Mario games are 12 for 12 this gen -- All million-sellers

[LordTheNightKnight]

Famine said:

Kasz216 said:

Why waste money developing new characters who are just likely going to be generic looking anyway?

Aside from that people assosiate Mario games as games that have had a lot of extra time and care put into them because there have been so few poor Mario games. Mario Party 8... and... Yoshis Island and... that's all I can think of right now.

As for Dance Dance revolution... that was the gimmic wasn't it? It had mario songs in it or something? That just seemed more relevent in that generation, for example the Soul Caliber game with a mascot from each company in it. Some third party developers seemed to focus on making slight differences in games to see if they would sell more copies to see if someone buys the PSP version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance just so they could play Hawkeye or something.

As long as the games arn't bad it's not going to hurt the bankability of your characters. So you can't really "overuse" said characters unless the games are bad or too similar.

Actually, there are quite a few "not up to snuff" games with Mario in it: A few of the Mario Party games, Mario Pinball Land, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Yoshi's Touch and Go.

The majority of games are good, but you still can't claim that Nintendo is not banking on Mario; it ensures Nintendo of making a quick buck, which is nothing wrong, but you can't deny that there is an abundance of Mario.

Also regarding your post about sports games, you aren't going to see Terrell Owens in a baseball, soccer, tennis, or basketball game. With sports games, the rosters now can get updated, and different players are available with each new incarnation. With the Mario sports games, the roster doesn't change; you are still stuck with Nintendo characters (Mario and Sonic proving otherwise with the introduction of Sega characters).

We know Nintendo is banking on Mario for some games. The point is IT PAYS OFF. You think other developers haven't tried to make their own cash cows?