Skidonti on 27 April 2014
If it came out in 2003 it might have had a chance to push sales for the next two years, depending on if it was actually hyped in 2003. Maybe the conditions were just right in 2004, with a hyped portable console and good timing for a new 2D Mario.
But it would have been too late to turn the tide meaningfully. Especially because NSMB wasn't really that grand. Probably would have underwhelmed the core audience. Gamecube already had a couple years on the market, NSMB might have helped barely pushed a $99 console to like 28 million.
It was much more beneficial on the DS. And I agree that a lot of those sales were the DS selling NSMB, rather than NSMB selling the DS.
