Pokemon struggles on Wii

That's a fierce looking Charmeleon.

Console Pokemon games suck anyways, it's not a huge surprise.

Now what the Wii needs is a new Pokemon Snap, that'd be fun.

maybe it has something to do with the fact that NEARLY 2/3rds OF THE PEOPLE WHO WANT A WII STILL CANT GET ONE!!!


bitter much? yes, yes I am

First time Nintendo's ever spoken of sales in shipments. Hm. The Pokemon games on the handhelds have always been good, while the console-based Pokemon Stadium-type games have sucked ever since the GameCube.

They really need to adapt the 2D game into a true 3D game, not some stupid watered down way of catching wild-Pokemon or 'saving the world'. They need to take the original Pokemon Red/Blue/Green and adapt it to 3D with capturing Wild Pokemon, put the REAL voices of the Pokemon, voice the NPCs and then make it at the VERY LEAST available to battle online.

Or, better yet, Pokemon MMO. I'd grab that off a shelf in a split second.

Pokemon just ain't made for stationary consoles...

If they for once made a proper rpg pokemon liek the handheld versions instead of that crappy stadium fighting nonsense, then it would sell tonnes.

Maybe if the game could hold itself up instead of being dependant on the DS games it would do better. It is prolly easier for the Japanese just to play multi with the DS instead of goofing with Wii online.

Aeris has a good point though, Pokemon is an evolution of the card game, where you meet up with your friends in a portable atmosphere. The RPGs and running around trying to "catch them all" really fits well to the portable nature. Trying to put that on a stationary console is bound to have its share of adoption difficulties.

Question, does wii sports not come bundled in japan? If it does, then i would say that selling only 2000 less copies than total new consoles for the same period is actually not a deathnell. you have to imagine that people who have had their wii's for a month may not be at the new game point yet, whereas new wii buyers are mostly picking up a copy of pokemon with their initial purchase is a good thing.

even if they are both only sold separately, selling only 2000 less than the flagship buzz generating game of the system isn't bad either.

Colosseum and XD were fairly good games that you didn't need the GBA versions to play (though it did enhance the experience). I wish I understood why they went back to the stadium-style game. Looks like this one will be a dud.

Oh god...why am I not surprised that, once again, James Ransom-Wiley distorts ever single piece of evidence and posts a flat-out lie about Nintendo. You hate the Wii, we get it. Move on. (or someone fire him, PLEASE)

The game sold to like one in every twelve Wii owner. In its first week. That is NOT bad. If it fails to every crack a few hundred thousand in its life, then that's week. But this is not. You can't sell a game if only so much of its target audience own the system. Get your facts straight.

any chance this is b/c many of the Pokemon nuts who want this game (or anything Pokemon) won't buy it until they're able to get their hands on a Wii?

maybe that's all that shipped?

all reports said it sold out at retailers.

All I know is that selling just behind Wii Sports is a pretty big accomplishment, since Wii Sports is the best game ever made.

It's not that suprising, really. This Wii title just ENHANCES the DS version, making it essential the spiritual heir to Staduim for the 64. Difference is, you can battle just fine online with JUST the DS. I mean really, battling on a big screen in 3D with 480p visuals might be cool now and again, but it isn't neccessary or required.

Nintendo has sold Pokemon stadium fighting games HOW many times now? The first one was for the N64, using the original Gameboy games!

I am not at all surprised this one's selling badly.

Damn, pills Artimus. Invest in some.

Fact: Pokemon Wii is nothing more than stadium battling and since Nintendo enabled the online feature for Nintendo DS, it limits Wii's appeal to begin with.

Fact: I suppose there is some use for this version of Pokemon considering it actually has that super cool new thing called "animation" instead of just bouncing a sprite up and down to indicate "attacking." But all in all, it has a very limited appeal since, as many people have mentioned, it is a step back.

