Mario isn't to blame for their troubles... he's the only one keeping them afloat at the moment. It's Nintendo's own fault for refusing to take risks in the software they put out, instead opting to stick with their tried and true franchises.

Again I am talking over saturation. Yes Nintendo can release multiple Mario games but they risk over saturation. How many Mario games do you want? 2 2D and 2 3D or maybe 3 of each and heck make a second Mario Kart and multiple Mario sports games.

Yes I understand Mario was annual in fact it should still be. But not annual on a single platform release a 2D game for hand held next year 3D on home console then 3D on handheld then 2D on home console then a new handheld is ready release a new Mario title and then another new home console.

Space out the releases. Again I am not saying Nintendo abandon Mario. I am saying use him strategically and not out of the gate.

Also Rol too 4-million selling first party IP alongside a couple multimillion third party IP like Sonic or CoD or.others. the. Answer to a successful console is not Mario.

It is software Wii did fine without Mario! Their is no need to have Mario at launch if strong software is present at launch with reasonable hardware prices.

Without Mario, Nintendo would have been dead long ago. But I do think it's time for Nintendo to stop relying completely on Mario and other established franchises for 1st party success...and to start making some new IPs on par with Mario/Zelda.

so this makes sense! to who?

@MDJ. Not me!

Rol 3DS had a terrible line up. The flagship title was Nintendogs a title that was a one hit wonder their was no indication that it would be a success a second time. It is doing alright but it was not a good flagship title. The third party launch titles were also ports and not strong enough IP.

3DS did fairly good considering its horrible line up. Also in the coming months there were no major titles. Their was pretty much nothing big till Zelda.

As for WiiSports being a killer app. lol we have no way of knowing how much WiiSports actually did. It was bundled with the hardware people were happy to get a free game and it showed off the hardware. It sold alright in Japan in the long run but was it bigger then Zelda? That is arguable.

Also we know that WiiU is coming with free software as well. Nintendo has already shown some of the tech demo content of which some is said to be included with the hardware. We do not know how effective the free software will be.

Again no need for Mario and no I am not advocating a weak launch. I am advocating a stronger launch then you are. What would consumers enjoy more a Mario game or Donkey Kong and Star Fox and Sonic. Their is no reason to believe

Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa.

WHOA.

Wii Sports is bigger than Zelda, and far more responsible for the Wii's success than Twilight Princess. This is so evident that, and I am neither joking nor exaggerating, my mind is too overwhelmed with data to organize it into a cogent point. People did not stampede at E3 2006 to play Zelda, they did it to play Wii Sports. The numerous news segments did not cover Zelda, they covered Wii Sports. Jon Stewart did not commandeer the big screen at the Oscars to play Twilight Princess, he did it to play Wii Sports. When Microsoft and Sony launched the Kinect and Move they did not copy Zelda, they copied Wii Sports. When Zelda and Wii Sports released an unbundled sequel, the latter outsold the former by a redonculous margin.

It's the opposite of arguable!

And while your final paragraph got cut off, let me answer that one. The answer is "Mario." We would also accept "The game with that Italian Plumber" and "The latest entry in the most successful videogame franchise of all time."

That the console will be any better receiving a Mario title at launch or 6 months later. Again with a line up of DK and Star Fox and Miyamotos new IP and Retros. Look Nintendo has more then enough strong IP that it doesn't need Mario day one. Star Fox and Donkey Kong are both more successful and stronger IP then Sony's flagship titles. In fact DK is almost as strong as Halo.

How strong do you think Nintendo's launch line up needs to he.. Mario is good enough at the six month mark. Plus you need to remember hardware sales if Nintendo launches with Mario what are the consumers looking forward too at the six month mark? Everyone complains about the droughts.

In fact N64 and DS which both launched with Mario titles were considered bad consoles customers.complained about droughts. Game cube which featured Luigi's Mansion at launch a Mario spin off also fell flat on its face despite the supposed power of Mario. Mario Sunshine failed to save GameCube even with Mario Kart and Paper Mario.

Mario alone cannot save or make a console successful. Nintendo needs a strong line up and Mario only hinders that. Mario is far too powerful to he wasted at launch.

Plus if Nintendo launched a 3D Mario you would still freak because even an 8 million selling title is not good enough for you. You want a 2D Mario even though it will not benefit Nintendo anymore then 3D Mario or even Donkey Kong.

Just so were clear I hope you realize DKCR sold less then a million fewer copies then Galaxy 2 which was critically acclaimed as one of Mario's finest adventures.

As for me not giving credit to WiiSports as a game WiiSports was not the biggest game on Wii. It was however The best way to show off the Wii hardware. Everybody wanting to try out the Wiimote used WiiSports to do so. I am not in any way calling it weak. WiiU will also have a bundled tech demo compilation their is no reason to say that WiiSports was the thing that single handed saved Wii.

A perfect example is the Japanese sales over all weaker then the west. Three million sales over an entire generation is impressive. But it proves as a launch title it was not the only driving force. We do not know how Wii would have performed in NA without WiiSports. It certainly isn't as important as a strong launch line up. A new WiiSports couldn't sell the WiiU without strong support software like LoZ, DK or Star Fox.

Everyone here is assuming that WiiU's bundled software is going to suck.

Again WiiSports was very important but it barely beat WiiSports a title that launched far later. Nintendo needs a lot of software and heck they will have a WiiSports style title at launch and that is not the issue. The fact that Rol is insisting their won't be by saying WiiSports was to credit for Wii's success lol.

WiiSports does not matter because Nintendo will have tech demo amazing software at launch of WiiU. Regardless Mario is not needed it would do far more harm then good.