LordTheNightKnight,
The fact that it's profitable doesn't mean it's pure awesome from every angle. First of all, if it turns some people off to Mario, that makes it less profitable.
But people looking at it from a gameplay/artistic perspective may have some legitimate gripes. Reusing the "power-up" based gameplay, with identical power-ups, across various genres, and trying to imitate a level of randomness and party atmosphere across all these genres could certainly be seen negatively from a gameplay standpoint. Without being boxed in by Mario, maybe these developers could do something more artistically relevant, even if it sold worse.
Of course it is the very fact that these elements are imitated across all the Kart/sports/Party titles that they all can keep selling so well. People know what they're getting with the brand.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
