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Mario has been blamed for Nintendo's less-than satisfactory turnaround in 2011, after a Japanese newspaper claimed the mascot hampers the company's ability to evolve into the digital age.

The "curse of Mario" has hindered Nintendo's progress into a new market of DLC and smaller indie games, Sankei News reports.

"As the game market evolves, Nintendo seems unable to move beyond creating games that rely on the image of Mario," it reads.

Nintendo is expected to post mammoth losses for the fiscal year passed, with shares dropping below the ¥10,000 (£80) mark for the first time in 7 years.

Most reports point the finger at slow 3DS sales and the handheld's subsequent price cut, but this is the first time we've seen anyone blame Nintendo's crowd-pleasing mascot.

Off the wall claims?

After Super Mario Bros. hit the scene in 1985, the loveable plumber drove Ninty to great heights and, arguably, became the most recognisable videogame character of all time. But great things inevitably come to an end and evidently there are already calls for Mario's head.

Perhaps it's about time the Japanese follow Italian suit and do a Berlusconi on the situation, relieving Mario of his duties and focusing on new franchises, a move the mascot's creator Shigeru Miyamoto has already pledged to do.

Then again, a break from the comfort zone that is the Super Mario franchise, would surely be too big a risk for Ninty to take in the current climate, and no doubt Mario's army of fans would take a spanner to Nintendo HQ if it did.

Yes, he's mostly to blame for all the profit Nintendo made for over 2 decades.

Voted "no" myself. I hope the author is willing to share whatever he's smoking.

I'd imagine Mario is Nintendo's most profitable franchise. Pokemon would probably be second, and then what?

So yeah, this is pretty foolish.

I understand that Nintendo relies on Mario to sell: look at the 3DS sales trend pre-MK7 & MW 3DS compared to post launch, but if they canned Mario Nintendo would be in a whole lot of trouble.

No. I blame myself for never buying a Nintendo product.

Mario's profit that he brings in with merchandise, game sales, and gold coins are easily offset by the cost it takes to bring him back to life after he dies (entire body transplants aren't cheap) and the insane amounts of money he spends on his mushroom addiction. He is to blame.

the only problem i see is nintendo leaning on their past successes instead of making totally new games.
make something unique, and not flail your arms for controls unique. when Mario came to the n64 each game was differnt from the rest of the market..
mario 64 was an amazing 3d platformer that took a long time to beat
mario party was amazing
mario tennis was a lot of fun for those who never played it is the only tennis game i can bare to play.

as the gameing industry progresses nintendo has been left in the dust.
super mario sunshine was good but not as great as 64. galaxy compared to 64 is garbage.. heck i beat galaxy 2 THE DAY I BOUGHT IT. and it wasn't even a 24/7 ordeal it was more like 8 hours.
mario party on the gamecube and wii have been pretty bad... the original is still the best, now they just add weird gimmicks to it, havent played the latest one ( is it 9?) but i heard everyone moves at the same time to the same place (fail) so no.
nintendo does this with all their games.
i mean, skyward sword, would have been amazing on the game cube or n64. but completely overshadowed by skyrim which looks better and has dozens of hours of more content, its also truely open world.

what should nintendo do?
make a new IP, Or use existing characters for entirely new games
pokemon/legend of zelda with skyrim sized and open world? winner.
the original mario party, make another 2 dozen maps and another 100 games with internet play, release it for $30??? such a bargain everyone would buy = winner.
pokemon but real time combat if I thunderbolt an incoming hydropump ( while dodging left or right) the current should go back through the water.
give us pokemon combat equal to the TV show.

Obviously no.... That's their ace card, what would they do without their ace card.

For DLC, honestly, I just wish Nintendo didn't implement it at all. I know some company implement it in a good way, but as far as I see it, many company just abuse it.

I call SULLBHIT!

Super Mario Bros. is gaming's original killer app. Too bad Nintendo isn't interested in making it anymore.