Dear Jim,
I agree.
Sincerely, me.
I could leave now but...eh, what the hell.
I grew up with Nintendo. I was a Nintendo follower for the longest time. Even when my parents bought us a PS1 instead of a 64, I had high hopes of getting one someday. Or a GameCube, when it was released later on. But once I opened my eyes to other franchises and went back and compared them, Nintendo started falling behind. The Wii was the finishing blow.
Mario games were awesome for a while. But it's true; Nintendo ran out of tricks and they're just doing the same thing over and over again. When they released New Super Mario for both DS and Wii, I thought it was a bit cheap. I mean, you didn't exactly get Mario 64 for the Gameboy Color, right? Or Mario World for the original Gameboy, right? But alright, I though. They're allowing people with different systems to play the same game. I suppose that's okay.
But then Mario 64 DID come out for the DS. And Mario Kart. Okay, I said skeptically. Maybe they want the generation of kids to enjoy those games. And then they announced New Super Mario 2, which looks EXACTLY the same as the first one,except for, you know, coins. They're literally bribing you to play the new game now. "WHOOO! Coins all over the place! Buy the new game!". (Don't take that last statement too seriously, come on).
It's all about giving the player something different to look at so you can literally differentiate the first version of the game from the sequel. Games like the Jak saga this did beautifully. It was essentially the same gameplay and characters but the setting and the plot were different. Like Jim said, Zelda does the same. Characters are the same, plot's the same but now instead of exploring Hyrule while riding Epona, you ride a giant bird and surf the skies. Little change, big difference. The game simply looks different.
But looking back at Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 or New Super Mario 1 and 2 or all the Mario karts ever since Mario Kart 64, they all look the same for the most part. That's when you know you've done something wrong. You'd never look at Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess and confuse one with the other (Unless you don't like Zelda?).
Personally, I buy a Mario game every decade or so. I know I'm not missing on much. Not only that but they're making them too kid friendly nowadays. And no, it's not me getting better. They're just too easy. Mario World still gives me a challenge and even though I've played it a million times, I'm always up for another run.
Oh, and that's also the same reason why I'm apathetic towards the WiiU. Looks the same, probably feels the same (Oh, wait: "One tablet controller! Whoo! Technology! Hip and cool!"), the library of games is not that impressive or original. Maybe there's like two exceptions but that's about it. It amounts to nothing anyway.
Nintendo's getting a bit too comfortable with that repetition system. I guess they already realized they've fallen behind so much by now that there's no point in trying anymore.