I think the older Mario fans (and users of this board) are getting to a point in life where they're too busy to poke around on a Mario message board and younger fans aren't coming in at a replacement rate. Then there's what TheMightyThor brought up: Kids today have so much forms of entertainment to choose from . Besides videog ames and iOS games and what not, there's skype, and Twitch, and Youtube. Probably other things I'm not hip enough to know about, even. If Mario is still bringing in the kiddies at a high rate, then they seem to be congregating somewhere else. If Mario isn't bringing in the kiddies, then the truth is far too horrible to contemplate. : (