In the early '90s, Nintendo famously backed out of a deal with Sony to create a CD add-on for the SNES—a move that indirectly led Sony to create the PlayStation . To smooth over a similar failing partnership with , Nintendo granted them the rights to use Mario and Zelda characters on their own console, the Philips CD-i .
When fans and historians look for the "least popular" Mario game, they often find themselves in the early 1990s, where a bizarre corporate divorce birthed a title that Nintendo has spent decades trying to forget: (1994) . The Story of a Mistake What's the LEAST popular Mario game?
: The game is most infamous today for its low-budget, oddly voiced animated cutscenes . These clips became "YouTube Poop" legends decades later, but at the time, they were seen as a bizarre and low-quality departure from Nintendo's high standards . In the early '90s, Nintendo famously backed out
: The CD-i controller was notoriously bad for traditional gaming, making Mario’s movements feel sluggish and unresponsive . The Story of a Mistake : The game
: Because the CD-i console itself was a commercial failure, Hotel Mario likely sold fewer than a million copies—a fraction of what any mainline Mario title achieved . Other "Least Popular" Contenders