The problem like I said is only partialy with nintendos "sequels sell, nothing else does" philosophy. Its true that just because of a game being a continuation to a franchise doesn't make it any more or less fun then a game that was not, and if your first experiance with a particular franchise is with one of its many sequels it should not detract from how fun it is. But, the problem is just how unquestionably old Nintendos franchises have become. Almost everyone who has ever had any interest in video games has played a game from a Nintendo franchise, and most have grown tired of the same characters they remember playing as upwords of 20 years ago.
The problem is that most people only relate to and care about particular characters for a certan ammount of time before they become stale and dull. For instance, lets compare the Star Wars movies to the Mario games. If for every two years their was a new star Wars movie made, and various spin offs or films using the main characters but had no relation or reason to use them kept being made continuously for over a dozen years, how tired would people get of it? Currently their are over 70 games that have come out starring mario. Can you honestly tell me that that is not excessive?
Some franchises have fared better then others, but the fact remains that people have grown tired of them. Even little kids prefer to play things like Grand Theft Auto instead of Mario or Zelda these days (sales figures are very real proof of this).
Another very large problem with using massive numbers of franchise characters to fill a consoles games selction is how it effects 3rd party developers. Putting the figures asside for which systems have sold how many this generation, if you were a 3rd party developer would you prefer to put your games on a system that was flooded with well known characters that would almost surly destroy any chance you had at garnering the system buyers (people who were obviously all about the games currently on the system, or franchise games) into taking a chance on your not-previously-proven game? Or would you put it on a console that didn't overwhelm its customers with characters that were established, and thus got all the media coverage?
Nintendo has in essence told any 3rd party developer who wants to make a game on their system that they will have to face off for the gamers dollar with their vast array of ever-reviving franchise games.
Oh, and as far as developers not being able to take risks, how do you explain games like Katamari Damacy, Gitaroo-Man, TAIKO: Drum Master, Mister Mosquito, Dog's Life, Stretch Panic, Mad Maestro, Under The Skin, Steel Battalion, or Voodoo Vince (all titles that are creative and/or unusual, which are on PS2 or Xbox)?
