1) New super mario was wildly successful, but it had been years since a 2d mario released on a home console, in between mario world and NSMB we got mario 64, sunshine, and galaxy. At that point 2d mario had seen enough of a hiatus to bring it back
Is that why the GBA had 5 2D Mario games out on it? I don't know why we have to limit it only to home consoles. 2D continuations were plentiful during the era that home consoles received 3D games, and they often sold very well.
The better explanation is that people expected more expensive systems to take advantage of newer technologies. People then feel cheated if they have this new-fangled "3D system" with 2D games on it. We saw it with the transition from 2D to 3D, and we'll see it again with VR.
2) Having said that, NSMB is a good example of fan burnout, when it came out on the wii it was fresh and exciting but many fans and critics have since complained about how samey the series has become with all the versions of it
3) Mario Galaxy was also there to push the series forward, keeping the franchise relevant, I know you said you prefer NSMB, and that is fine, it is a fantastic game, but the vast majority of fans hold galaxy 1 and 2 as the best games in the series and it is held in a much higher regard than NSMB.
People have all sort of opinions. Some people think NSMB was stale, some people didn't like Galaxy. I thought Galaxy was boring. Bought and sold with a yawn.
Plenty of people agree and disagree.Do you think that if NSMB was released on the N64 it would have been as well recieved as it was? Do you think it would have been as successful as Mario 64?
I can't say about Mario exactly, but Mega Man X4 is proof that a continuation of the same, even after the tech-fetishists demanded change, could still do very well.
I do agree with you that many series fail when they try and transition into something new, which is probably the reason why so many IP's eventually die out. Sonic is a good example of a series which has still not found its footing and floundered for years. A series, when it is updated well, tends to keep the "spirit" (for lack of a better word) of its source material. You said that someone who likes 2d metroid may not enjoy 3d metroid, and I agree, but I would argue the vast number of metroid fans enjoy the prime series because, despite a radical shift in just about everything, it kept the spirit of what makes a metroid game a metroid game.
I think rather it's because Metroid Prime is a good game regardless of its lineage. If we never had Metroid and Super Metroid, Prime would still be well-regarded.
As for MMX4, it may have been well received and may have outsold legends, but X5, X6, and MM8 were universally panned, I enjoyed them but it does further demonstrate the point that fans will get burnt out on something if it does not evolve. I personally am the type of gamer who can play a game series he likes forever. I have played all 11 mainline mega man games and at least a dozen fan games and romhacks, as well as games inspired by mega man. I literally cant get enough, but I do not speak for the majority, the fact is, and this is a fact because we see it time and time and time again, if a series does not try and do something different, enough fans will lose interest to hurt sales, causing the series to die out.
According to the Japanese publication Famitsu, Mega Man X5 was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its release week at 46,033 copies sold.[32] It placed at number eight the following week with an additional 22,963 copies sold.[33] Media Create sales information showed that the game was 96th best-selling video game in Japan during 2000.[34] Dengeki Online reported that Mega Man X5 sold a total of 215,687 copies in Japan by the end of 2001, listing it as the 132nd best-selling game of the year in the region.[35] The game was eventually re-released as part of Sony's PlayStation The Best for Family range of budget titles in Japan.
And this was
after the PS2 had come out. Seems like a Western problem to me where people were just in love with new tech.
Maybe I'm biased. In 2001, though I had a PS2, most of my time was spent playing older consoles or Atari collections. If I got sick of a series, it's because the series lost its way, lacked imagination, or, yes, felt stale, but not because it kept doing what its predecessor did best. And that radical change? I never cared for 3D outside of racing and first-person games. Maybe if developers spent their time polishing an excellent 2D game, it'd make money. I'm not saying you can't innovate, but
There are other factors at play. I think the early 2010s was a sort of renaissance for 2D games, which is why you see them popping up left and right. I don't think it's a nostalgia thing for exactly ten years ago, but rather a confluence of factors. Online stores on the Wii and PS3 meant older titles were available again, and people suddenly realized that gameplay > flash in the pan tech demos. It wasn't just Mario and Mega Man, but also Street Fighter and Marvel v. Capcom and Mortal Kombat and Sonic (with Sonic 4). The last 2D Sonic on a home console was 16 years before Sonic 4, not 10, and happened at the same time that all these other 2D revivals happened. It also coincided with peak indie 2D games like Braid (2008) and Super Meat Boy (2010) and the 2D iPhone/Android games like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies (both 2009).
(Marvel v. Capcom suffered a unique blow in that Capcom lost the license to Marvel characters. But the 2D Smash series was stronger than ever throughout. Melee on GameCube was a big hit. And Smash now is the best selling fighter out there.)
If people got sick of it, it was because there was a glut of
bad games, not a glut of good games, in that style.