Fact: Pokemon Wii fell before MGS: Portable Ops.... let that sink in. A PSP games debut outsold a Wii games debut.

Fact: Nintendo can, and does make mistakes and as many people, and the sales, agree, this Pokemon Wii game was half-developed, half-assed, and barely packaged before it was shoved out the door.

@6 - Artimus

Ok, calm down dude, it was reported as a news item, nothing more. And it hasnt done as well as executives would have hoped. He HAS actually got his facts straight there. In fact, it's such a small article, that there's no room for anything BUT facts.

Chill bro.

Is wii sports not a packin title in japan?

MGS: PO sold 100,000 on it's launch day. This game sold less than 70,000 on it's first week.

I think that it is a pretty good indicative that this game sucks.

He dicho.

Amount of sales is only an estimate on a products perceived quality.

So NO. Sales != Quality

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't New Years the big holiday in Japan? So January sales would be more of a success indicator than December sales.

And Artimus is right. 65,000 is more than most games ever sell. Getting that in one week isn't struggling.

The console based stadium type thingies have never sold very much compared to the handheld series, so this was entirely expected, likely even by Nintendo themselves.

But of course, leave it up to the little hater kiddies to make it into something more than it really is.

Most games don't lend themselves to being played online anyway. I hope this teachs Nintendo that and they don't try to squeeze online play into every title they make like Microsoft tries to get people to do. I keep hearing people crying out for stuff like Mario Kart online, but when you get it and try it, it's only fun for 15 minutes or so, and then the novelty wears off and you end up looking all over for other people who have a DS and a copy of the game so you can enjoy some real multi with some real people...

This is a reality check to the people who claim lack of Online games was the reason the Cube didn't win last time. Nobody actually cared, and we still don't care.

Online is Overrated.

Comparing sales of a PSP game to sales of a Wii game is stupid.

Good, I'm glad. Maybe this will force Nintendo to make the first North America online game to be a a real game like COD3 instead of that Pocket Monsters crap.

Why why WHY do they only give us stadium games? Are they just too lazy to make the graphics for a proper RPG? I thought I would get this until I found out for sure that it was just a stadium thing. BO-RING.

I think this would have done quite well if they had waited another 5-7 months to release it. That way more people have the game and the Wii. It may be the game itself or the fact that the Wii user base is just too small as of the moment.

I wouldn't say that's struggling. The math works out to roughly 1 in 15 people with a Wii having bought the game. That's reasonably impressive.

Yes Yaktastic, Wii Sports is not bundled with the Wii in Japan, hence why they pay about $40 USD less per Wii than we do.

Here's a tip: EVERYTHING is struggling on Wii except WiiSports. Zelda isn't selling either.

This "broader market" N is appealing to just isn't used to buying games. And furthermore, you think your parents (or grandparents) love WiiSports? Yeah, well, that doesn't mean they'll buy Pokemon, or Madden, or Call of Duty 2.

I predict that the attach rate for virtually all games on Wii will be awful, especially 3rd party games. Absolute sales numbers might be good since there are so many Wiis, but developers will sell fewer copies than they expect.

Sony and MS may be limiting themselves to only the "hardcore" gamers, but at least "hardcore" gamers buy games. Lots of 'em. They're used to buying 10 games or more a year for a playform.

#17,

If that is sony and M$ stratagy, why is it that PS3 sold more systems then games? Nintendo came with a free game in USA and it still outsold M$ and Sony on game sales during launch.

BTW there are 4 million PSP's sold in Japan and only 130+ wiis sold in japan.
That means MGS only sold to 2.5% of its Market while Pokemon sold to 50% of its Market.
Your fanboy argument Phails

Gee....
Could the disproportionate sales numbers have something to do with the

INSTALL BASE?

My major concern here is that by bundling Wiisports with the console in the US, Nintendo isn't really offering an incentive for older, traditionally non-gamers to buy new software. I know every time my grandmother's received some new piece of technology, like a computer, for example, she's only ever used it for one function (email). What is Nintendo's strategy to make the Wii more than just a $250, graphically juiced version of one of those plug n' play sports games?

