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Opinion: Mario has run his course. How can Nintendo revive its fallen mascot?

There's been an air of fatigue around the Mario brand lately, and it has come into focus with the portly plumber's latest outing, New Super Mario Bros. 2 (NSMB2).

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pocketgamer.co.uk
Freakazoid20124273d ago

Editor: "Whats a hot topic we can do to generate some hits?"

Journalist: "I know let's take one of the best selling franchises of all time and pretend it's dead. We will look super cool to the kids and get hits too."

Mom from upstairs: "Billy stop talking to yourself and come get your Hotpocket."

chanmasta4273d ago

Fantastically and accurately written.

Perjoss4273d ago

Couldnt agree more, no seriously, it only lets you agree once :D

Thepcz4273d ago

muscles

hip hop soundtrack

turn princess peach into sex icon with huge breasts, big ass and tight clothes.

add blood and gore

CouldHaveYelledUiiW4273d ago

@ Thepcz YES! Something hardcore!
Put Some Missiles and Rims on his Mario Kart! Add Bullet time. Get rid of the bright colors and only use shades of brown and gray.

Don't forget the COD game play!

@ Info. Min. you gave me a a great idea- 50 cent should be the new voice of Mario!

AWBrawler4273d ago

what is this a religion?? Why save something thats not in any danger?? lol Mario is doing great.

Ben_Grimm4273d ago

I'll say this, I remember Mario 2 and even 3 dropped for the NES and it was like Jesus on Earth. Every kid was super pumped for it. Even when World was out for SNES.

But I think with the rise of other consoles and way more IP's, Mario doesn't really hold that punch like he used to. Now I'm not saying his games arent good anymore but it's definitely not Jesus on Earth status anymore.

dark-hollow4273d ago

-new super mario bros on the wii sold more than 26 million copies worldwide!
-super mario galaxy 1&2 sold 16 million.
-super mario 3D land on 3ds sold 5.8 million copies.

i think the series is still strong as ever.

Ben_Grimm4273d ago

So did other IP's on other systems. Which sold more or gained more publicity.

Like I said before:
"Now I'm not saying his games arent good anymore but it's definitely not Jesus on Earth status anymore."

Whta i am saying is the hype for his games isnt as big as it used to be.

4273d ago
dark-hollow4273d ago (Edited 4273d ago )

what other IPs sold as much as mario on a single platform? yeah non!

and no franchise have more publicity than mario.
hell even non gamers who didnt even saw a game in their lives know or heard about mario. you cant gauge that from "XhardcoreX gamers forum!!1!" to see whats popular and whats not!

when it comes to publicity, popularity and sales, no franchise comes close. it is after all the most successful, and the most popular game franchise of all time.

that and i didnt even count the spin offs like mario kart and such which those by themselves sell more than 90% of todays franchises.

hkgamer4273d ago

Just looked at the mario sales figures. What the hell was SML2. Can't believe I didn't know that existed.

@Ben_Grimm

The great thing about Mario games is that they will always sell even after years of being released.
Once the older games consoles get out dated, they jsut re-release onto another console/virtual console and it will keep on selling.
Oh yeah, 2D mario games tend to sell more.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4273d ago
mike1up4273d ago (Edited 4273d ago )

"Now I'm not saying his games arent good anymore but it's definitely not Jesus on Earth status anymore."

So... in order to be successful, a video game must have "Jesus on Earth status"? Lmao, and I thought that I was picky. Well, at least we know who's playing the part of Judas in this comedic drama.

FYI:
Putting Super Mario 2 in the same paragraph with Super Mario 3 and World is a sin (pretty clever, right?) shame on you. Next time, try either Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy 1&2.

Ben_Grimm4273d ago (Edited 4273d ago )

Looks at comments above. wow so angry.

deep breaths people, deep breaths, lets all count to 10.

In no way is my comment saying that the sales for Mario are/were BAD. In no way in my comment did I say that mario doesn't sell.

