[DarrenMcLeod]

Yeah, Crash Bandicoot had his own racing game on Playstation back when his name meant something. (OMG MARIO KILLAR!)

Do I think that the Mario thing is a little ridiculous? Yes. NBA Street crossed the line. They don't belong there AT ALL. It was a horrible idea.

Now, Mario Kart is a franchise, and has been for ages, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers NEED the franchise characters to give them personality. Mario Kart wouldn't be fun with realistic drivers.

As far as creating new characters in a Nintendo game, it wouldn't have the marketing power. Top Spin Tennis is (apparently) a better tennis game than Mario Tennis. I haven't played it, so I wouldn't know, but I've heard great things. But what I do know is I've never heard anyone talk about Top Spin Tennis. My buddy owns XBox, and loves XBox Live. He also loves playing Mario Tennis with me and our buddies. But he still hasn't bought Top Spin, and won't. Strange draw that a franchise has on people.

I don't see what's wrong with franchise characters if it is their own game. I'd rather see Mario Party with Mario than with a bunch of other characters because I know the personalities of all the Nintendo characters, and the characters they introduce in other games (WarioWare for example) don't seem to have the same life. I wish WarioWare featured Mario and the gang rather than the weird cartoony guys in that game.

Talking about Microsoft not using "Master Chief Kart" is ridiculous, because he wouldn't work in anything but a shooter because of his character. The beauty of the Mushroom Kingdom is it is such a universal group of characters that can work in everything.