This entire argument is flawed in my opinon; because Wii Sports and it's success is connected to a character, the Miis, the Miis are highly valid.
I would say that more people play Mario for the gameplay than the character himself. Wouldn't you agree? So, hypothetically, if "Mario" was never created, but instead Nintendo released a game of the same exact style and gameplay starring a character named Giuseppie, you can bet that Gieuseppie would be playable in SSB.
Or if Ash started with a Clefairy instead of a Pikachu in the anime, Clefairy would be playable in SSB.
The characters are as much a representative of the medium/game they come from as they are characters themselves. That's always been my opinion, anyway.
Here's a very quick counter for this statement. Mario sells because he's Mario, people like us buy the games because of the gameplay yes, but that's because we
know better. Mario and Pikachu appeal to children, and in turn, their parents buy it for them because they ask for it, and Nintendo knows this. Look at the vast amount of Mario or Pikachu themed merchandise, yeah, not games, but shirts, bags, toys, etc. with Mario or Pikachu slapped on it, they allow them to be put on those things to make a portion of the profit because they know that
the characters sell. Now look around, how much merchandise do you see for Miis besides the actual games? It's almost non-existent. Nintendo knows that the gameplay and motion control gimmicks are what sells games with Miis in them, not Miis.
There were already a plethora of titles for the Wii where the motion controls amounted to no more than random shakes of the Wiimote, yet very few of those sold nearly the levels that Wii Music did. Without the Wii name and the Mii characters, that game wouldn't even be a blip on the radar, ofc it was the established features from prior games that moved units for Wii Music, if people simply bought it to wave their arms around like idiots, there would be many many many more multi-million selling Wii titles.
To the former, yes. To the latter, yes. However, you overestimate many casuals. Many casuals don't know what the game they've purchased is composed of past the title of the game and the boxart. This is where brand recognition comes into play. They pick up a Wii, they play Wii Sports, and they become attuned to the Wii brand and the Miis, and that's what they look for in future purchases. If people wanted to make music, there are a number of better games to do that than Wii Music, yet Wii Music is the one with the recognizable brand. I bet many casuals didn't even fully know what games like Wii Play and Wii Party were comprised of prior to purchasing them, yet they both sold into the millions, largely because of their brand.
The Miis are Nintendo All-Stars. You might disagree, even if I disagreed it wouldn't matter. Because that's clearly how Nintendo treats them, and I see no reason why Sakurai wouldn't.
That brand recognition isn't Miis, it is, as you said, the Wii name, and in turn Nintendo itself. There's an official Nintendo seal for a reason. They know they can trust it, so they buy it, not because Miis are on it, but because Nintendo itself is trustworthy to them.
In all honesty, no, I don't think they are all-stars. But I really wouldn't care if they did get in, I like debate for the sake of debate.
