Well, that had stuck out to me because you reprimanded Rol for, basically, arguing a point that you said you hadn't made.  So I wanted to point out I think he had a right to respond to a claim you clearly made.  (Rol:  "The Mario series is more than just Mario and Luigi.")

You already responded to that:  "You're right in that I was doing more than asking questions; you're wrong in that what I said was that elements of Super Mario Bros. had proliferated throughout the entire rest of the franchise (the two brothers, pipes, turtles, and pow blocks being the biggest)."

Now the first part of that sentence is very clear.  The second part -- I think you might mean MB instead of SMB?  There are no POW blocks in SMB.  (BTW, I'd dispute that they can be said to have "proliferated" that much, though you may be able to back that up, I don't know.)  And you DID actually say that.  It's right there.  "This is actually already the case."  ("that Mario Bros.'s setting and characters and elements were propagated throughout the rest of the series, becoming a feeding ground for all or at least the majority of spinoffs")

But aside from that, I have been kind of getting sucked into trying to define the mainline Mario series, which is apparently an activity you are uninterested in despite the huge amount of discussing it you did while serving your other argument.  So, sorry? 

The main reason to separate SML from SMB is because it is like a sidestory. I cannot say much more than it feels right to separate it from SMB. It's a common relationship that many home console/handheld games share. The home console entries are the real deal while the handheld versions are sidestories. This may be in large part due to the technological limitations of handhelds compared to their home console counterparts in the same generation. Also, if the handheld entry doesn't get a number assigned to it, it only strengthens the impression that it is indeed a sidestory. In SML's case, there's also SML2. This just adds to the impression that it should be seen as a separate series of Mario games. Just like Super Mario World (a.k.a. Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan) suggests that SML is a separate series. (SMW was released after SML.)

On the other hand, NSMB is so close to SMB that it should be counted towards SMB. What speaks against it is basically only the tradition of separating home console and handheld games, even though occasionally a handheld game has been an official sequel. For example, Metroid 2: Return of Samus. But that's the exception to the rule.

Neither NSMB or NSMB Wii have an official number assigned to them, so it's basically impossible to come to a final judgment whether NSMB should be discounted or not. It fulfills all requirements, but it's on a handheld. That's its only "fault".

• SMB - 40m (includes bundles)
• SMB2 - 6m (Western version)
• SMB3 - 18m
• SMW - 20m (includes bundles)
• SM64 - 11m
• SMS - 6m
• SMG - 10m
• NSMB Wii - 22m
• SMG2 - 6m

That's true. SMS was also bundled at one point. The reason why I didn't add a note to any of these games is because their sales from bundles were negligible in the grand scheme of things while SMB and SMW were heavily bundled, so their real sales are harder to determine. It's obvious though that SMB and SMW would have sold a lot of copies regardless, because they were the games a lot of people bought the NES or SNES for in the first place.

Actually, I can expand a little bit more on that. SML feels like a sidestory, because it is one. Aside from Mario and the mechanics, SML has nothing in common with SMB. Maybe there are Goombas, but it's hard to say for sure. The sprites look like they could be, but then again enemies like the Piranha Plants look a lot differently. In terms of lore, SML doesn't take anything from SMB. Also, nothing of SML's lore went back into SMB.

SML2 has at least Goombas and Koopas, but most levels are filled with completely new enemies. The antagonist, Wario, is also new and never made it into a SMB game, even though he became popular on his own. SMB revolves around Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser. Heroes, victim and enemy. This has been the common theme throughout all games of the series.

NSMB should count towards SMB, because other than it being on a handheld, there's no point you can make against it.

And the last game in line on handhelds, Super Mario 3D Land, doesn't count because its gameplay skeleton differs from SMB drastically.

Okay, I see.

Will you finally concede that Super Mario 3D Land is not a REAL Mario game?