For the very first time, Mario will not be a part of the starting line up of games for a new Nintendo system. The 3DS will not see Mario as a launch game.

Forget its glasses-free 3D, the Nintendo 3DS is unlike any Nintendo video game before it because it will debut without Mario or Luigi. The previous nine major gaming machines from Nintendo — all of the big ones, from NES to Wii — had these guys.

The Mario-shaped hole emerged today when Nintendo released its 3DS gaming launch line-up for the U.S. Scheduled for launch day on March 27, there was Pilotwings: Resort, a flying game that doesn’t star Mario. There was Steel Diver, a game about submarines, not plumbers. There was Nintendogs + Cats ( – Mario – Luigi).

Nintendo usually doesn’t keep Mario from us. He (or Luigi!) has starred in a game that has launched each of the nine main gaming machines ever produced by the company.

Here’s the list, console name on the left, U.S. launch-day Mario-related game on the right.

• Nintendo Entertainment System – Super Mario Bros. (technically out about a month or so after the NES’ initial limited-release launch but considered a launch game by the time the system was released widely)

• Super NES – Super Mario World

• Gameboy – Super Mario Land

• Nintendo 64 -Super Mario 64

• Virtual Boy – Mario’s Tennis

• Game Boy Advance – Super Mario Advance

• GameCube – Luigi’s Mansion

• Nintendo DS – Super Mario 64 DS

• Wii – … [This system launched with a Zelda game, not a Mario game, though Super Mario 64 was made available for download to the Wii on day one.]

Sure, there were other hardware spin-offs in between, but why count the GBA SP or the DSi like it was a brand-new system? They weren’t. The above all were, and they all had Mario Mario or Luigi Mario in a lead role.

Nintendo had a chance of keeping their Mario Bros. streak alive, had they launched their new 3DS game-download eShop alongside the 3DS. Maybe they could have offered a downloadable copy of Super Mario Land or some other Mario Game Boy title. The eShop, however, won’t be activated until May.

No wonder Nintendo is promising a 3DS Mario Kart by year’s end.

witch_king via kotaku.com.au »