+1.  Nintendo's consoles used to be THE consoles.

Mario is still cool

/thread

MARIO IS COOL!

He's gaming's biggest icon. He doesn't need to be cool anymore. His brand sells and that's what matters.

Much love for the Mario man! He's still holding struggling consoles afloat after all these years.

People seem to confuse sales with cool. Since when has buying exactly what's been advertised to death towards your demographic been "cool"? When I hear someone blather about how the newest CoD is the best game ever made, a certain label comes to mind and it's not "cool".

It does rhyme with cool, though... Heh.

Seriously, though, what other 30 year old series can boast review scores as consistently solid as the Mario franchise? The others that come close are also mostly made by Nintendo.

I don't think Mario as a character can be cool again, because the world is cynical and cold, and Mario doesn't reflect that. People and especially gamers get fed that being like characters in GTA are cool, that Kratos is cool, that Assasin's Creed and Call of duty are cool - that violent people are the new cool - and Mario doesn't do that (despite smashing turtles and burning mushrooms)

I think as a game series, Mario World 3D on the Wii U did a great job of going back to the Mario 64 style of the series, and is a very fun game. I am tired of the COD games, and always found the GTA games to lack creativity.

But really to answer the question - yes Mario can be and is cool, for the young gamers, for those who haven't grown up and become cold and cynical. Mario didn't change, you changed.

Some people have childhood friends they stay friends with for all their life, others turn their backs on them to hang with the trendy "cool kids", and be something they weren't before, and let the child inside them die.

As for me, I'm not one of the latter people, I'll play any game as long as its good, I'll watch cartoons and enjoy watching Disney movies with my kids, go all out at amusement parks. My inner child is rocking permanent invincible star mode. =)

Hes always been cool.

Thing is Nintendo didn't change him as his audience grew up into adults.

Naturally, we grow, our interests change, and we move on, eventually buying Mario games for our children.

And the cycle will continue :)

Mario isn't cool now? I love his games still but the sidescrollers are just repetitive now

He was never cool. He was fun and goofy. The only character in mario that is 'cool' is bowser. I dont think he ahpuld become so though. Mario appeals to everyone because of his likeablity and lighthearted attitude with a touch of bad boy in the shape of his moustache

You lost me at "misstep in Sunshine".

I seriously have not met a single person outside of this forum that dislikes that game. I helped found a video game club at my college and everyone liked it there, and pretty much every close friend I've ever had plays video games and knows Mario, and none of them dislike that game. It's many people's favorite.

But it doesn't matter. Mario was NEVER cool. He didn't need to be. He was fun. He still is. That's what matters. The cool one was Sonic. And then Crash. And Kratos. And Master Chief. They were the cool mascots. As a character, as a mascot, and as a franchise, Mario is NOT and has NEVER been cool. And I like it that way.