I heard a similar one, except only the first one was a real adventure. The second one was a dream of Mario's and the 3rd was a play based on the first.I think that's actually canon. The final cutscene of 2 shows that it's all Mario's dream and to my recollection, Miyamoto confirmed at some point that 3 is indeed a play.
I heard a similar one, except only the first one was a real adventure. The second one was a dream of Mario's and the 3rd was a play based on the first.