New Super Mario Bros. 2 is not what I want

[Lord Ciansworth]

You see I think in order to understand Nintendo's direction with this game we have to understand the genesis of the New Super Mario Bros. series.

When it was originally spawned on the DS in 2006 it was the first 2D side-scrolling Mario game since 1992's Super Mario Land 2. It's clear from the game's art direction that Nintendo considered the it to be something of an exercise in nostalgia. The game used simple shapes and colours, much like its NES and SNES predecessors, simply rendered with a decent resolution. The game was a tribute as much as it was a game in its own right. As we now know the game went on to be colossal success, and this is where Nintendo's problem starts.

How can you justify radically changing any game feature in a series whose previous two entries have sold in excess of 25 million units globally? Who would sign off on that? You'd have to be downright crazy. This is the same problem that COD has. The designers look at the game, its style, its content, its gameplay and know that any radical change to these elements risks destroying the delicate balance that constitutes a "hit" in the video game industry.

Nintendo, rightly so from a business perspective, doesn't shake things up too much with their two biggest selling franchises, New Super Mario Bros., and Mario Kart. After all, who would want to be the game designer that messed up one of Nintendo's most bankable streams of income?