I think the point the op is making is that even though there is a good tie ratio of Mario to the Wii U, the Wii U itself could have sold better with a more compelling launch game.

Yep, someone milked Mario's, ehm, plumbings to death. Because actually that wasn't milk. Oh, well, at least he died happy!

I don't game on handhelds, so the last time I played a 2D Mario was in 2009. My body was more than ready. 3 years is plenty of time between releases in a series. And those critical of NSMB2 are a bit confused. It's already sold over 5 million and is the 3DS's fastest selling title.

NSMBU is selling extremely well and is motivating people to buy WiiU. WiiU had a very solid launch. The big drop this week (if true) seems high for a new system. But I wouldn't blame MarioU so much as WiiU needing a smaller price or a better second app. None of Mario, NL or ZombieU are graphically mindblowing. None of them have the adult hook that WiiSports had.

I disagree. Mario is still huge, and a big selling point for the WiiU. Next generation I'm planing to buy 2 consoles, and if the PS4 isn't impressive or too similar/ less powerful than the 720 then I will certainly buy the WiiU just for Mario games.

Technically, he would be projecting his own subconcious relationship with videogames into others.

But, in a way, he has a good point; let's say you bought Wii for Wii Sports, what else you had? Wii Play may be the closest you get - a launch game, and after that - nothing.
With Wii Fit, you had Wii Fit Plus. Mario Kart Wii didn't have a sequel, NSMBW didn't have one either (though, there was DKCR and Kirby). On the DS, Brain Training had a sequel, but NSMB and Mario Kart didn't.

I don't know how much new IP's they'd need to release, as looking at last gen, we had Brain Training, Big Brain Academy, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Music, Rhythm Paradise, Endless Ocean, Disaster: Day of Crisis and a few others.

Returning IP's this and last gen have been, atleast, Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country, Kid Icarus, Pilotwings, Punch-out.

And sequels to almost all of their popular games.

Yeah, sorry. I was very bored and very tired last night. :P The psychoanalysis was too blatant, wasn't it?

Still, I'm a bit confused why you'd use derogatory terms to refer to the Wii's success ("clueless", "tricked", "fad") if you don't actually dislike it. Also, I really don't see why you're knowingly using anecdotes and generalizations with little evidential basis to make your predictions. Surely, you understand that's a fallacy?

@bdbdbd, I'm not sure what your point is. I mean, you may have bought the Wii for Wii Sports and then gone on to buy Wii Play and  WSR, but also games like NSMB, MK and JD. Just because you bought a system for one game, you won't restrict yourself to games exactly like it. I mean, the Wii's attach rate, while already a little low, would be significantly lower if its buyers had such a mentality.

The problem is Nintendo panicked with the poor 3DS launch, and realizing that Nintendogs + cats wasn't selling systems and Brain Training probably wouldn't either, they pushed Mario into over drive.

I don't even think NSMB2 was supposed to be out this year, given what we know about it's dev cycle too it appears to have been rushed into development by a B-team at EAD. This was probably supposed to be NSMBU's year.

But I think Nintendo was at a loss as to how to sell the 3DS, and with the 3DS XL they figured they needed NSMB for the 3DS as well this year.

Mario hasn't failed at all. In fact NSMBU is the only reason to buy a WiiU. Given that, he's singlehandedly given the WiiU a stronger launch than PS3/360 enjoyed.

I called, and believe, that the soccer moms and grandparents were and are still clueless. They were tricked by the fad of the Wii. That's not derogatory. The reality of the Wii's success is that the motion controls were a new gimmick that none gamers found to be a fun toy for parties. For some it was a way to get the family to play together. For others it was a way to get a little exercise. To them the Wii wasn't a video game console. It was an interactive motion control activity device. They were clueless about video games and when the fad passed they left it for the next fad.

I can predict based on anything I want. You can call it a fallacy if you want, but I judge the future on what I see, what I've seen, and how it makes me feel. I don't need data to know that grandparents are not gamers even if they have a dusty Wii in their house. I don't need statistics to tell me that Wii Fit got stacked on the other abandoned exercise equipment in the garage.

I love Mario Galaxy, Metroid 3, Zelda SS and Mario Kart Wii. But not because they were Wii games with motion control. I love those games despite motion controls. I look forward to Mario U, Metroid U and Zelda U because I'm hopeful that the Gamepad's standard controls will be used and the touch screen will be for items and menus. I'm hopeful that the Wii motion fad is over and we core gamers can get back to playing the games we want the way we want to. I've been playing Nintendo games longer than there have been Nintendo consoles and I will continue to play Nintendo games for as long as I can hold a controller in my hand. But that doesn't change the fact that Wii was a fluke, a market anomaly, a fad and it won't happen again.

Then why not try one of the many very nice third-party Wii U games? I hear Darksiders II is vastly underrated. Not even those PS3/360 owners bought enough copies, I hear.