Up to 91 votes in the poll, but the percentages have stayed about the same since my last post about it. 53% state it's because of it appealing to the expanded audience. What I think is interesting is that both Mario Party and Mario Kart have seen large increases in sales this gen, presumably because they appeal to the expanded audience. But that makes me think why these games weren't enough to attract this audience to the Gamecube or Nintendo 64?

@9tarheel: That's because the mainstream and especially the mass media weren't interested in the slightest in N64, GC or their respective games.

Before DS and Wii were released, Playstation 2 and Gameboy were the only systems ever known to mass media and "causal" or "non-gamers" (see Singstar). I know some people who still call every console a playstation and every handheld a gameboy (but they are fewer than 3 years ago).