Nintendo's new IP bombs spectacularly in the U.S.!

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It was more due to the way the character models looked than the bright colors.

It was the darkest colored of the games in the West.

Got it today and have played a few levels, it is pretty good. What I have been surprised with is that despite the whole turn based thing there is actually aspects that can require quicker thought or exploration. I can have characters move to pick things up without actually using up their movement, but also moving too slowly in front of an enemy who may have stored "steam" from their turn can get you attacked, and where exactly you aim at an enemy or place yourself on a square can have weight. I actually think that the fact that characters can do multiple things in a turn or perhaps strike an enemy as they run in front of them since they stored enough energy in the turn, actually fixes some gripes I have had with playing Awakening. It becomes an interesting juggle of how much to dedicate to going offensive, moving, approaching enemies, and the environment where you can be ambushed because you were not paying attention or some things can help deal damage. And it has so far been a fairly good punishment if you are reckless.

I couldn't get myself to finish the game, so I sold it.

[quote="xenocity"]Tonight the NPD sales were leaked on Neogaf.

Oh Jesus thank god! I visit neogaf quite a bit and thought you were talking about splatoon. I could care less and give not a single s**t to the 3DS sales of that game.....What is it called. Code named steam? I mean sure it looks great, and neat. But, not really my style.

To be honest, as much as I love the 3DS and a bunch of there games. I really want the NX to come out already. Monster Hunter X looks great, but I am ready for new hardware.

Good write up though OP

Well, that's kind of sad. I've played quite a few games by IS, and I liked them a lot.
I'd never heard of the one you mentioned though. In my opinion, Nintendo hasn't done a great job with marketing.

Though the only way I usually find out about games anymore is through the Nintendo newsletters, or if one of the people I'm subscribed to on youtube does a playthrough or review.


I don't really like the American video game market much. There are so many great Japanese games that were never officially released here. At least we have emulators...

This....this pisses me off too. I mean NoA put out Nintendogs ( 4 versions? effing waste...then 3 versions of the pointless sequel nobody asked for ), a cookbook on DS, a DS pedometer peripheral, 100 novels on a DS card ( you know, because people bought DS's to READ )...but no NA localization for gems like Mother 3, Marvelous: Another Treasure Island, Tomato Adventure, Magical Vacation, Rhythm Tengoku, Chosoju Mecha MG, Archaic Sealed Heat, Giftpia, Captain Rainbow, Fatal Frame IV, Fatal Frame 2 Wii edition, Zengeki No Reginleiv, 7 of the Fire Emblem games ( literally HALF the series, counting the new game coming to 3DS ), Soma Bringer, Jet Impulse, the Card Hero games, For the Frog the Bell Tolls, Chibi-Robo!: Happy Richie Osoji, Line Attack Heroes, X, Tetra's Trackers ( part of Four Swords Adventures in Japan ), Joy Mecha Fight or Devil World? SMH....oh, and the first 4 Starfy games never got localized either...which bugs me since the series is among the best platformers ever ( IMO, better than the NSMB series by a wide margin )

Most of those aren't even made by Nintendo and third parties show no interest in bringing over their games.
Nearly all the bolded ones were passed on due to ESRB not willing to give them a good rating due to content (Especially Giftpa, Captain Rainbow and others)

Most also were shown to North American retailers who refused to stock them because they didn't think they'd sell enough.

North American Retailers do not want to stock low selling and niche games, hence why games like Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii was passed by all the major retailers but Gamestop (Gamestop was the only one willing to stock the game).
Nintendo has no way to force retailers to stock games.

Stafy on DS bombed so bad in the U.S. and in the EU, you probably will never see another Stafy game come to the West again.

Fatal Frame IV and II remake are tied up in a legal dispute over the rights to publication and copyrights in the West.

The Last Story (Wii) was the best selling Xseed published game to date (Nintendo let them publish it in the West because they didn't think it would sell). The game only sold ~200k+

Pandora's Tower (Wii) bombed spectacularly in the West...


