Since the Mario character was introduced in Donkey Kong in the 1980s, he’s appeared in more than 100 video games - which is about 75 too many. When Nintendo’s starts a non-Mario, non-Zelda, non-Star Fox series - such as Animal Crossing and the excellent Pikmin - the results are usually excellent, but too often the company falls back to its safety zone of another Mario game, whether he’s the focus or just making a cameo appearance. We wouldn’t ask Disney to euthanize Mickey Mouse, and Mario doesn’t need to disappear either. But with the groundbreaking creative possibilities of Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS, how about just one Mario appearance per year and more energy spent on new characters?