Has Nintendo lost interest in Mario?

stuartfanning

See the article below

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/04/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/

Terminator

Mario Sunshine certainly didn't feel like a Mario game. Too much emphasis on water and funny stupid blobby people that have nothing to do with Mario. It looked lovely but it wasn't playable.

Dont be at yourself

Not too sure on the point of the linked article, but as for the question at hand:

looking at the release schedule, we've got Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Golf and Mario Tennis all GameCube bound, and a pretty strong chance that Mario 128 is on the way as well. This, to me, doesn't indicate that Nintendo has lost interest with Mario.

What we are perhaps seeing, however, is an attempt by Nintendo to offer more choice through its first and second party titles. Hence we're seeing updates of Metroid, F-Zero, Starfox, Wario, Pikmin, Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, 1080... With its partnerships with the likes of Sega and Namco, it would appear that there are more Nintendo licences in development at the same time than ever before. This perhaps makes it appear that Nintendo is abondoning Mario, while in fact he's simply getting lost in he crowd.

Retr0gamer

Other than vice city and Final Fantasy X mario sunshine was the best game I played last year. It was different to other mario games and wasn't as good as mario 64 but then again what 3D platformer is. For me it was just and fantastically fun game that despite it's difficulty had the 'bast*rd one more go' factor.

Don't think they are lossing interest in mario. MK:DD is out next week and mario 128 is currently deep in development.

stuartfanning

Read what the linked article says about Mario 128. Not good news!

Retr0gamer

Yep sounds a bit dodgy. MK:DD will keep me happy though.

DiscoStu

Originally posted by stuartfanning
Read what the linked article says about Mario 128. Not good news!

nothing is known about mario128. the one in the article was simply the tech demo shown to highlight the abilities of the gamecube. saying mario is finished is a little silly. it is one of the most well known brand mascots in the world comparable to Mcdonald's Ronald McDonald or Al-Queda's Oasma bin Laden and such still has massive marketing potential.

Retr0gamer

it is one of the most well known brand mascots in the world comparable to Mcdonald's Ronald McDonald or Al-Queda's Oasma bin Laden and such still has massive marketing potential.

lol:D

EA should buy osama's likeness for the next C&C game.

Kold

Hated both Mario64 and mario sunshine... but i bought them both... now they think i like em... damn

Cake Fiend

I loved 64, mainly because I hadn't really played anything like it before (the only game I could possibly call a 3D platformer that I'd played before would be Jumping Flash on the PS... ). Sunshine was boring as hell.

I don't think Mario is the right mascot for Nintendo in the 21st century to be honest...

BLITZ_Molloy

Nintendo need to invest in new IP. While they are doing a handful of innovative products like Animal Crossing they don't throw enough money at them to have a true impact.

Mario was fantastic. It's just that now he doesn't have anywhere near the commercial value he once had.

Nintendo and Sega really need to ditch the franchise updates. It's hard to get excited about such predictable fair, even if it is polished as hell.

They should be aiming at the mainstream instead of trading on past glories.