How does Nintendo manage to do it so often

[theRepublic]

kjj4t9rdad said:

theRepublic said:

kjj4t9rdad said:

RolStoppable said:
"The vast majority of people don't look at Mario Galaxy as a 3D platformer and NSMB as a 2D platformer, they look at them as Mario games."



You need to replace "people" with "Nintendo detractors". People actually see 2D and 3D Mario platformers as entirely different games, that's why there's such a massive difference in sales. This will be proved again when SMG2 falls far short of 10m while at the same time NSMB Wii goes on to easily pass 20m.

If people really viewed 2D and 3D Mario platformers simply as "Mario games", then pretty much everyone who liked NSMB Wii should also buy SMG2. Not gonna happen, especially because there are oldschool 2D Mario fans who call 3D Mario "not a (real) Mario game".

No I don't.  If I was talking about the people on this site you would be correct, but I'm talking about gamers as a whole.  And yes most people don't know the difference between 2d, 3d platformers, 1st person or 3rd shooters, nor do they care.  They play games that they find fun.  It has nothing to do with being a Nintendo detrator (as you put it).  Just because people view them as mario games doesn't mean they are going to buy every Mario game.  It's ridiculous to make that assumtion.

There could be a million reasons why NSMB outperforms MG, 4 player co-op,  retro appeal from the nes and snes owners or simply its just a better games than MG.  But it doesn't change the fact that they are both Mario games.

I'm not disputing that there are "oldschool and hardcore" people who know the difference and even consider 3d mario not "real" but they are in the minority, by a lot.

Consumers are not deaf, dumb, and blind sheep.

It is very easy to tell the difference between 2D Mario, 3D Mario, one of the Mario sports games, Mario Party, or a Mario RPG.  That is why they sell so very differently.  Even uninformed consumers see the box art and the title of the game.

Then there is this thing known as word of mouth.  While the word of mouth on Galaxy was great, that game just doesn't appeal to as wide an audience.  It seems too complicated.  When someone sees NSMB Wii, it is instantly recognizable how the game is played.  That opens it up to a much wider audience, which also helps to spread the fantastic word of mouth that game got.

I never said consumers were dumb, blind or deaf.  I said they don't know and don't care about what genre a game is.  To put it another way, the people you speak of in your last paragraph, if you asked them if NSMB was a 2d platformer or a retro mario game, what do you think the answer would be? 

Again, just because Mario is in the title doesn't mean everything is going to sell the same, I never said it would. 

Even an idiot can look at MG and NSMB and see they are different, but that doesn't mean that they know that one is a 2d platformer and one is a 3d platformer.  People like us who debate pointless crap about games are by far in the minority.  Most people just simply don't know and don't care, they just want to play games as a way to relax and have fun.

A consumer would have to be blind to not be able to tell the difference between 2D Mario, 3D Mario, and all the other Mario games.  Just because they don't know what gamers call those games does not matter at all.  They know what appeals to them, that is what they buy, and that is why the games sell vastly different amounts.

It doesn't matter that Mario is in each game, it is very clear that consumers can still tell the difference.