Umm yes Mario can he a kick starter. But LoZ did a great job with Wii without Mario. 3DS began picking up after the price cut and with the release of Star Fox and Zelda, Mario was only needed because Nintendo had really fucked up with the launch.
Mario is Nintendo's nuke it doesn't need to be used at launch unless the platform completely flops. Titles like Zelda or Star Fox or Donkey Kong. These franchises are more then strong enough for launch.
Rol and others, Mario cannot increase hardware numbers anymore then Star Fox and/or DK LoZ. You can't increase sales when you don't have the hardware to sell. Demand almost always out paces supply if a console is launched with a three to four million selling IP. A 10-20 million dollar seller will do nothing better for Nintendo when they have a four million selling IP. Hardware can't sell more then 7-10 million units in launch holiday season and that would he explosive. As I said no need for Mario till the six month mark or first year. Launching in an off season, Mario is a sure thing.
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
