Is the golden boy an icon anymore?

Quick fire question time: When was the last new 2D Mario platform game? Remember, this is the series that both invented and defined the genre. No idea? The answer is thirteen years. In that time the Mario series has gone through two 3D platformers, four RPGs, a dozen remakes and reissues, six Wario platformers, four Yoshi platformers, four Karts, seven Partys, four tennis and golf games (each!), one pinball game and Luigi's Mansion. What many would consider to be the last true Mario game was Super Mario Land 2, released in 1992 and not even developed by Miyamoto's EAD team. That award goes to Super Mario World, released fifteen years ago.

Of course, it's not all been bad. Quite the opposite: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, Mario Tennis... all should take pride of place in any Nintendo collection. But what makes Nintendo, a company fiercely protective of its intellectual properties, forget the roots of their mascot character?

Compare this with other videogame company mascots: Sonic the Hedgehog, Bomberman, Mega Man... all have experimented with their genre, all have suffered the remake and spin-off bug, and all have at one time or another ended up going 3D with changes to their gameplay as a result. But all of them have continued to develop the roots of each series with new titles. The result is a mascot that continues to appeal to its fan base while flirting with new ideas on the side.

Mario doesn't do this. He lives on the side, flirting with the idea of returning to his roots. We have had one 3D Mario game per console generation, and no attempt has been made to rebuild the series on Game Boy Advance. Finally, after over a decade, we are getting a new 2D Mario platformer on the DS! New Super Mario Bros. is an important title for Nintendo, as it has an opportunity to breathe life back into a franchise that has lost some of its sheen, and to revive a fan base that has lost its enthusiasm. There are ten Mario games coming out over the next year, but who is going to get excited about all of them?

How many Mario spin-offs really benefit from being Mario games? Mario Tennis on the N64 would have been a fantastic title regardless of its stars, but Mario Power Tennis on Gamecube became a Mario game, and the delicate mechanics suffered under the weight of Mario-themed 'power moves'. The Game Boy versions of Mario Golf and Tennis hardly have anything to do with Mario anyway. The Mario Party games rely on the hero for their popularity, but the worrying rate they are released, and the questionable quality, have rubbed off on the mascot. Don't get me started on Super Mario Ball and Yoshi's Universal Gravitation... two games that should never have survived the play testing process. Many of the games are leeching off the Mario name to survive, and survive they do, but for how long?

Many people wouldn't consider buying a rhythm-action game, but stick Mario in it and you will see sales. This doesn't make it a good business decision - the key problem being that the people you attract are Mario fans, not the mainstream non-gamer market. Compare Nintendo's approach to that of the Playstation 2. You won't find Jak & Daxter's Dance Party or Ratchet & Clank's Karaoke Klash because game characters only attract gamers. If you want to attract non-gamers, as Nintendo wants to, then you get pop stars, pop videos, cartoon characters, celebrities, or � failing that � faceless, trippy dance club graphics. If Nintendo wants to preserve the long-term integrity of the Mario franchise, perhaps they should think more carefully about how the series is used.

I don't think Mario is dead. I don't think people hate him. Look at the excited responses to New Super Mario Bros. and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga 2. People like Mario adventure games, and people like the cartoon comedy direction the series is taking. But then there's the expressionless, plastic side as seen in many spin-off titles � empty of life and damaging to the series. Nintendo needs to get overprotective of their mascot if they want to keep him at the top, even if that means throwing him into mortal danger and letting him stomp and jump his way out on a much more regular basis. After all, isn't that why we all fell in love with Mario in the first place?

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