But for those who gamed back in the NES days do you remember when Mario 2 or 3 dropped, it was the biggest thing since slice bread, with advertisements and promotions all over the place. We don't get that from him anymore. I'm speaking from a pure nostalgia reference from when I was a kid... Sort of like how i said this in MY FIRST COMMENT.

Again, i'm going to say this before some other hurt feelings fan comes in to bash.

In no way does this mean that Mario games are bad or DOES NOT SELL.

By the way this is my OPINION, just like the title of this article, OPINION. As for what sold more on what, i'll let the true fanboys waste their time to look that up.

Hope everyone is calm now.

mike1up4273d ago (Edited 4273d ago )

@ Ben_Grimm

That's funny because I don't recall ever bringing up sales either. I was just attacking your biblical reference. You said it yourself. Mario is good, but not uh... "Jesus status" good, and somehow that's a big problem. It's almost as if Mario has to part the Red Sea to get a little respect (oops, there I go again lol).

Anyway, how can you possibly criticize modern Mario titles, and later praise Super Mario 2? You do realize that it's not even a real Mario game, right? Nintendo believed that Lost Levels was too difficult for American gamers, so, we received a modified version of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. "Jesus on Earth status", I dont think so buddy.

Summons754273d ago

Honestly I don't think so. Every Mario up until Galaxy 2 has been a different experience. NSMB was a bit disappointing to me because it didn't feel like they really tried with it. I think at this point there waiting to the WiiU to have a good sales foundation before putting out a new Mario game

Show all comments (38)
80°

Game Developers Have Begun Confirming Nintendo Switch 2 Support

Game developers have already started to confirm that they will support the Nintendo Switch 2 with their future titles.

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twistedvoxel.com
80°

How Many More Victims, Like Garry's Mod, Will Nintendo's Hurtful Crusade Create?

Hanzala from eXputer: "As Nintendo takes out 20 years' worth of stuff from Garry's Mod, I watch in shock, thinking why it continues to hurt and discourage its fans."

RiseNShine9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

The irony that some of the most disgusting business practices come from companies like Disney or Nintendo, i can't even begin to understand what terrible damage was Garrys Mod making to Nintendo bottom line, imho they're getting pretty nervous about where they're heading in the future, handhelds are no longer something exclusive to Nintendo, from Steam Deck to many others, now you can play the latest games and pay a fraction of the price on Steam sales, so it's up to their exclusives, which just on their own would make hard to justify purchasing a closed overpriced hardware with outrageous price policies (Super Mario Odyssey is still 60 euro 6 years later!), and as a home console they're always underperforming compared to Sony or Xbox.

gold_drake9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

i cam guarantee you, that their exclusives alone is what drives switch sales. they sell in the 10s of millions of copies.

nintendo created their franchises to be sort of nostalgia driven, exclusive only on nintendo.

people will always buy the pkmn games as they always bring in new younger fans amd is family friendly

mario kart, the same thing, mario games in general.

zelda games are system sellers. animal crossing for the casual gamers.

nintendo doesnt need third vame devs essentially. they made sure with the switch and the limitations that they looked more to pc ps and xbox.

its sad, but nintendo is more than fine with what they're doing. they positioned themselves to appeal to the more casual gamers.

but to your point, im not sure why they're doing this rly.

Inverno9d ago

Look at how they handled Nintendo games being streamed or uploaded on YouTube in the past. They killed Yuzu and Citra even when they had nothing to do with ToTK being leaked, not to mention it was basically unplayable on emulation the week it was leaked. Smash Bros tournament, that was fairly recent. They shut down their online services without any care for purchases made. I bought a switch after skipping their last 2 consoles and handhelds but I don't plan on buying anything Nintendo in the future. They take things to the extremes, they legitimately hate their fans. They're honestly right up there with the likes of Acti, EA, and Ubi, only difference is that they disguise themselves as being family friendly all the while being shady.

80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."