As a longtime fan of the Mario series and Nintendo as a whole, there are still quite a few things I don't understand about the fanbase and their general interests, and which I'm quite eager to know the answers to. So if anyone can give possible reasons for some of things mentioned below, that would be great. Never the less, the list of things I never quite understood about the Mario series fandom as a whole.
1. How come it overlaps so much with the Kirby fandom
First question, and something that has bugged me for quite some time, is why it seems about 95% of Mario fans are fans of the Kirby series (and especially Kirby Super Star). This is a question I just can't fathom, not because of anything bad about the Kirby series (or Mario series), but because the two series aren't that closely connected and don't have the same kind of gameplay as each other in any way.
I mean, I know why many Mario fans also like Donkey Kong Country, and I know why many fans of Donkey Kong Country like Banjo Kazooie or other Rare made games, but that's simple to explain. Donkey Kong Country was very influenced by the Mario series in gameplay and level design (and a whole host of other things). And Banjo Kazooie, as well being a good series, was pretty much the template for Donkey Kong 64, meaning there was likely going to be some overlap in fanbase.
But why are so many Mario fans also die hard fans of the Kirby series? Kirby has pretty far different gameplay mechanics, the whole eating enemies to take their powers thing, the easy levels and far more difficult bosses and the general atmosphere of the games being different, so what's the reason?