Email: Do you think NSMB 2 can end 2d Mario as a series?

Responding to your latest post here Sean. Reading through it sounds like NSMB2 could end 2D Mario in one fell swoop.

 

Just a few simple questions about that:

 

-If Mortal Kombat was able to survive after so many crappy games, then why couldn’t 2D Mario do so too?

 

-If New Super Mario Bros. implodes, then why couldn’t Nintendo continue 2D Mario with naming the next one Super Mario Bros. 5(regardless of how the market responded to NSMBWii).

 

Even though NSMB 2 looks lame, I’m wondering if it could damage 2D Mario as a whole. Now if NSMBU disappoints as well or some future console 2D Mario turns out to be crappy, I can see that destroying NSMB as a series. But 2D Mario? A series that has at least 4 entries that people are still willing to pay good money for 20 years after release? From the reactions I keep seeing, people treat NSMB as a spin-off series anyway.Saying 2d Mario is a ‘spin-off series’ is as absurd as saying that Pac-Man is a spin-off from those Pac-Man platformer games (i.e. Pac-Man 2). The only thing Super Mario Brothers can be a spin-off from is Donkey Kong.

How much does 2d Mario cost to the 2d Mario fan? The entire 8-bit generation knows 2d Mario because it was included with the console. Half of the 16-bit generation knows 2d Mario because it was included with the console. And a fourth of the Seventh Generation knows 2d Mario because it was included in the console.

In order to understand the value of 2d Mario, we must get the price right. The price of Super Mario Brothers was $150 (the price of the Action Set). The price of Super Mario World was around $200 (the price of the SNES console).

NSMB 2 does not cost $40 to me. NSMB 2 costs $220 (the price of a 3DS and game). Does the price reflect the value of NSMB 2? No. NSMB 2 is not worth $220.

To those who were there in that time period, Super Mario Brothers was worth its $150 price tag. Super Mario World was worth the $200 price tag. Yamauchi says the Nintendo console is a box you buy to get to Mario. He was right.

2d Mario isn’t a ‘game’. It is the reason why Nintendo consoles sell. If 2d Mario lowers in value and brand (as it is swiftly doing with Nintendo direction with NSMB), no one will buy the console in order to get to Mario. 2d Mario may sell to the people who already bought the console. But the reason why first party games exist is not to give Nintendo fans more of what they like, it is to get people who haven’t bought the hardware to do so.

I would prefer no 2d Mario than a factory produced 2d Mario. Just like I prefer no Metroid than Sakamoto’s Other M Metroid. Or no Zelda to Aonuma Zelda. Once the brand is destroyed, it is very difficult for it to come back.

And why does it have to get destroyed in the first place? Why can’t the mistakes be recognized yesterday? How many egos within Nintendo must we go through?

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