Speaking as a Pokémaniac, I personally prefer to wait until I've finished the handheld RPG before I buy the console version and fight it out on the big screen. I've got a Wii and two DSes that are just *crying* for this game. I could import the Japanese versions of Pokémon but I doubt they would work with the US version of Battle Revolution, and my Wii is a North American version *sob*

Curse Nintendo and their #$#$! region encoding

I agree with Artimus, it's time to take James off the Nintendo stories since he's obviously biased and it shows in his writing. Please show me one post that he's recently made which hasn't been negative towards Nintendo.

And since when did coming in at number ten on Japanese weekly console software sales list denote a failure? Check the list out for a second:

December 11 - 17, 2006
1. 123,573 - Pokémon Diamond (DS)
2. 97,409 - Pokémon Pearl (DS)
3. 92,173 - Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)
4. 88,242 - Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS)
5. 77,761 - New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
6. 72,841 - Oshare Majo Love and Berry (DS)
7. 71,339 - Jump Ultimate Stars (DS)
8. 70,476 - Wild Arms 5 (PS2)
9. 69,923 - Wii Sports (Wii)
10. 67,607 - Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)

Where are the PS3 and Xbox 360 games this week? Oh there were only three of them that were in the top fifty:

35. MotorStorm (PS3)
46. Blue Dragon (X360)
49. Ridge Racer 7 (PS3)

I could've sworn I saw a post saying that Xbox 360 was going to be huge since Blue Dragon came in at number four last week. And now it's almost dropped off the list entirely. Where's the '360 Takes a Tumble' post?

Joystiq should just report the complete weekly console software sales and let the numbers speak for themselves.

Unless there's a statement about Nintendo's expectation, I fail to see how it failed. xD only sold just a bit over 100,000 during its first week out in Japan. However, it had a user base many times the size of the Wii's.

Colosseum was good - it was one of the few places to get some of the Pokemon.

XD was suckier.

If there's no adventure in this one and it's all craptacular battling with no quest, then this one will bite the big one.

@8: Sales don't indicate JACK SHIT, and that is one of the lamest
posts I've seen in a while. Last I checked 50 Cent: Bulletproof
outsold Shadow of the Collosus by a LOT... now, which was the better
game? Assuming that a game is crap because it dosn't sell well...
thats just plain stupid. Oh wait! Lets think for a second. 69,000
might not seem like a large number compared to the 2 million Pokemon
D&P sold.

Then again...How many people own a DS in japan?

Now, how many
own a Wii?

Nowhere
near
as
fucking
many

thats how many.

Now how many people
own a Wii in comparison to, say, the PSP? Same deal.

MGS:PO outsold
BR because so many more people OWN a PSP to play the game on.

And if
Pokemon's sprite-based battles have a limited appeal, why the hell
are Pokemon games both the highest selling games of any handheld
systems they come out on AND the fastest selling to boot?

@11: Think
for a second... if you want to do some comparing, think about THIS
for a second - MGS sold 100,000 on its launch day in America. Thats a
lot, right? Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sold over 2 million within 4
hours of it's debut, in Japan, where the population dosn't begin to
near that of America. So by your logic, Metal Gear Solid and about
95% of all games released for any system anywhere suck.
Does that
make sense?

@17: BAHAHAHAHA

We're talking about JAPAN, where EVERY gamer is both hardcore and casual. And yet, with the PS3, you see more PS3s sold then games... a lot of these 'hardcore' games havn't begin to reach the amount of units sold that Zelda has reached... wait, didn't you say the game's attach rate was bad? Wow, PS3's attach rate must really suck then.

And another thing - the Wii is targeting the same audience as the DS!

So why the hell is every big-name DS title outselling every AAA PSP title, a system that specifically targets the hardcore audience?

