[Hypothetical] What would happen if the Mario franchise ended?

[winstein]

As a preface, the Mario franchise is one of the biggest and most successful video game IPs meaning that it has no signs of stopping, so we don't need to worry about that happening. This topic is merely just discussing a hypothetical scenario, and I outline it as such to hopefully quell any concerns.

The thrust of this topic is how overreactive the netizens got when remakes of Mario games had a limited release and they stopped production on the 31st of March, 2021, because this caused the joke of Mario's imminent death to gain a lot of traction for how public the expiry date was. Even the Mario Wiki is in on the joke, in which the April Fool's is themed around it. So that brings us to the topic since until now people still joked about it: what would happen if one day, the Mario series stops being made?

Perhaps the question can be tackled in both a personal and a holistic view. For example, in a personal viewpoint, I would really miss Mario as a series because it's quite a lovely series, and what Mario has achieved is spectacular. In a holistic view, there will be various companies scrambling to be the next big thing to replace the vacant position left behind by Mario, whether it could be SEGA promoting Sonic to be put into this position or even Nintendo themselves might put other IPs like Zelda or Animal Crossing in the spotlight.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Teedgee]

I feel like if the franchise was to die, it would take some time for fans to realize so, maybe about a year after the last game they'd be like "hey hold on, it's been forever since the last mario game. hey nintendo where's the new mario game", only for them to keep begging nintendo to make a new game for years until they admit that mario in fact, died. and thus mario would become one of those forgotten video game mascots like bubsy or earthworm jim

 

[zel]

marios my most favorite series and has been for years so i would be very very sad

 

[Gloriosa Daisy]

Mario fan games and ripoffs would be produced like crazy

 

[PaperMario77]

Mario fan games and ripoffs would be produced like crazy

Either way, if Mario actually ended, Nintendo would still have the Mario license.

 

[Ray Trace]

Hell will freeze over before the Mario franchise ends.

But anyway, if Mario as a franchise suddenly stopped, I think it's a bit sad (and its said fall would be like, more of a iconic symbolic impact than anything) but it wouldn't be such a gigantic loss for me. I think the modded games I have, I'm already set for life with them, such as Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart, The Sims 4, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spore: Galactic Adventures, Garry's Mod, Left 4 Dead 2, GTA V, etc. Plus there are plenty of amazing games out there that I haven't even touched, Mario isn't even close to being my favorite 2D platformer (that would go to Rayman and Kirby). Sonic would likely still be there, hopefully making Sonic & Sega Racing games series too because I love Transformed. I don't think anything else can quite replace the Sports and Party games though, but they haven't even made something like Strikers or Baseball in a long while anyway so...RPGs wouldn't be a huge loss, Paper Mario is fine, just exists for me, but Mario & Luigi is already dead so....

It's not like Baby Luigi would be playable in many of those games anyway.

 

[Movie Bowser]

The world would collapse on itself and we would be transformed into a Mad Max style society where we all fight over Mario games.

 

[Ray Trace]

The world would collapse on itself and we would be transformed into a Mad Max style society where we all fight over Mario games.

We already fight over Mario games lol, have you checked the prices of the GameCube games on eBay?

 

[zel]

boy if only nintendo like. stopped being stubborn. and rereleased gamecube games, and others that have seen barely any if any rereleases. a thing that would theoretically be easy to do and just get them more money. fr though where is this???? no one should pay a thousand or more dollars just to play paper mario legally??????

 

[PaperMario77]

Paper Mario TTYD and any game before Super Paper Mario wont release on the switch for one reason each.
TTYD wont release on the switch because of the button layout.
SPM wont release on the switch because of terrible motion controls,
and 64 wont release on the switch because Nintendo says Nintendno.
If only we could get the Switch 2 to happen.

 

[Ray Trace]

boy if only nintendo like. stopped being stubborn. and rereleased gamecube games, and others that have seen barely any if any rereleases. a thing that would theoretically be easy to do and just get them more money. fr though where is this???? no one should pay a thousand or more dollars just to play paper mario legally??????

They rather spend their time going after Kaptain K. Rool but you know, he always comes back...

 

[Gloriosa Daisy]

It's especially dissappointing that the Wii U didn't have GameCube games on the eShop like it did Wii games because it has the hardware capacity to play them without software emulation (which Nintendont taps into but you need an iso for that, a legal copy still requires ridiculous amounts of money) and if it had had GC games, it would've had the most notable Nintendo games on home consoles from every generation up to and including its own, that on top of two generations of handheld titles.

I'm so glad I've got my copy of the thousand year door which has since gone way up in price since I got mine, and have backed it up using CleanRip. Haven't actually figured out how to play on the Nintendont so that I could play it on the gamepad in off tv mode

Yeah I guess this is would become of Mario if it was ended since that's how Nintendo treated GC games besides those that were lucky to get remastered like the Wind Waker

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

It's not like Baby Luigi would be playable in many of those games anyway.

But Baby Luigi merch will dry out and you'll be stuck with your only Baby Luigi toys for life

 

[Ray Trace]

That's fine.

I'll get Protector budsies for my ever-expanding cast.

I'm not jealous or anything.

Not. Jealous.

I don't need Baby Luigi Knex.

Or Baby Luigi Hot Wheels.

Or Baby Luigi figuarts figures.

I'm fine.

 

[Toasty Toad]

I bet some random person will be treating their very old Hotel Mario game they found in the basement as if it was man´s greatest treasure.
This will thrive

 

[winstein]

boy if only nintendo like. stopped being stubborn. and rereleased gamecube games, and others that have seen barely any if any rereleases. a thing that would theoretically be easy to do and just get them more money. fr though where is this???? no one should pay a thousand or more dollars just to play paper mario legally??????

This is the thing that gets me: rereleasing Gamecube games would be lucrative because they were never really re-released, and I don't believe that was the case with the Wii despite the backwards compatibility since sales for Gamecube games apparently didn't receive a second wind from it. Besides, there is a clear demand for Gamecube games based on the exorbitant prices of the existing games, and there are already too many Wii U ports in a short time.

Here's hoping that the Super Mario Sunshine experiment was satisfactory enough to lead the charge of rereleasing Gamecube games.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Princess Viola]

There'd be like a million YouTubers posting their 'Here's how Nintendo can bring back Mario' idea videos every week.

 

[Paper Mario]

It's hard for me to even picture this reality with how popular and iconic Mario is now. If Nintendo for whatever reason decided to kill off Mario for good, it would be seen as a suicide for the company since he's their biggest icon. Their Mickey Mouse. Nintendo would need to be falling on hard times and Mario is the last franchise they'd sacrifice imo. I even think they'd go third party before quitting Mario games. Like how Sonic is still around even though Sega doesn't make consoles anymore.