Doubling a previous game's sales is a success, for sure. Metroid is a success. However, Metroid Fusion sold nearly as well as Metroid Prime.
There was literally only one Metroid game that had been released at the time that Fusion actually outsold.
There was a defined (and an argument can be made as to whether it was wise or not) reason for why 2D Mario went on a long hiatus. At the time, though, 2D Mario had become 3D Mario. Gamers demanded their games be in 3D, and Nintendo pioneered and followed this trend.
Which gamers? What demand? To date, no 3D platformer has come even remotely close to matching the demand for 2D Mario. In fact, when Super Mario 64 debuted, it was closer to 50% of 2D Mario sales than it was to meeting 2D Mario sales.
Why do you think there's so much literature where Nintendo talks about why 3D Mario isn't as appealing as 2D Mario?
Since 3D Mario has come onto the scene, it has not gone away. You indicated earlier than 2D or 3D Mario has skipped a gen, but I still am wondering when 3D Mario skipped any console or what you meant by that so I can respond to it properly.
Not console, but Nintendo never attempted to carry over a N64-like Mario game over to GBA like they did with Mario Kart and even Mario RPGs. Of course, such a game wouldn't have been a true 3D game, but something with a perspective akin to 3D Land could have been made on GBA.
don't empirically disagree with anything you wrote here. But I do want to point something out. There are 101 million Wii owners and 12.59 of them bought Super Mario Galaxy. There are about as many Wii U owners as there are SMG owners. Sales of 3DW represent just over 1/4 of the install base. Considering the install base, the game sold remarkably well, and relatively much better than SMG did.
I think the "it did well given the install base" argument can be made when you look at the install base for a platform and see that a game manages to really break trends that go beyond the install base.
For example, I say Metroid Prime is a uniquely good and successful game because it managed to cultivate a larger audience than we'd seen for the Metroid franchise in 15 years on a really poor-selling Nintendo platform.
I don't think the same argument holds as strongly for a game like 3D Land, where the game was itself a core driver of the install base but the demand for 3D Land in specific wasn't really anything special for either Mario generally or 3D Mario specifically. 3D Land was just an average-performing 3D Mario game that happened to exist on a platform that didn't have a whole lot of appeal.
Attach rate just tells you what the install base is buying; it's not remotely useful at measuring relative performance or popularity when the install bases are wildly disparate. SM3DL has a high attach rate on 3DS compared to Galaxy on Wii because 3DS was narrowly appealing beyond people who liked SM3DL compared to the broad appeal Wii enjoyed beyond people who liked Galaxy.
It's that strange to you that any new Nintendo console would be of immediate interest? It sounds like you're doing that thing...I can't think of the term. Something to the effect of playing devil's advocate for the sake of it.
Basically, the system is being made by Nintendo. Since the NES released, that alone has been enough to garner interest from many.
Is it strange that people would be interested in
finding out more? No. I, too, am interested in finding out more!
Is it strange that people are interested in
a new Nintendo console coming out soon? No! I'd love something that's a solid next step to NX and would love games that are better and more appealing than what we got on Wii U!
Is it strange that people would be interested in
making a purchase decision before there's any solid information? After what happened with 3DS and Wii U, where Nintendo failed to live up to hope and hype even after all details were known? Absolutely fucking yes. And I think the industry is suffering because early adoption of unproven products is becoming more and more commonplace.
This is not just me "being a contrarian" or "playing devil's advocate." It's just an offhand remark that somehow became a debate.
I guess I asked this above, but when has 3D Mario been MIA? If anything, Wii U has been arguably MIA for an exclusive Nintendo-developed Zelda (except for Nintendo Land Zelda, which to me is terrific but I understand it's not a fully-fledged Zelda.)
When has Nintendo's business and the appeal of their IP been in such a precarious position that they've abandoned ship on a home console after four years (it's really more like three given the trajectory of Wii U's library last year)?
Recall everything I said about Nintendo having lots of anxiety about whether 3D Mario is appealing and how making games for 3D Mario fans will result in games that are even narrower in appeal. Does this sound like a franchise that a Nintendo in this position of weakness should (or at least that they will without question) prioritize?