The House that Mario built

While I get emails about what Miyamoto said or didn’t say about a new Super Mario game on the Wii U, whether it is 2d or 3d or both, let me point out that there is no solid information. There is no point in talking about vapor or ‘ifs’. Ifs are for children.

I do not believe gamers understand how the gaming markets work. What I mean, specifically, is that they do not understand that game sales do not exist in a vacuum.

There exists a few mega games that create new market. Other games come, some are clones but some are innovators, that exist only through what this new market created. For example, without Pac-Man, many other video games would be unable to exist. Sure, they could have been made, but there would not have been a market for them.

Look at Tetris for example. Tetris created a new type of gaming market. There were many clones but there were also many innovators. Games like Dr. Mario, Yoshi’s Cookie, and Puzzle Bobble likely couldn’t exist because the existing market was not there.

Let me ask, “If a villain went back in time and removed Tetris from the timeline, what would the changes on gaming?” Business effects aside, the changes to gaming is that these other Tetris like games would lack a market interest to exist or sell. They couldn’t exist.

Let me introduce to you my villain. It is neither a he or she but an it. My arch nemesis, the Anti-Malstrom, who only wishes harm and destruction on gaming. The Anti-Malstrom somehow got hold of Doc Brown’s time machine/deLorean. It goes back to the year 1985, removes Super Mario Brothers from the Space Time continuum, and then travels back to the present.

Since Super Mario Brothers created the market for 2d platformers, the House that Mario Built is seen with all the other 2d platformers. These games may have existed in the arcades, independently, but there would be no market for them to sell. They are all niche in comparison to Super Mario Brothers. They owe their existence to Super Mario Brothers.

Castlevania could not exist without Super Mario Brothers. Do you like 2d Castlevania? Without 2d Mario, it cannot exist.

Mega Man could not exist without Super Mario Brothers.

Do you like Metroid? If you want a new 2d Metroid to exist, you must first have a market base for it which only comes through Super Mario Brothers. Without Super Mario Brothers, Metroid could not exist.

Zelda, including Zelda 1, could not exist without the market that Mario made.

This game could not exist without Super Mario Brothers.

This game could not exist without Super Mario Brothers.

This game could not exist without Super Mario Brothers. There’s a reason why Sonic’s sales are only a mere fraction of a Super Mario Brothers game.

All these games could not sell without the market that Super Mario Brothers made.

It may appear I am talking about a genre. I am not. If the Anti-Malstrom pulled Super Mario Brothers from the timeline, it would be like pulling away a founding block from the base of the gaming pyramid. Games that are not as popular but well loved by gamers, such as Metroid, could not and would not exist without Super Mario Brothers.

Nintendo stopped making Super Mario Brothers nearly two decades ago. And the results within the gaming universe could exactly be described as a gaming pyramid slowly crumbling apart. All the games listed above are no more or are undead ghosts of themselves (Sonic… *shudder*).

When 2d Mario returned in a neutered form of ‘New Super Mario Brothers’, a crop of platformers and such games did grow around it. Had 2d Mario been done properly with given the passion and budget that is given to 3d Mario, the effects would have been multiplied much, much more. Without NSMB, do you think you would have seen the new Mega Man games, the Donkey Kong Country Returns, the new Kirby, and so on and so forth?

When Wii Sports came out, everyone agreed that sales of these other type of motion control games was due to the market that Wii Sports created. We agree that there are so many first person shooter games due to the sales of games like Doom, Quake, Halo, and Call of Duty. Games like Hexic or System Shock could not exist without the existing market those games helped make. It shouldn’t be difficult to recognize what Super Mario Brothers allowed in other games to exist. It is already recognized how much of a system seller the game is. Why is it so hard to understand that Super Mario Brothers didn’t just sell hardware, it sold software too. People bought Hudson’s Adventure Island because of Super Mario Brothers. Without Super Mario Brothers, no one would have cared to buy Hudson’s Adventure Island.

The call for 2d Mario is not a call for a specific game. It is also a call for a foundational stone so a market exists so these other games can get made.

Do you want another 2d Metroid? Then you need to want another 2d Mario because a 2d Metroid cannot live without a 2d Mario market.

Do you want more Mega Man? Then you need to want another 2d Mario. And the same goes for Contra, Castlevania, Donkey Kong Country, and the rest.

This is why I want a New Legend of Zelda. Not only do I want it for the game New Legend of Zelda could be, I want it because of the other Zelda-esque games it will spawn due to the market it makes.

It is not just that Nintendo makes 3d Mario and their finances decline while making 2d Mario and their finances increase. Gaming, as a medium, grows with 2d Mario. Gaming, as a medium, declines with 3d Mario.

Miyamoto appears in this post to say, “But if we combine 2d Mario and 3d Mario, we can compromise and everyone wins.”

When food and poison compromises, which is the victor? I don’t see 3d Land selling 3DS systems, inspiring more games like it, or filling up Nintendo’s coffers with money. What will it take to drop the sick, sick 3d obsession?