How does Nintendo manage to do it so often

[Scoobes]

kjj4t9rdad said:

TruckOSaurus said:

kjj4t9rdad said:

Scoobes said:

But the game mechanics mean the difference between a series becomming stale and a series continuing strong. More so than the character, especially one so simple and with the universal appeal of Mario. The character of Mario is simply for brand recognition. If the game mechanics stayed the same in all Mario games then Mario would have died out long ago. If the character had changed but the game mechanics stayed the same those games would still die out.If you had diverse game mechanics without Mario, the games would sell, but not as much as they do now.

By having Mario on a diverse array of products you keep the games fresh for consumers whilst giving all games with his name immediate brand recognition. Most other franchises haven't been able to do this.

This is called milking a franchise.  Ninty does this with much more success than anybody else.  They put mario in every genre they can to use the brand recognition to sell other games.  I find it funny that companies like Activion get bashed for putting out a million Guitar hero games but Ninty is praised for doing the same thing.

It's not the same thing at all, that's what you don't get

Every single Guitar Hero game has the same core gameplay nothing changes beyond the track list which is why people are getting tired of Guitar Hero games, they know it's the same old thing again and again.

Your comparison would make sense if every Mario game played exactly the same with just some new stages every time Nintendo released one.

It is the same thing.  Guitar hero has 3 different game mechanics with Guitar hero, world tour and DJ hero.  It is just not done to the extent of Mario.  They are using an established name to sell something different. The difference is Activision is milking one genre with GH,  while Ninty is milking every genre they can with Mario.

There are a shit ton of Mario Kart games, there are a shit ton of 2d mario games and every other genre ninty has put Mario in.  Like I said before, Ninty does this with much more success than anybody else.  I didn't say it was a bad thing.

It really isn't. How many Guitar Hero games have come out this gen? and with very little to differentiate between one game to the next. The very core mechanics remains the same in all cases with only subtle changes. There's been at least 1 "X Hero" type game every year released by Activision.

Now, how many Mario Kart games have released this gen?

How many 2D Mario games have been released this gen?

How many 3D Mario games have been released this gen?

How many Smash Bros. titles have been released?

If you actually look at how many games of a specific mechanic are released, it's actually not that much on a generation to generation basis. This makes a huge amount of difference. As I said the mechanics of these games are most important. You can argue that they've released huge number of 2D Mario platforming games (I count 7 on main consoles- not including Mario RPG or Donkey Kong), but that's in the space of 20 years.

You can argue that the Mario character is "whored" out, but the fact remains that without Mario, the vast majority of the games would still sell well (although not as much as with Mario) and be successful just because they have good quality gameplay and are readily accessible.