Ive been looking forward to mario galaxy for what seems like ages now but recently ive been wondering are mario games inherently overrated?

Thinking of Mario Galaxy for instance, it wouldnt have had nowhere near the same level of hype if it where the same game with a completely different character and im betting maybe a slightly less score as well.

Would People have given super mario kart a second look without Mario? Super mario world? Mario 64 even?

Plz ppl dont accuse me of trolling or being a fanboy cuz I LOVE Mario. Just look at my sig. Im wii60 if anything.

I really don't know, is Mario you know, is like:

Imagine the world without Mario...

There is enough games (inspirited by Mario), and none of them become that big... So, yea, if is not Mario probably wont have the same level of success...

I assume not. But Mario is Mario.

Him being in the game in of itself is a plus just because of all the history he has. I mean why else was it Mario Kart in the first place and not just N64 Cart with random new characters? It might or might not score higher because of Mario. But I think Mario games get hyped more too because you can almost gurantee it'll be quality because the Mario Franchise very rarely lets you down, and even then it's in the spinoff titles, not the main platformer games.

As for Mario Kart though... i still haven't played a Kart racing game half as good, and that counts Crash Bandicoot's Kart game and "Street Racer" or whatever the name of that game was that was one part wackey racers one park horrible sterotype.

Where you had like Frankenstein, a Sumo guy, an Italian guy whose car had horns... anyone? I own it, but i really don't feel like digging through all my games.

 Mario Kart 64 is da b3st

It wouldn't have all the cameos and references that make such games special as well as technically great.

It might be more celebrated though, because people would come to the game expecting it to be "average" and find a classic. Then it would be a new big IP. All franchises were new once.

Well...Mario Kart wouldn't be what it is without all the nostalgic locations, yes, but it got its credit by being the best kart racer, especially in the N64 days.

Mario Galaxy gets hype because it's Mario, yes, but that's also because fans know how good Mario games have been compared to most offerings. The game comes from Nintendo...fans can expect a quality platformer.

And Nintendo puts the Mario name on a lot of its quality games...the sports games like Tennis, Golf...Mario Strikers, Mario Kart...yes they have Mario names, but it's more because they're Nintendo games, and Nintendo just likes to use its mascot.

Equally great games like Pikmin could have had Mario as a character, and it probably would have worked.

 OPINION!

My favorite is Mario Kart 64.  It was my first Mario Kart game as well as many of my friends.  I still see college kids playing Mario Kart 64 and the Smash Bros games all the time...I see Double Dash sometimes, but we all experienced Mario Kart 64 as the first real 3D kart racer...it's always instant nostalgia.

Mario 128 ??? :P

@ Rol

"No, it's the worst game of the series and that's why it has been already eliminated."

Thats because you are a MK:64 hater :P J/K

I actually disagree entirely azzer. Mario fans can be disappointed just like any other fans. Look at Mario Sunshine. That game is disliked by the majority of Mario fans. It was still a solid platformer just not Mario quality. Personally if I saw Mario Galaxy looking exactly like that but with different characters (as long as those characters didn't wreck the style) I would be hyped for it. Maybe not as much if it wasn't made by Nintendo, because I trust their quality of development, but I would still be really interested in the style, and I would still view it as an interesting evolutionary step for platformers.

I'm probably more hyped for Galaxy than an equal game with different characters, because

A) I've played a majority of previous Mario games, so any nostalgic references in this game always make it interesting to me.

B) It's Nintendo, and they typically do a triple-A job with their big games.