@rjejr

Well, I'm not intending to mock you. Just exaggerating a bit. I really do think it's harmful to have those up there now, where the first couple of years there was not much overlap in demand, now it just makes the Wii U look way too expensive... especially next to the other guys.

On the 2D Mario vs. 3D Mario and Atari: I agree with you on a popularity level, but on the actual advancement of gaming, Atari 2600 was pioneer for local couch multiplayer, and Super Mario Bros. was an evolution with a couple of key advances like commitment to continual secrets and the analog feeling physics of jumping by holding down the button for longer to jump further. Along with running and side-scrolling those advancements spawned hundreds of games like it. The same thing can be said for Super Mario 64, though. Third person games have used all sorts of features pioneered in that game like pushing an analog joystick to get direction based on the camera angle rather than the character angle. Camera that is a bit directed but also manageable by the player and so much more. It was just as influential even if the game itself was no where near as popular.

Of course, we were really talking about nostalgia and really, most people were cutting their teeth on Playstation that generation of new gamers so really you are right. The number of people pining for that game is way, way smaller than the originals. But we are talking about upping Nintendo numbers and that small base could help at least.

It's the problem Nintendo has been dealing with through the last few big Mario games. Trying to get those two groups of Mario fans together in one big base. Hasn't happened yet I don't think and Super Mario Maker is only going to grow the 2D love, right?

BTW, been crazy busy and haven't replied to email yet. So, don't go looking.