Nintendo puts out the "right number of Mario games based on what fans are asking for"

Nintendo has said it puts out the "right number of Mario games based on what fans are asking for," according to NoA senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta.

Speaking with Shack, Scibetta said the games are also based on what the developer's "creative visions are," and as long as there is some innovation, it's the "right call."

"The key to that is as long as there's innovation is occurring within the gameplay, as long as there's new features, then marrying the characters and the IPs that people love is the right call from our standpoint," he said. "You could call all the games that we're making here new IP in the sense that they're new gameplay experiences. They just happen to also have the IP that people associate with."

"If you look at something like Super Mario 3D World, the gameplay on that one that I find really cool is those transparent warp points. Usually you used to go into one and pop out the other, and that was the end of the gameplay experience. Now, there's a whole dynamic there where you can navigate in there, try to avoid enemies, try to get a better advantage. You could theoretically make a whole new game with those kind of gameplay dynamics.

"If we didn't put Mario on it, then it would just seem like a new IP. Because there's those new gameplay dynamics like that, we think there's the innovation there that will keep people interested and keep the Mario brand fresh."

Super Mario 3DS Land arrives in December on Wii U.