As for FE 2-6, Nintendo had no internal translation department until 1994 when Tree House was created.
No company was wiling to translate the Fire Emblem games because market research showed their was no demand in the U.S. and in Europe for them.
This was coming off of the massive bomb that was Dragon Quest 1-3 in the West.

Fire Emblem 7 (FE GBA in West) was the best selling 2D FE game in the West.
Sacred Stones, Shadow Dragon (remake of FE1 on DS), Path of Radiance (GC) and Radiant Dawn (Wii) sold significantly less than the previous games, leading to FE3 remake on DS not getting a Western Release.

Though Fire Emblem: Awakening is the best selling title in the West and in the whole franchise.
The reason why it did so well in West was due to it being a the first full 3D title, it being easier for most people to get into and more streamlined game.

Tetra Trackers was literally mocked and laughed out of E3 the year it was shown by the press and attendants, to the point that Nintendo never released it out side of Japan.


Anyways Nintendogs has sold almost 30 million worldwide (including 3DS games), which is on par with most Maddens, FIFAs, Call of Dutys, Assassins Creed, etc...

Nintendogs has sold over double the total amount of Fire Emblem series, almost double that of Kirby series, almost as much as Donkey Kong, and etc...

Nintendo has announced that Fatal Frame V is coming this October to the U.S., while New Fire Emblem is coming in early 2016 as is Bravely Default 2.

New Fire Emblem releases in a few weeks in Japan and has completely revamped the battle system and weapons.

....sometimes (okay, most of the time) I really hate the gaming community in the US. If it's not full of guns and blood and "mature" (hah) content, it's not wanted! Exasperated sigh and facepalm.

Though frankly, most retailers just suck anyway when it comes to gaming in general even for the games they DO stock (I cant stand *any* of them, no exceptions). I'm so glad digital downloads have become a thing. I didnt have to go stand in line at the damn Gamestop at midnight or something when Smash or Splatoon came out (they probably did a midnight opening for Smash, I have no idea; I downloaded it in a hotel room at a convention. Very, very slowly) or worry about wether they'd run out or screw up their shipment (again). Just BAM, downloaded, in about 5-7 minutes in most cases. Dont have to deal with that idiotic store. And the less said about all of the other stores, the better. They dont exactly allocate much space to gaming, being generalized stores instead of specialized.

It's too bad though that simple importing of games doesnt really work for many if you dont know Japanese. I've mostly only needed to import shmups, but there's been the occaisional other thing that I'd like to have, but that would be unplayable as I cant understand a single word of Japanese.

It really depends on you area what gets stocked.

I prefer buying my games at Meijer (use on mPerks rewards on them to get them cheaper), Gamestop (Well my local one is better than Best Buy, Target, and Walmart and I get enough rewards points for coupons), Best Buy occasionally has a good sale, same goes for target.

Amazon is also good for niche releases if you want a physical game.

I almost always buy physical!

GameStop did do a midnight release of both Splatoon and Smash (Wii U), giving way lots of free swag.
I got a few posters and a Smash championship belt made of card board at the Smash (Wii U) midnight release.

Fatal Frame maybe, but literally EVERYTHING ELSE is a Nintendo owned game made by first and second party developers. I don't give a shtako about how well Nintendogs sold, it's a pile of excrement that isn't even a real game and shouldn't have been given the Pokemon-esque multiple version treatment. Grr...it really grinds my gears that people only ever seem to care about games if they're either super casual ( Angry Birds, Nintendogs ) or hyper violent M rated affairs...and ffs dood, stop pissing in my Cheerios every time I mention something like this. Starfy is great, and anybody who refused to play it for being "kiddy" is too ret*d for anything beyond Madden & CoD; I still have hopes of seeing VC releases for the first 4 games, and maybe new entries on 3DS & Wii U...

Don't go dissing Nintendogs!
It's a great dog simulator and one of the best virtual pet simulators of all times if not the best simulator of all times.
I love Nintendogs, I probably should check in on my 3DS version...

The point is, sales do matter when it comes to production and localization.
Companies aren't going to release a game that will bomb hard.

I get how you feel, because many games I like aren't big sellers...

...B5