I predict one of the surprises at e3 will be...

[Jay]

Frankly I think if Nintendo want Mario to take a backseat then they should stop using him in a ridiculous amount of games - Mario Kart/Paper Mario/Mario Platformers are one thing but attaching his name to every sports game under the sun and making endless Mario party games is unnecessary. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him dropped and Nintendo making realistic sports games.

 

They could make a pretty awesome sports series - 1080, Wave Race, Excitbike, Punchout, Tennis, Golf etc. and use the same, realistic characters in each game and have it as part of a Nintendo sports series. It would certainly broaden the appeal to thoe who couldn't care less about Mario.

[Nintendork]

Yeah Mario is so past era.

I totally agree with that, the online tom tom has been beating that Nintendo is a kiddy company, they've got the style, the infastructure, philosophy and most importantly games to make a mature launch.

[ShadowV7]

There killing Mario I think and I also think Miyamoto didn't want him in so many games,so because of him in so many games they can't count on him as much as Zelda or Metroid since it's like 2 games per home console if you get what I mean.

[Dante]

Yeah Mario is so past era.

I totally agree with that, the online tom tom has been beating that Nintendo is a kiddy company, they've got the style, the infastructure, philosophy and most importantly games to make a mature launch.

 

http://www.cubed3.com/news/5016

 

There are reports from Japan, as reported on Nintendojo FR, that retailers have predicted such strong sales for the forthcoming NEW Super Mario Bros. that they have requested a whopping 1.3 million units from Nintendo for the first shipment of the game. Now, whilst this is not a certain indication of how the game will actually sell, retailers normally know how large demand is set to be and this could result in one of the fastest selling Nintendo DS games launching in Japan on 25th May. cvxfreak of GameScience has also stated that there are currently rumours circulating Japan that to tie-in with NEW Super Mario Bros. there will be a Famicom-themed Nintendo DS Lite heading to the market. However, other than his talk of this, currently no other rumblings have reached Cubed³'s ears, although it would be an extremely clever move by Nintendo considering the Famicom Mini version of Super Mario Bros. from the NES has already sold well in excess of a million units thanks to the celebration of the original 8-bit Famicom / NES.

 

American gamers only have to wait until 15th May for the first true Mario 2D platformer since Super Mario World, whilst Europeans will have to patiently wait until 30th June.

[Jay]

Yeah Mario is so past era.

I totally agree with that, the online tom tom has been beating that Nintendo is a kiddy company, they've got the style, the infastructure, philosophy and most importantly games to make a mature launch.

 

Exactly, if you take Mario Tennis - The actual tennis mechanics (lets forget the daft power-ups in Power Tennis) are as good as any other tennis game out there. They may not have the realistic physics that alternative tennis games have but they're damn good arcade fun. That gameplay with a realistic character gloss over it would appeal to everyone and at the same time not destroy Mario, they've also made excellent golf games using Mario that could withstand the same kind of conversion.

 

The main problem for me with Nintendo's sports games is that they lack a memorable cast - Consistent, interesting characters that appear in the bulk of Nintendo's sports titles would be fantastic and could help develop a fantastic Nintendo sports series. Nintendo had one with the NES and the GB and it worked really well, simple and fun sports games without using real licenses that were great fun to play - Mario used to appear in most of them as a referee but the games were never Mario games and it helped stop Mario becoming overused.

 

This is what I'd like to see happen with Mario and its related franchises

 

Mario Platformers - Remain as they are, top class platformers that happen once or twice within a systems lifespan and are developed with as much thought and care as other franchises.

 

Paper Mario/Mario RPG - Remain as it is, new stories and new attack moves using the fhc to keep things fresh.

 

Mario Tennis/Golf/Whatever - Become part of a Nintendo sports series, out and out sports games that don't involve Mario but keep the same fun gameplay.

 

Wario - Forget making Wario into a platforming hero, whilst another 2D platformer on a handheld would be great I'd prefer to see him focussed on Wario Ware games.

 

Luigi/Peach/Waluigi spin offs - The odd spin off is all well and good but I'd rather see them involved in actual Mario games as part of the story rather than having sequels to their games made although fresh ideas using their charactesr would always be welcome.

 

Mario Party - This has got very old and whilst the FHC has great potential I think they should drop the series and replace it with 'Smash Party', a similar kind of game but more fun with the FHC to keep things intersting and instead of just Mario involve a bigger Nintendo cast (Ala Smash Bros)

 

I think those'd be great steps for those franchises to broaden their appeal and at te same time not destroy Mario's appeal. I'm undecided over whether I'd like to see Mario Kart adopt the 'Smash' idea or just remain Mario Kart.

[lbeeb]

I think they will anounce a suprize launch date of Zelda TP with it having a global launch at the end of this month or early next month. I also think they will include some promotional material for the Wii with it to help with their markiting.