Then there are games, like you said, that don’t need storylines (Tetris, Peggle, Street Fighter, etc.) I put those in the same category as a movie which doesn’t need a storyline to stand on it’s own, look at some popular action flicks or anything with Van Dam or an action/fighter. Sure, many of them have some weak story or plot but realistically, you’re there to watch the action/karate/judo or whatever.

Once upon a time the WWF (now WWE) didn’t have a storyline but over the years they’ve changed. Why? To attract a broader audience (read: females) and try to make people continue to tune in. As things got bigger they needed to change it up to draw in a crowd on a weekly basis much like a soap opera. With a static set of wrestlers you can only see the same guys battle it out over and over before you’re bored, but if one turns bad and the other good or they get into some heated fight over some pretty women or an ex-husbands fathers sons dog then things change and people tune in.

I think you can apply that logic to a video game, games that have awesome quick replay value and are light on cost will often do well without the storyline. But when you’ve got a game that may be tedious to replay over and over (like those same wrestlers battling it out) you need something to break it up a bit, that’s where story plays its part.

Perhaps some games can only be designed if they have a strong story, perhaps a few can go either way while others would be over-done or too complicated with a story.

I don’t know where Super Paper Mario fits but it would have been fine with a bit lighter dialog and a little more action.