Yoshi looks weird.

Especially when he has something in his mouth.

I think you are underestimating TotK's appeal among casual players. I think open world Zelda has proved to have just as much popularity with casual players as 2D Mario ever has. I'm always surprised to hear friend's kids as well as my non-gamer friends themselves who hardly ever play games who were super into BotW and were very excited for TotK. So I don't think the "2D Mario has the casuals" argument holds weight when we are comparing it to open world Zelda. BotW made Zelda so much more popular in part because it made Zelda fans out of millions of casual gamers.

Yeah Wonder is the first new 2D Mario in 11 years, since one generation ago. "New Wii" was the first 2D Mario on a console in 3 generations! Also both "New WiiU" and Mario Maker 2 are on Switch. So it's not like there has been NO 2D Mario lately like there was when "New Wii" came out when the last 2D Mario had been all the way back on the SNES! And not sure where you are getting this not since 1990 idea from. SMW came out in 90/91/92, Yoshi's Island came out in '95, and New Wii and New WiiU came out in 2009, 2012, and re-released in 2019....you can't just pretend like those two console "New" games didn't come out, as well as Yoshi's Island. Using that logic I can just ignore BotW and say TotK is the first ever open world zelda in infinite years lol. Let's stick to facts!

Yes its going to be a big deal, and yeah I expect it to sell at least as well as "New Wii" did. I'm not in any way discounting it. But beating New Wii is probably going to be easier than beating TotK, and possibly significantly so.

I am not surprised to read that someone still thinks that Yoshi's Island was a REAL Mario game. It's the same guy, after all.

lol. So now we're just cutting out mainline Mario games to try to extend an argument past the facts. Convenient for an argument, just not true. haha. What else wasn't a REAL Mario game? Sunshine? Mario Bros 2? All the "New" games? Arguments don't work when you just make things up to help our your argument. That's when you've lost the argument!

The NSMB series never evoked the same love or acclaim as the NES/SNES 2D Marios though, so for many Wonder is the first 2D Mario in over 30 years that's actually original and exciting. (World came out first in 1990 in Japan, then 1991 in America) Yoshi's Island isn't really a "2D Mario" game either as you play as Yoshi. When it comes to reception, you can't discount how people FEEL about something, as that as much as "facts" determines purchasing behaviour.

TOTK has more casual appeal then pre-BOTW Zelda ever had, but 2D Mario is on another level, as a simple 2D sidescroller it can be played by folks for whom Zelda would just be too complicated. Folks like my parents probably wouldn't be able to get passed the tutorial in TOTK but they sure as heck can play 2D Mario.