Someone here hasn't played Mario it seems. Last time I checked Mario had secrets, different abilities, Yoshi, underwater levels and required fast reaction times, not pressing Q when prompted.
And no matter weapons, skins, hidden trophies or secrets for unlockables, different terrains, or vehicles, all things you have in a cod game, that you think make mario better, you're still following an on the rails story where you run to the right, press jump when prompted, cant leave the level without dying, and who's button complexity consists of jump, and sometimes use special ability. Events are scripted, and encounters are repetitive and one dimensional enough to be QTE.
But people like that sort of thing, or games like Mario, Angry Birds, or COD wouldn't continuously outsell the competition every time.