Its a mix of certain franchises being finely crafted and others being sacred cows people are afraid to criticise.
Mario 3D stands on its own. If you take Mario out, it's still a great game by the best at pure 3D platforms in the business.
Zelda? Not so much. Skyward Sword for example is something that was so precious to people at the time yet now gets nothing but scorn by fans of the series. The problem is they are completely locked on the conventions of the franchise. Instead of true exploration the likes of which you see in Dark Souls and Elder Scrolls you get the very same formula you've always had. One hub town and a few dungeons. It's a sacred cow, and if Brandnewsoft brought it out with a different character in this day and age people wouldn't be so kind towards it. It's the exact same place it was in the days of the N64, which was the last time any progress was made to the series.
Mario kart is exactly the same. As far as racers go, it's nothing. As far as kart games go, it's been done so many times before at this point that they can phone it in and people act like it's too big to miss. I've played many of them at some point, over familiarity is an understatement.
There have been so many trips to the mushroom kingdom that even the 2D platformers are designed with tracing paper and have been consistently outdone in recent years. Rayman games are the standard bearer and indie games like Spelunky kick New Super Mario into touch.
I'm not saying they are bad, but the name in many cases carries a lot of weight and people need them to be more than they are because without the majority of the third party they are carrying a whole console. Which is Nintendo's way, and seemingly the way their own die hard fans like it.
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