So is gears of war and halo

See? I can do it too.

Again...I will not get into Brawl...But you have played Zelda on the NES? or SNES OR N64 OR GAMECUBE?

If you think that is casual...Well.....Have you played those version of the game?

*Gives Arius a High Five*

I have played many zelda games(nes,gb,n64 and wii), they are just casual games. Why are you so offended for the fact?

Pretty much anyone can pick up Brawl and play it and have fun. So is it casual?
There are plenty of people that play the SSB series at such a level that every button press is thought out ahead of time and a single slip-up can mean a KO. So is it hardcore?

Brawl(and most fighters really) is a great example that games are neither hardcore nor casual. It's such a success because players CAN play it casually with their friends, but it also has the depth to play it in a hardcore manner.

It seems I missed a point in the OP, but Zizzla and Smashchu totally nailed it. For Nintendo "core" gamers are those that buy and play their core franchises, which are pretty much any IP before the DS/Wii such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, etc. Because of this Brawl most definitely is a Core Nintendo game as it features the stars from all their core franchises.

EDIT: The casual/hardcore thing goes for every other game mentioned in this thread.
@Esa: Zelda certainly is easily accessible to people that want to play it casually. There's also those that play it in a hardcore manner. Either by getting every single thing possible or collecting as few things as possible while beating the game(3 heart runs) and there's also speed runs.

Hard-core
–adjective

1. unswervingly committed; uncompromising; dedicated: a hard-core segregationist.
2. pruriently explicit; graphically depicted: hard-core pornography.
3. being so without apparent change or remedy; chronic: hard-core inflation; hard-core unemployment.

I would define games in the "Hardcore" sense as dictionary.com states in its first definition. Hardcore is more of a mindset for a player rather than a game label. For me, It's how you play the game. So yeah, I consider myself a hardcore Wii Sports Golf gamer.

I'm not offended..I just think your defenition is wrong...

For me, console games are always casual. There is also wii casual, which is a different matter.

IMO, a real hardcore game is one that is not played because it is entertainment. An example: WW II Online, before patching: players in many cases had to hop on a military truck and be transported to the combat zone, which could take for example twenty minutes. Only then would you get to the combat action, and if you're killed, there are no respawn points to get you back on the action. You play to aid your team, your side, and you're sacrificing a lot of time to get an "authentic" war experience.

Another hardcore game: Harpoon. No fancy graphics, just naval military symbols and plain maps. To most people, it is incredibly boring, but some are hardcore enough to get in the game and learn naval strategy.

IMO, coming from a youth spent in PC gaming, consoles themselves are casual gaming machines. And there's nothing wrong with that, like there is nothing wrong with casual games. Heck, I like to enjoy my games.