Conflicing opinions make for there to be actual discussion.  It is when the conflicting opinions end up becoming reduced to a flamewar where the only thing going on is insulting other people, and dragging them down, that a thread pushes to be locked.  I don't think it got there yet.

All right, I guess we haven't reached it yet.  

BLECH!  Bring back stomping on turtles.  I want something I can replay.  I want to PLAY A GAME.  If I wanted a story, I would go watch some movies.

Because there isn't a good reason to let him do all those sports games except for making sure that some obvious flaws are covered by using the number one Nintendo mascot.

Everything else is fine.

Simply because Mario is mainstream and is an easy target. Almost like a reverse Chuck Norris. It just became to be what it is.

It's actually Nintendo as a whole. Their stance to not engage in petty fanboy wars or silly PR's as well as the general misunderstanding Nintendo's business model in how they handle their IP's, & as a whole. I agree with Reggie, gamers, media, and analysts alike really expect that much more of Nintendo. In a way, it forces Nintendo to have to think outside the typical gaming box.

I say, "Loved specially by FEW, Severely Misunderstood by MANY, but damn well respected by ALL"

So far, nope.  It seems relatively healthy.  I did not expect it to go this long, but apparently Mario is such an icon, and issues with Mario games run pretty deep.  I am a defender of gameplay, and don't believe in the whole "mature" thing, because I see "mature" as a label thrown on things to pander to more immature desires.  And if one wanted to talk about "mature" as seein GTA4, it was BORING.  Sorry, I just didn't get into some story about a jerk relative who lies about his standing in America, dupes you to come over, and then drags you into contacting the worst people, all along, you are doing errand jobs and advancing a story of some sort.  Yes, it gets more mature, the way doing taxes is more mature.  But, fun?  BLECH!

Anyhow, I am feeling that the Mario hate being seen is making me feel a video mixing Mario Kart with the song Ridin' Dirty would be appropriate...

They see Mario rolling, they hating, wanting to catch Mario "ridin' dirty" so they can say he is now "mature".

Ahhh, MarioKart, one of the best things to come to gaming.

Just sayin'.

Don't hate on him at all... I just hate the fact that for the better part of the 90s and '00s we had to wait an average of 5 years for a proper Mario game (while getting dozens of spinoffs in the process), and now we're getting flooded with copy and paste Mario titles PLUS the neverending barrage of spinoffs.

If it's not one extreme with Nintendo, it's the other.

Does it matter that Mario features in a variety of games and genres? Im a massive Mario fan but i pick and choose which of the Mario games i want to play. For instance the obvious is the 3D Mario games like galaxy and sunshine, then Mario Kart and tennis. But i would steer clear of something like Mario baseball as that sport holds no appeal to me whatsoever. Mario is great, but i wouldnt purchase every game Mario features in just because his name is on the cover. But then there are people who would rather play the 2D games over the 3D ones, my point is, every angle is covered so there is something for everyone.

we all love mario, and well he is in different games from fighting games to racing games. the problem is not the milking. the problem is that there are so many styles in Mario games and each style has a fan base. for example i like Mario i think are games worth playing. the "New super mario bros franchise" is not my style is not a game i would buy, but give me paper mario or mario sunshine 2 and believe me i will buy 10 copies lol. the point is that nintendo has to please everyone and the have many ideas for different mario games. is not like call of duty that has to be a fps, when the tease a new COD we all know what it is about. with mario we dont, we live on the expectation and can be bad or good.