S.T.A.G.E. said:
I never stated Nintendo gained major support because of it. I said in the 80's and 90's which is when the franchise was amazingly huge and the shows gained great ratings on saturday morning cartoons. Of course I never saw the mario or zelda show myself but I remember Sonic, Street Fighter and short lived Mortal Kombat saturday morning cartoons in the 90's. It helped endear children to the product and when they hear a themesong or catch phrase it becomes party of the English language so to speak. I can't speak for the rest of the world, only America. Anyway, Super Mario games were mostly bundled with Nintendo so people gained their first look at Mario by chance just as any non-gamer can recollect duck hunt if they are old enough. Mario stuck with people because Nintendo kept it fresh in the mind of gamers and casuals alike. |
This is a chicken and egg argument with less mystery; we know the games spawned the cartoons, not viceversa. In terms of marketting the cartoons would be cashing in on the games, not acting as advertising; the games were already popular enough to spawn cartoons.
Mario stuck with people because it was a good platforming game for a long time, same with Sonic etc. The cartoons were merely icing on a cake made of money.
