Being born and raised during the NES era, I would have to say yes, I would still be a Nintendo fan if there had been no Mario. See, prior to the N64, when people thought of Nintendo, they didn't just think of Nintendo-owned IP's. They thought of Castlevania, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior as it was called back in the day), Ninja Gaiden, and many more third party franchises that would eventually gain popularity on other consoles. The Nintendo brand was known for having game systems that had a large volume of both the most popular games and the best quality games. This was true for both the first and third party games. Also, gamers back then didn't think games in terms of first and third party. Much like how Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, and Resident Evil would define the PlayStation brand, any great game that was also popular could define the Nintendo brand.
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