I highly disagree.  When kids (high schoolers and younger) ask for an iphone it is more of them being materialistic and trying to be "cool" by owning what other "cool" kids own. 

It's also very cool to play Angry Birds and Doodle Jump. Note there is also no kiddie stigma associated to these games, propelling them in the wannabe market.

You're either lost, or I've been unclear.

I don't think extremely highly of many N64 and many Gamecube games.

I do think highly of Mario 64 and OOT, as well as Smash Bros. though.

I do "love" you, but I resent your theory and denial on some issues. That's what this is about. It's not about winning, it's about giving you and some other people (is his name Sean Maelstrom?) a bit of a shaking. Your foundations are way too theoretical and have 0 grounds in reality (on certain issues).

And I hate that you're like that because you're so much smarter than that. Of course I appreciate theory, even unconventional theory. But not when it grossly misrepresents reality. That's when I start having an issue.

When history, sales, trends and so many other factors strongly support the other view, how can pure unsubstanciated theory be trusted? Answer: It can't!

So many puzzle games are going the way of the AppStore. That people don't see this point is way beyond me. Is it denial or blindness, I'm unsure honestly.

It is the exact same thing as when people said that the Wii had nothing to do with the current HD twins, I.E. it was a 'completely different market' so they counted it separately like HD consoles AND Wii to the side. Of course when the Wii started selling with <30% market share it was 'allowed' to enter into the current generation game market because it wasn't as much of a threat to peoples ideals.

Or here's something similar. "The Wii doesn't need HD graphics, it's catering to another market". What bull. What glorious bull! If it had simply supported HD graphics, alot of the 3rd party snobbing would have been purely without reason. And Nintendo and friends could have continued to pioneer the casual quality games market on their end, on the same platform. What business fail that decision was.

What they needed was standards support. I.E. They needed to support the DX9.0c/10 pipeline, not some random DX7/8 mutated offspring. They didn't need to run games at 720P, all they needed was to run current generation games, even poorly, at 480P without forcing developers to support a completely different toolset and featureset.

The issue was that they never really believed that the Wii would be the success it was. They were going to price it @ $199 when in the end it sold out for years@ $249 and often sold north of $299. The market wanted to pay for a $299 system from Nintendo but in the end they got a $199 revision on a last generation platform. Third parties never believed in the Wii because Nintendo never looked like they believed enough, and by the time they got on the bandwagon the horse pulling that particular cart had long bolted from the stable. It takes 3 years to make a good new I.P. game, they lost their third party support well before 2006 and by the time they got it back most of these titles which were developed to take advantage of the Wii's success were likely cancelled before completion before the end of 2011. You'll never get exclusivity from developers who don't believe in your system and that is the hand they dealt.

Seth... that is frightingly true...

Now you're talking about a whole other topic, that of Mario. Let's keep it to mobile/social/tablet here as much as possible, since that's what I was referring to when I said that.

2D Mario nostalgia is the reason of the sales discrepancy, and familiarity. As I said, Mario 3D lost the limelight. We have differing POVs on this given the same games data, it's time we respect each others' POV and move on.

3DLand is a different beast though to the Galaxy argument. Very different. I'll still elaborate.

The sci-fi theme was just one of the reasons. I will now go on to explain why I believe 3DLand is not as big a hit as it could be despite having the theme recipe bang on. It's a question of getting everything right.

3DLand, in terms of content:

After owning and playing through most of 3DLand (Star Levels included), I will say it does have lack the quality of a game like Galaxy, and it isn't as fun as either Galaxy  or NSMB. A great game, it doesn't hold up to either in terms of quality. The Mario theme is excellent, music, puzzle and art style wise (which is what I was asking for), but that doesn't cut it if the rest isn't there.

Also, I think right now alot of people may be put off by the 3D effect. Some people it gives them headaches, others don't like using it. Mind you, it's an important feature to play the game better (I can testify).

3DLand, in terms of circumstance:

I'll admit I expected 3DLand to sell much more, but 1st of all the situation is much different from NSMB, which launched during a peak year for the DS, alongside Brain Age and Nintendogs which had already paved the way for the DS. Then, it was also launched alongside the DS Lite in an explosive launch (also thanks to NSMB, it's interfed success).

The current selection of games are not pushing the Million numbers on the 3DS as the Wii/DS had done prior. This has little to do with the game itself, but with the image and other software around it. For instance, the Wii had many heavy-hitters (20M+), and so did the DS. We don't see that kind of landscape on the 3DS, and people aren't as ready to buy for very complex reasons (image, marketing, targetting).

To prove this, look at the trends of what would be Mario Kart DS and NSMB: Mario Kart 7 and SM3DL.

It's quite clear the argument goes way beyond content, into the realm of circumstance.

Ultimately the best way to compare would be to imagine the following:

Let's say it was SM3DL that launched instead of NSMB on the DS, would it have sold as well?  It's very difficult to tell. In terms of content, it would seem like no. But I would beg to differ that it wouldn't be close to 75% total sales in that circumstance, given content.

Thankfully you appreciate the factor for Mario Kart 64. If it could affect that game (the one with the biggest potential), why could it not affect all others. Also, Mario Kart later soared in sales thanks to its much more obvious appeal: multiplayer. Given time I believe 3D Mario will prove itself. It already has proven growth from M64 to Galaxy (I am removing Sunshine from the discussion, it was bad in terms of appeal). Then, when multiplayer will be added to it (for real and not just as an aside), the branch will explode. My prediction, take it as you will. Again, all other factors need to be in place for the same level of success as the others (NSMB/Wii): a strong plat with high consumer purchase rates, the right image and good peer software.

With reason, as you are hopefully starting to see. I'm not new at this market, I have gut too. Fair, I make my share of mistakes when I predict, but long term I think I will be right.

You have yet to explain how those devices are stealing market share from the Wii U, its not even out yet and its a home console. It didnt steal any from Wii or PS3 or 360.  Now the portables i can kinda see, but only cause those devices are much closer in funtion to portable gaming systems.