Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Strikers, Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi� Mario, the many: Mario, the One.

It seems these days that our hero has more strings to his bow than any other video gaming character past or present, featuring as he does in such a large variety of games across so many different systems. When Shigeru Miyamoto created Jumpman, he knew that he was doing a service to the struggling company, but it is doubtful that he knew that the legacy the evolution of the character would aspire to over the next 20 years. The short term fix, it seems, has become the long-term strategy of the company. But is this healthy, and more importantly, will it finance the future of Nintendo?

At its most basic, plopping Mario into a game is an almost sure �fire way of ensuring the games success. In a less obvious way, Mario is an unofficial "Seal Of Quality" for the game, as games featuring the red-suited plumber are nearly always guaranteed to be anticipated higher than other games in a genre. It is as if Nintendo are assuring quality through his presence, as it is not a good idea to devalue their number one asset. While it is true that the games will not necessarily be the most innovative or even the most sophisticated, they generally stand head and shoulders above competitors trying to imitate.

However, Mario is as much a hindrance as a help to Nintendo, both in the collective mentality of gamers and the company themselves. A Nintendo console necessitates a new Mario game, either as an inaugural title or as something to be anticipated down the line. This creates enormous pressure on the company to come up with the goods time and time again as Mario is as much a part of a Nintendo console as the controller. There was uproar when the GameCube was launched without Mario at the helm as he had been for the N64 days, and much desperation among the masses who believed that Mario Sunshine would be the magic formula for reviving the flagging console.

Finally arriving, the game split critics and fans right down the middle. On the one hand it was a well-designed and artistically gorgeous game. On the other it was not the successor to Mario 64 that the masses had been clamouring for since its release. While few games could ever hope to achieve that level of excellence, this game did not seem to even be trying, going off in its own direction adding different gameplay mechanics that made the experience unfamiliar.

Now, let's get this straight: there will never be a "true" sequel to Mario 64. The reason is that Mario 64 made the leap from 2D to 3D and it made it with flair. This radical leap in technologies can only be made once and then it is made forever � luckily the quality of the game has left an immensely positive legacy. However, people ever expecting the same revolution are only going to be disappointed every time a new Mario game is released and comparisons before release are damaging. In one way this nostalgia is incredibly damaging for the series as the sense of wonder as Mario made his first 3Dimensional jump into the world years ago and will never make it again. Not that there may not be some unforeseen gameplay revolution in the future, but for now we must be content with it simply being a brilliant 3D game.

This must frustrate Nintendo quite badly, as had Mario Sunshine been released under the auspices of a different character on another console, then the game would have been valued for what it did, rather than ridiculed for what it failed to do. Mario games, and Nintendo games as a whole are judged far more harshly by critics and hardcore gamers. Why? Because everyone knows that Nintendo can deliver the best games of a generation when they really try. Is this fair? No, absolutely not, but we do it anyway.

Nintendo games are better than games made by third parties, so when a piece of software falls below the high standard set by the company, questions are naturally asked. In particular Mario games are dissected and their minutiae lain bare for everyone to see and pick over. When the game is reconstituted at the end of the review, there is typically a sense of confusion as to why the game has received such a high score after such an exacting review that highlights flaws that virtually nobody will notice.

In this case Mario is a very big handicap for Nintendo as there is a critical emphasis on every Mario game being a classic or judged a total failure. Where other titles enjoy shades of grey, Mario is subjected to a black and white categorisation that puts the game into a "Great" or "Very Bad" column.

Mario is also proving something of a burden for Nintendo as they attempt to move away from the oft-disparaged "Kiddy" image. Mario appears in so many games these days that the market is beginning to over-saturate and the overall quality of these spin-offs is taking a notable decline. Mario Party 8 is the most recent example of a Mario game failing to live up to expectations in spectacular fashion, not only was it unoriginal and bland like other Mario Party titles, it was also terrible. Super Paper Mario was remarkably worse than the other Paper Mario games, and though it experimented with new ideas it just wasn't very good at what it did. The same can be said of Mario Kart Double Dash that relied on a gimmick more than gameplay.

Mario Tennis, Mario Strikers and Mario Golf were all reasonably competent games in their own right, but the Mushroom Kingdom setting did nothing to improve them, and in fact the inclusion of these characters may put many gamers of. Now these games have become generational updates, with a sequel expected every few years, most likely marked with a decline from mediocrity to bad. Nintendo have made a rod for their own backs with expectations for these updates and the likely inadequacy of the titles will tarnish Mario's image. Let's not forget that Nintendo are frequently referred to as "The Mario Factory" and this is fast becoming a derisory term as the company churns out Mario sequels instead of much demanded new content.

But it's not all bad news for the plumber and his plucky pals: Mario Galaxy is a superb game that deserves every mountain of praise heaped upon it. New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart DS were also very high quality titles, the latter marking a return to form for the Mario Kart franchise after the deserved battering it took after Double Dash. Super Smash Brothers seems to be going from strength to strength with each sequel being a noticeable improvement over its predecessor �just what a sequel should be.

While Mario is a great mascot and helps identify Nintendo with the masses, their shift towards a more family-friendly and generally wider market will not help the Mario cause. By scaling back efforts and concentrating on one or two key Mario franchises, the Mario name will retain its reputation for high quality. This in turn will lead to an increase in more original content, and also might help get Animal Crossing Wii to us a little quicker�

Iun Hockley
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