Would you be a Nintendo fan if Mario had never existed?

[pokoko]

RolStoppable said:

pokoko said:

Hah, yeah, except no one cared about the Mario Bros. arcade game.  It was basically a new IP and new IPs don't sell hardware.  The NES hit at the right time and became incredibly popular, pulling Mario along with it.  Donkey Kong was their star back then.  Everyone I knew wanted a NES first for the robot, then for the light gun, then for all the games it had.  Perhaps Mario helped in the second half of the console's life-cycle but it certainly wasn't the reason the NES initially broke through.  Mario was just Donkey Kong's understudy at that point.

New IPs don't sell hardware? That's a preposterous claim.

Also, the plural of anecdote isn't data.

Oh, well, goodness, you've certainly brought the proof yourself.  The basis of your claim is what, exactly?  I don't even remember Mario being the focus of NES advertising.  Look, I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings but Mario didn't spring straight from Nintendo's loins as popular as he is today.  The NES would have been huge even if Excitebike or Donkey Kong had been the pack-in.  It was the combination of so much fun and interesting stuff that made the NES a success.