What If Nintendo Had Followed Sega's Direction During The 2000s?

Wallace Ulysses

Wallace Ulysses

World's Greatest Waluigi Fan
MarioWiki
ClawgripFan9001
As we all know, Mario was pretty much at the top of his game (no pun intended) during the mid-to-late 2000s with smash hit games such as the first two New Super Mario Bros. Games, the first Super Mario Galaxy game, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story et cetera, while Sonic was having his hits and misses with gimmicky story-oriented games like Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight and so on. But what if Nintendo decided to follow what Sega was doing with Sonic during the back half of the 2000s by having Mario starring in the same gimmicky story-oriented games that Sonic also starred in?

Would we then perhaps have seen an Arabian Nights-styled Mario game where he, Luigi, Peach and Toad team up with their Arabian family counterparts from Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic? And if so, would it have been called Super Mario Sandcombers to go along with the Arabian theme? Subsequently, what improvements would it make in both story and gameplay where Sonic and the Secret Rings went wrong?

Or would we then perhaps have seen a Luigi's Mansion game inspired by Sonic Unleashed where Luigi was cursed by King Boo where he would turn into a werewolf when exposed to moonlight if he happened to pass through moonlit areas in the mansion (or mansions, plural, if there were multiple mansions in the game) where the game takes place? If so, how would the werewolf element play into the usual ghostbusting element of the Luigi's Mansion series? And would the game be called Luigi's Mansion: The Lycan Curse if it had actually been conceived?

Finally, would we then perhaps have seen a Wario game inspired by Sonic and the Black Knight where Wario would be transported to a medieval setting during a routine treasure hunt gone awry, take up a sword and other medieval weaponry whilst fighting against knights, dragons, and other medieval uglies while he tries to a find a way home? Would it have been called Wario Warrior as a clever nod to Dragon Quest's original English name, Dragon Warrior? Subsequently, what improvements would the game make in the story and gameplay where Sonic and the Black Knight went wrong?
 
Sega is a good video game company too and Sonic is overall a good and classic franchise but I think if Nintendo had followed Sega's direction toward the 2000s it would have been all over the place, with some things being good and others being complete disasters, like what happened with Sonic during those years. Personally though, despite all the mistakes Sega has made with the Sonic franchise at times, I think it's still a good franchise, and even the stuff that wasn't so good with Sonic I enjoy. But yeah. If Nintendo followed Sega's direction during the 2000s, it would have been somewhat chaotic.
 
If Nintendo had gone the SEGA route, they would also step down from being First-Party developers. What would've happened if Sonic became more popular than Mario and Nintendo didn't make any new consoles?
 
@Tepig I personally don't think such a thing is possible because Sonic has always been less popular than Mario partly (or maybe largely) because Mario was on the scene way earlier, with Mario coming out in the early 80s and Sonic not coming out until 1991.
 
I mean the problem wasn't that Sonic was doing gimmicky things. The problem was that the games just weren't very good or fun to play.
 
Mcmadness said:
I mean the problem wasn't that Sonic was doing gimmicky things. The problem was that the games just weren't very good or fun to play.
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I think Sonic '06 is probably the most infamous one from that time period. Objectively it's probably the worst Sonic game ever made. But at least it's fun to watch complete playthroughs of it and laugh at all the glitchy gameplay.
 
There are some things I wish Mario would take cues from Sonic on. Namely, Sonic has more serious and ambitious stories in a lot of his mainline games, while Mario avoids this in his biggest hitters. I think the Mario RPGs are a look into the potential the Mario universe has for that kind of stuff, and I'm well known for considering (most of) them my favorite entries in the franchise for that reason. So if they did that kind of thing but in the games that reach more people, it could go incredibly hard. Most people don't think Mario is capable of having more serious stories, and won't ever be exposed to the games that prove that sentiment wrong (unless a mainline game does it).

Do I think it should also force awkward gameplay gimmicks or release unfinished messes? Nah pass on that. But if other mascot platformers can have serious stories in their mainline games so can Mario. At least give it a chance, I know a lot of people are skeptical that it'll never work but i don't think it's that cut and dry at all.
 
Most people don't think Mario is capable of having more serious stories, and won't ever be exposed to the games that prove that sentiment wrong (unless a mainline game does it).
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Hi, I'm a person who think Mario is incapable of having more "serious" stories (I use the term "serious" very loosely because we're talking "seriously" in terms of E-rated, 6+ rated storylines here) simply because the franchise is not built for it, period.
 
@Xiahou Ba I'd rather Mario stay the way it is too. Making it more serious and gritty just wouldn't feel to me like Mario and as much as as an adult I like serious and gritty stuff a lot I also want some lighthearted stuff I enjoy too and Mario is perfect for that. I like to have balance and variety with my entertainment.