really

not like Mario Kart sold 30m on Wii alone

Unless that's some hardcore irony, you need to use google translate more often.

has onyone seen the Mario cloth collection!?

it is great

3DS only.needed Mario because Nintendo fucked up the launch. Nintendo should have known better then to charge 250$. They also should have known better then to rely on unproven franchises you have a one hit wonder (Nintendo gs) chosen to he the flag ship launch title. Supported by Pilot Wings a weak Nintendo IP that hasn't been used in over a generation. With a new IP which lets he honest was on the quality level of an iOS game.

Nintendo needed serious saving because they botched the launch. Super Mario 3D Land was needed last winter but MK7 was not it was over kill to reassure investors.

Had Zelda launched during the second month, had Star Fox been fully developed and available alongside Zelda with online multi player. Had Kid Icarus launched in the holiday season alongside Animal Crossing (A title listed as a 2011 title around E3). That plus Steel Diver, Nintendogs and Pilot Wings would have been more then enough to have made 3DS a success. Keeping in mind Nintendo had launched 3DS at 169.99$-199.99$ in the first place.

I agreed Mario was needed to rescue 3DS and it should not have been needed if Nintendo had planned properly. Also no I am not giving LoZ or SF too most change credit for 3DS. Neither title was new they were both ports their sales and effect on hardware are amazing considering not only were they ports but they were released on a console that was struggling for its very survival.

For N64 re-releases those two titles did fairly well.

Bolded: Mario Kart 7 was not an over kill, it was a must to reach the year-end estimations.

Underlined: That's a lot of wishful thinking at once. Firstly, Star Fox probably didn't have online because Nintendo feld that they needed to get it out as quickly as possible to help sales during autumn, so it really helped more than the potential sales that could have been gained by implementing online multiplayer. And releasing every big game close to launch means few good games throughout the year. If Nintendo launched the 3DS at 169.99$-199.99$ investors would immediatly call them crazy for launching at a near or actual loss, despite the incredible success of the DS

Italics: At least we agree on that part.

As for my idea of a Star Fox and DK launch title line up for WiiU in absence of Mario. Star Fox 64 sold more then four million units while Star Fox Adventure sold nearly two million and to my knowledge Assault sold alright as well on GCN a platform that was hurting bad. DK has consistently sold up to 8 million copies making it easily a flag ship launch title and if Pikmin3 launches within the first two three months we have nothing to worry about especially with the increased third party support. The fact is Sega also talked of the new generation of Sonic coming very soon his exclusive presence on WiiU at launch alongside what all the other third parties have planned. WiiU is a sure thing assuming Nintendo doesn't price it higher then 400$ with 300-350$ being the ideal pricing.

Also I heard all the supporting titles to LoZ when it launched Wii. What supporting titles exactly? Excite Truck? Or maybe Red Steel or one of the dozen ports? WiiSports was huge but seriously you cannot credit it with Wii's success during the first six months. Those consumers were buying it for Zelda and the line up and the technology and the cheap price.

PS 3DS has the AR cards which is its WiiSports and that wasn't enough to save it. Mario is apowerful weapon that should he used wisely and not just to launch new hardware. Also Rol is extremely biased when it comes to his opinions on Mario in his opinion Super Mario 3D Land was a mistake he said multiple times that Nintendo essentially fucked up and 2D New Super Mario 3D should have been launched. Rol doesn't see 3D Mario as even the same franchise so any argument he makes is sort of weird if he credits Super Mario 3D Land with saving 3DS at the same time having said it was a mistake sorta ruins the legitimacy. Rol is a major 2D Mario fan and I find often suggests games be released because he personally wants them rather then their strategic value in business.

Again Nintendo couldn't possibly sell 10+ million units holidays 2012. In fact Nintendo will have a shortage on their hands assuming they launch at a good price and with strong third party support. Mario can and should be released strategically and not at launch.

Now you say well at launch it will boost hardware sales. So let me ask if Nintendo launches Mario launch day what do they do in Sept 2013 when PS4 launches? Mario is Nintendo's biggest gun he is the best title to challenge new hardware. Even if next box launches this winter Nintendo will still have enough fire power with Pikmin, Star Fox and Donkey Kong plus maybe Miyamotos new game alongside third party titles to succeed in having a great winter.

The1 just to clarify as I said Nintendo botched the 3DS launch. They had expected it to sell and for third parties to fully support it. They did not have games ready for the launch window (first six months). Star Fox should have been ready and fully complete for the first few months as should have Zelda. Nintendo rushed SF online multi player was in the works.

Nintendo screwed up. Also yes investors might have been a little upset at launching at 199.99$ it would have been just breaking even to my knowledge. But guess what investors are not all that bright often. Investors often are concerned about the short term profits rather then long term.

Lets ask would investors have been more upset with a successful selling 3DS that broke even and turned a profit through software or a shambles 3DS selling at a profit but not making anything on software and very few hardware units selling. I bet share holders would have preferred a 199.99$ break even launch price over a price cut months into launch selling the console at a loss. I myself didn't predict 3DS would bomb but did say it couldn't match DS numbers at that price point.

Nintendo just needs to plan WiiU launch better then they did 3DS. If remakes of Zelda and Star Fox could sell as well as they did on 3DS I have no lack in confidence that SF and DK could easily sell out Nintendo's stock at launch.

You'd probably find my dream line up and launch plans for WiiU interesting I think you had posted on them. If Nintendo complimented DK and SF with Pokemon in Japan they would have so much fire power that they couldn't possibly keep the system on shelves.

Bolded: Which proves my point, Star Fox is not as strong as they used to be (and even then, they didn't move much hardware at all).

Italics: If you seriously though people bought the Wii for Zelda and the Wii's price then you're wrong. People wanted the motion controls and Wii Sports/Wii Play made the Wii something more than a simple gaming console. The cheap price was compensated with the horrible graphics.

Underlined:  AR cards aren't even near as mass appealing as Wii Sports. That was truly a ridiculous comparison. And whether Rol is biased or not doesn't matter (in fact, his entire opinion doesn't), what matters is that 2D Mario's sell a shitton of copies and push hardware more than almost any other IP. 3D Mario isn't even close.

Bolded underlines: In September they could easily release any big gun other than Mario. Mario sells throughout the entire year and especially christmas no matter when it release. And what the fuck does PS4 have to do with the handheld market? 

Oh my God.. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA XD LOL

This isn't what the article is saying. It's saying Nintendo should stop making so many Mario games in favour of pursuing DLC and small downloadable games themselves.

Third parties are unrelated to this.