My god, I do not know why so many stupid people relate
sales to game quality. I'm gonna go play Rez now.

Jeff, I'm totally with you, 100%.

I've mentioned this before.

WiiSports coming with the console actually is a negative, in terms of selling more software to these new video game owners.

They just get the machine, put the disk in the slot and never take it out. Or maybe their son/daughter buys it for them, sets it up and they never even know it has a slot!

The game doesn't even come in a standard game box! So these people won't even know what to look for if the idea of buying a new game DID occur to them.

I mean, can you imagine what this will be like if they go to the store?

Customer: "I'd like to get a new game for my machine."
Salesperson: "Fine. Which one?"
C: "I dunno. What do you recommend?"
S: "Which console do you have?"
C: "I dunno. The one that plays tennis."
S: "Okay, then maybe one of these games."
C: "Are any of these anything like the game I have?"
S: "Sort of."

I swear, to get these people to buy new games, N is going to have to put a message up on the boot screen on the Wii with a picture of it and tell them where to get it. And that still won't work if they aren't playing their Wii much anymore.

Another example, I have a coworker who just bought a Wii. He's not a hardcore gamer. His roommate has an Xbox (original) though. For the last two years, you know how many Xbox games they've bought? Zero. So you know how many Wii games they are likely to buy in the next two years? Zero. He did express an interest in WiiPlay, but once I told him 6 of the 7 games are crap and not sports type games, he lost all interest. He was still interested in getting it for the 2nd Wiimote, but he ordered that from N already, since WiiPlay doesn't come out for months.

It'll be interesting to see how/if N manages to convert these new customers into the kind of customers that buy at least some games. I kind of suspect even they are hedging their bets about this. I mean, they make a profit on the console, if they never sell another game, they still come out okay. But the developers of other Wii games won't find any solace in this case.

Well, i know i'm holding off on buying anything in tokyo until next week when the sales start.. but I'm not sure that Wii games will be discounted. (and i'm not interested in pokemon anyway).

Still, the logic seems a bit off.. since Wii sports was the biggest selling Wii game in japan at launch.. so i;m not sure how the fact that Pokemon nearly atched it is a bad sign.

Considering the shotage of Wiis, its dumb to compare its game sales figues directly with more established consoles.

It is however interesting that US and European gamers are buying many more games with their Wiis, but the japanese seem, on the whole, much happier with just Wii Sports.

That said, nintendo's had much more success promoting the DS and Wii as cross-generational, not-just-for-gamers devices over here... so I suspect that the casual market they have tapped into isn't gonna burn through a-game-a-day like a hardcore gamers and will only buy games every few months.

It's simple: The game freaking sucks. It is like an rpg, minus the rpg, or strategy in battle. Where the hell is the fun in that?

All pokemon console games suck, with the possible exceptions of snap and hey you, pikachu. You can only burn people so many times before even the japanese stop buying crappy pokemon games.

Steve2, that is the most patronising thing I have ever read. You really think that the new older gamers won't know how to buy anything for their Wiis? That they will be too stupid to look at the remote that says 'Wii' and ask for games for that? Do you really think that the reason the hardcore gamer has dominated this industry is because they are the only ones smart enough to manage to buy a game?

Pokemon MMO - That would rule!!! I've never really played any of the titles after Red and Blue all the way through, just didn't enjoy them as much. I'd be quite happy with an Online, 3D version of Red/Blue. The Stadium games would be fine if they were half the price, as they don't really offer a 'full' game experience.

And I don't think selling 2000 less than Wii Sports - the flagship title for the Wii - can count as a failure. The game is not packaged in Japan so the casual gamers/non-gamers who are going out to buy a Wii are probably only going to pick up one game with their console - and that will be the one they've heard loads about. They won't start buying more games for a month or so yet.

And I'll just echo all the other posts about unfair comparisons with regards to PSP/Wii market size thingymajig.

Right off to play some more Twilight Princess.