ian Flynn with art by Tracy Yardley and Ben Bates. The existence of the pitch was first discovered after concept art was released on the site Comics Art Fan in 2015. Flynn would later post a thread about it on Twitter in 2019, revealing it was planned to begin as a four issue miniseries that would have become ongoing had it been successful. It would have focused on "narrative-driven adaptations of the games with stories bridging the canon", similar to that of Flynn's previous work on Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog and Mega Man comics. However, while the pitch was apparently well-received by Nintendo of America, it was rejected by Nintendo of Japan. Flynn later felt that the pitch was not how he would approach a Mario project in the present day, as it had "too much drama, not enough whimsy".

In 2022, Flynn revealed that Archie Comics' editor at the time Paul Kaminski had hoped to include Mario characters in "Worlds at War", a planned third crossover between the Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comics. The story (which was noted to be similar to the "Secret Wars" storyline by Marvel Comics) would have taken place on a "battle planet" within the multiverse's nexus, and the Mario cast's unfamiliarity with the other heroes would have been used to help explain the crossovers to newer readers. This idea would not come to pass either, as Kaminski left Archie shortly after the second crossover "Worlds Unite" wrapped up, before having a chance to pitch the idea to Nintendo.