Why Core Gamers are disappointed with Nintendo

[Shanobi]

"...The fear of ‘Expanded Audience’ declining Nintendo’s Core games is silly. Nintendo’s Core games were easily in decline before they even began to target an Expanded Audience. One of the reasons why Gamecube didn’t do so well was because of the decline in Nintendo’s core titles. Windwaker and Super Mario Sunshine did not cause any mass phenomenon. One can argue that even the N64 games were a decline. Mario 64 and Ocarina didn’t strike the same note as the 16 bit versions. The phenomon of the N64 titles rested mostly on the 3d sensations at the time. Ocarina did sell very well. However, it sold very well to younger people. Nintendo’s N64 games are beloved by those who played them young. Many older folks did not find the titles as appealing due to the switch to 3d. The fanbase ended up fractioning..."

Now that I've had a chance to look, whoever is making the assertion that Nintendo's franchise games aren't selling like they used to is smoking some serious crack.

Zelda:
NES 6.51m, 4.38m (Zelda II)
SNES 4.61
N64 7.60m (Ocarina) 3.36m (Majoras)
Gamecube 4.55m (Wind Waker)
Wii 5.10m (Twilight Princess) And still counting.


Metroid
NES 2.73m
SNES 1.42m
Gamecube 2.83m (mp1), 1.29m (mp2)
Wii 1.49m, so far.

Mario
NES 40.24m, 7.46m (2), 17.28m (3)
SNES 20.61m
N64 11.89m
Gamecube 6.28m
Wii 7.92m, so far.

Mariokart

SNES 8.76m
N64 9.87m
Gamecube 6.96m
Wii 14.01m, so far.