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Forums - Nintendo - Why is mario so popular?

 

Mario or Metroid?

Mario! 80 57.97%
 
Metroid. 20 14.49%
 
Neither 21 15.22%
 
Not sure. 15 10.87%
 
Total:136

Mario made us all his bitch when he single-handedly saved the industry back then.



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He everywhere.



http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/profile/92109/nintendopie/ Nintendopie  Was obviously right and I was obviously wrong. I will forever be a lesser being than them. (6/16/13)

Just one world: METROOOOID!!!



pokoko said:
Because Mario was bundled with the NES.

That resulted in massive exposure. Back then, for most kids, quality games were few and far between. Yeah, some rich kids always had a ton of games, but most people only owned a handful. Mario became the default game that EVERYONE played. That didn't just mean exposure, either, it meant that Mario came to define the taste in gaming for many, many people. It was the first game for many, and the most played game for many. The result was kind of predictable.

It's not even like the first Mario games were even that great, in my opinion. I barely played my copy, mostly because of a local rental store and because I had a friend who had a bunch of games. I found tons of stuff I liked better, from Ghosts n' Goblins to Nobunga's Ambition, so Mario never settled in with me as a main component of gaming.

I've been saying for a long time that if any of the Big Three wanted to grow a new IP to massive proportions, they should bundle it with EVERY console, standard. It might mean less short-term profits but it would pay off long-term. Of course, it wouldn't ever reach the same magnitude because of all the options in gaming now, unlike when the NES was the only game in town, but it would help.

I will always believe that Mario would never have come close to its current popularity had it not been a pack-in. It's kind of a shame, as I would much, much rather that Kirby had been given the role of Nintendo mascot.

The character of Mario was already popular in arcades; Donkey Kong and then Donkey Kong Jr (where he first actually became 'Mario'), and then the very popular arcade game "Mario Bros".

The Famicom launched in Japan two years before SMB even released, and of the three launch bundles here in the States only one of them came bundled with SMB. It wasn't until three years later that SMB came with pretty much every NES console.

The truth is that SMB was a high-quality title, plain and simple; it was a paradigm shift for video games upon its launch (for both home and arcades), so I steadfastly disagree that Mario can solely thank being bundled with the NES for his success as history's most popular game mascot - it was because he was the star of a massively entertaining game. In fact, that was the reason it was bundled so heavily later on. Since then, Mario and his cast of characters have been at the forefront of many of Nintendo's pioneering ideas such as Kart racing and 3D platforming, so you could say that many new ideas owe their success to Mario just as much as the reverse.

I can respect the fact that you don't like SMB, as that's your opinion, but the fact that you prefer Ghosts 'n Goblins (particularly the NES version) to SMB shows me that our opinions differ tremendously.



He is good all around character and on top of that Nintendo makes a lot of good games about him.



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Because mushrooms are addicting.



pokemon is more popular C:



osed125 said:
Bruxel said:
i read an article recently saying mario is more popular then mickey mouse to the youth of today.

We can blame Disney for that. They seem to be focusing more on stupid sh*t like Hanna Montana than the timeless mouse.


he was even in the early 90's more popular and recoginzable for kids. google it.



Th3PANO said:
osed125 said:
Bruxel said:
i read an article recently saying mario is more popular then mickey mouse to the youth of today.

We can blame Disney for that. They seem to be focusing more on stupid sh*t like Hanna Montana than the timeless mouse.


he was even in the early 90's more popular and recoginzable for kids. google it.


Pac-Man beats Mario in the US though. And Sonic beats Mario in the UK.



Mario is a household name; they're released in strategic times and have a helluvalot of marketing behind them. People see the name Mario, associates it with quality and fun for everyone, and they sell.

Metroid, however, does not have this good fortune.



 

Here lies the dearly departed Nintendomination Thread.