In addition to his own series, Little Mac has made multiple cameo appearances in and out of video games; video games include Captain Rainbow, Fight Night Round 2 and the Super Smash Bros. series, while he appeared in a variety of comic books, including those created by Valiant Comics.

Little Mac has received positive reception since his debut and has been regarded as one of the best protagonists in video games by multiple publications.

[16] He appeared in the Wii video game Captain Rainbow, which featured a variety of obscure Nintendo characters, as an "overweight has-been".

[18] Little Mac joined the playable roster in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, where he is a fighter who is fast and strong on the ground, but is substantially weaker in the air.

[citation needed] In 2009, he was portrayed by former professional boxer Paulie Malignaggi in an American commercial for Punch-Out!!

In an interview, Malignaggi commented that he was asked to play a "young Italian-American guy, good looking with a cocky attitude and a heavy New York accent".

series, Little Mac has received generally positive reception, and is regarded as a major Nintendo character.

[21][22] GameSpot featured him in a user poll as part of the "all time greatest video game hero" contest.

[23] Nintendo Power listed Little Mac as their 11th favorite hero, stating that he taught gamers that more intimidating foes can be overcome by patience, persistence, and "pattern recognition".

Both his updated design and Doc Louis' absence were listed by NintendoWorldReport's Neal Ronaghan as weak points of Super Punch-Out!!

franchise, and referred to Little Mac as the "Great White Hope" relative to the stereotypical character designs of his opponents.

[29][30][31][32] The series' subsequent installments, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, transitioned Mac into a full-fledged playable character.

Ultimate has been met with harsh criticism as he is one of the easiest characters to defeat once off stage, but maintains one of the best ground games in the entire series, leaving fans polarized about his playstyle.

Prior to his inclusion in the Super Smash Bros. series, Gamasutra's Kyle Orland commented that Little Mac's absence from it was "mind-boggling".

The qualities listed included his popularity, fighting ability, and "retro cred"; Orland felt that it did not make sense to feature characters such as the Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch instead of Mac.

[28] IGN's Lucas M. Thomas and Matt Casamassina expressed disappointment that Little Mac was not playable in Brawl, and suggested that perhaps series creator Masahiro Sakurai could not think of a good moveset for him.

[36] Nintendo also released a pair of Little Mac-signed green boxing gloves on Amazon.com, which were contained in a wood frame and casing.