I think NSMBW was fantastic.

But SMB3 actually had the most different powerups and the most total levels, I'm pretty sure. So a new SMB should have more devastating but rare powerups like the Hammer Bros. Suit.

And new environments. SMB3 really developed the environments we know from Mario today.

A Super Mario Land route could be cool, where they had Egyptian and Easter Island and Orient themed worlds. There's plenty of new areas for Mario to run around in. But also they could play off of ideas like the armada in the last world of SMB3. That has turned into just airships, but the tanks and ships were awesome too.

So yeah, Nintendo should do more to take on SMB3 and SMW directly, instead of mostly rehashing them.

And with 3D Mario, I want Nintendo to take that back to it's roots too. SM64DS still sold 1 million copies last year; it was in Nintendo's financial report. This year it will reach 10 million sold. I actually am semi-interested in SM 3DS because they said it is Galaxy crossed with SM64. I'm hoping it's mostly SM64.

The brilliant levels of SM64 were the more arena-based levels. The lava world, while the most simple and tiny little arena in any of the 3D games, is one of the best levels. You can get the stars in so many different ways, and basically just run around the level with the koopa skateboard and wing cap and fool around. The last 2 worlds, the clock and the rainbow world, are closer to the direction the Galaxy games have taken. I want more of the free-form gameplay of the boo house, desert, lava world and misty cave in SM64.

I'm waiting for MK3DS

@Erik Aston  those are the exact same reasons that i didnt go gaga over the "New" series. IMHO i feel they are overrated and rely on nostalgia. There not in the same league with 3 or World or even Land 2 and it looks like Ninty will continue that "New" route, count me out and call me when they wanna take it back to the Nintys and not just have Lava or ice themed worlds.

As for 3D i like the galaxys better i understand that the levels are small but for 64 i hated going to the same levels getting 5 or 6 different stars no matter how good the levels were i got bored. I would mind a combo of 64 and galaxy even if its more 64.

this basically... price. 

Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about 2D Mario on 3DS. I'm expecting there to be objects and enemies moving between the foreground and background, and the game to basically rely on that as a gimmick instead of taking on SMB3 and SMW head-on. Hopefully it doesn't actually have Mario moving from the foreground to the background like DKC Returns, because that really broke up the gameplay and wasn't fun.

NSMBW played it less safe than NSMB, so it looked like they would just have to keep following that route and take the classic games head-on, but now I'm worried instead Nintendo will play it too safe in terms of content and build each new game around the new hardware feature.

I still absolutely loved NSMBW and will replay it many times in the future in single and multiplayer.

For 3D Mario, I dislike replaying levels moreso in the Galaxy games because usually you replay the same segments. Even in the clock and rainbow worlds in Mario 64, there are places where you can break the proper sequence with long jumps, and you can make the clock slower, faster, stopped or malfunctioning depending when you enter the clockface. And then with most of the other, less linear levels, I don't have any problem replaying them, because I don't actually have to do the same things when I go back in. You can basically just run around and discover stars and keep progressing in SM64. In SM64 I feel like I'm playing, and in the Galaxies it's like I'm just completing the game. And don't get me started on Sunshine.

I don't understand all of the complaints on Iwata's comment about communicating the value of 3D. Okay, maybe people are not as into 3D as Nintendo expected and that feature alone is not going to sell the 3DS. But at this point they have already released the 3DS, there is nothing they can do except for trying to convince people that 3D is a worthy feature, and they can do that through better marketing strategies and releasing more games. I'm not sure what could possibly be controversial about his statement.

The underlined portion is the key. It looks like you do understand the complaints!

I understand those complaints regarding the 3DS itself, but not for Iwata's comments that this thread is about. The 3DS is already out, Nintendo is invested in 3D for the next several years, what do people want him to say now other than the company needs to do a better job of convincing people of the value of 3D?

Alright, I'll put the kidding aside for a second and try to be as clear as I can when I'm goofing off at work (this isn't meant condescendingly, it's just an explanation for why some of my post may seem rushed and incomplete).

The complaints you're hearing are, in essence, a tweaked version of the classic saying "don't throw good money after bad." You said it yourself: the market doesn't seem to value the 3D effect, and certainly not to the degree that Nintendo was expecting it to. Given that, why is the lesson Iwata has learned "we need to educate the public to value 3D more!"? In other words, why are they choosing to double down instead of listen to what the market is saying, and adjust accordingly?

Instead of giving us more of the games that have sold over 20 million copies, i.e. the games that we have told Nintendo with our money that we want to play, Nintendo's decided that it will "create new experiences which have been neither enjoyed nor requested by consumers, and let them say, “This is the very thing I have been wanting to play” once they have actually tried it". It's like Toyota announcing that it's throwing out all its learned about carmaking during its history, and creating tricycles which you propel by singing into a tube and steer by blinking certain patterns into a scanner; you haven't previously enjoyed nor requested this, but I promise that you'll love it once you try it!

Personally, I find it sad that the only DS mega-hit to see a sequel so far, Nintendogs+Cats, is essentially a clone of the original, but that Nintendo hoped and dreamed that slapping the new 3D effect and Spotpass connection would somehow make people overlook the fact that there's not a whole lot that's new in the game. As if Spotpass and 3D alone were enough to make us care! When the eShop launches, we're going to get a free copy of Excitebike, to show us why we should pay a premium for classic games that simply have the 3D effect slapped on to them: what's the over/under on how that's going to end?

You raise some objections to returning to the proven formula in lieu of putting all their eggs into the 3D basket. Yes, it's true the 3DS has already released. Yes, they've already sunk who-knows-how-many millions into developing the 3D. But this doesn't mean they have to follow the sunk cost fallacy. Third-parties did so this generation with HD, and by and large it's screwed them over.

And it's not like this would be the first time Nintendo's overlooked a "key" system feature. We know from the DS and the Wii that Nintendo itself is perfectly fine with ignoring a system's "key feature" when it suits them; Mario Kart DS didn't use touch controls, New Super Mario Bros. DS didn't use touch OR 3D, and Wii games like NSMBWii, DKCR, MKWii, and SSBB either used the Wiimote's features in a perfunctory manner, or possibly not at all.

So. What do we want Iwata to say? We want him to say "Here are the games you've proven to us, over the course of 25+years, that you want to play." We want him to say "We became obsessed with something you don't really value too much, and we're going to correct that. We do NOT want him to say "you don't know what you want, we do, and we shall teach you!"

We want him to say the things he said when the Wii launched. He was a wise man then. He didn't want to try and ram something down our throats.

That´s a great post..it all comes down to Nintendo developers just doing whatever the hell they want to, without taking into account what the majority of the market wants.....if you haven´t already, read Malstrom´s "Email:Miyamoto is a genius" article...it´ll resonate well with what you said here.