Samus Returns did sell around half a million, but Mercury Steam ran such a tight ship during production, they still managed to make a profit. It’s the main reason Nintendo trusted them enough to try again with Dread.
I do kinda hope a team other than MercurySteam works on the next sidescrolling Metroid. Dread was good but it kinda went over the top with things like cutscenes and focusing more on the combat side of things when Metroid is at its best when combat is secondary to exploration
@@Dingalow I'm the opposite end, I hope MercurySteam becomes a mainstay for 2D Metroid games; even though Dread isn't perfect, I can see them taking feedback into account for a Metroid 6 because they did a great job nonetheless. It could get worse if you get a new studio who has zero experience with the franchise,
Well yes because it's tracking growth and not sales numbers themselves. Being one of the best selling series already, it had less growth comparatively. Thus it's lower on a graph tracking growth.
that's because the graphic is using proportional data versus itself. Kirby may have the biggest total sales numbers of the bunch, but it only had about a 1.5x increase in sales in comparison to it's series Wii U/3DS titles. Metroid is closer to 5x growth overall, which is why it's bar is bigger than Kirby's.
@@meiji_tom because if it were data accurate, the bar would have to be double the hight which would deminish the other statistics or "break" the format
I wouldn't say "on par" (Zelda's spinoff bag isn't nearly as deep yet), but it's definitely growing massively from the lows of the Wii era (sales wise), to the peaks of today. I looked it up, and SSHD outsold the original Wii release. That's how big the jump is.
@lemon5000-tj6nv I meant roughly the first half of the 2010s. It's hard not to look back on Skyward Sword and think "yeah, Zelda needed a rework right about then". The best thing by far from that time period was ALBW, mainly because of the ways it shook up the standard formula.
@ Yes, Takahashi finally fulfilled his 6 part epic that he’s been planning to do since Xenogears. And with more to come on the way? Amazing. Monolith soft has me extremely excited for the next Nintendo console.
Kirby, Metroid and Pikmin are so good to see. Xeno’s rise in popularity was rapid but those other three have been struggling to keep up with the other Nintendo IP for a while now.
As a fan of Metroid since my middle school days, it fills my heart with joy to see the rest of the world discovering its peakness. Took a little longer than I would have liked, but better late than never!
Dread really did a lot for the series, I played Fusion before then and loved it. Finished Dread too, and have been loving the series since then. I’m almost done with Prime 3 and I’ve enjoyed every numbered Prime game a lot, so I can’t wait for Prime 4 to be out
Thanks to nso i’ve been playing super metroid as my introduction to the series and have been having a blast. After i finish, I wanna play metroid dread.
Xenoblade went from not being released outside of Europe and Japan to a small NA release to becoming one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Some underdog story.
Yeah, REALISTICALLY the next Smash is DUE for two more reps for Xeno. HECK even XENOGEARS, heck XENOSAGA needs to make the franchise go full circle. Remaster the game series and make KOS-MOS (who appeared in XC2) once again a household name.
@@jclkaytwo Yooka Laylee was designed specifically to mimic N64 style 3d platformers. And it did so very well... but people realized that those games weren't actually that great.
10 years from now, when they're releasing Xenoblade Chronicles 5 with Xenosaga tie-in DLC, Arlo will finally play Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition 4K on the Switch 2, and we'll just see a glorious thumbnail of Arlo with Gaur Plains in the background and a caption "I get it now"
Honestly glad Xenoblade got an actual chance on a console without some third party interfering with the price or be on a console that didn’t have much of an audience. I hope it stays consistent
I still wish it was at least on pc if not PlayStation. I feel like Nintendo alone isn’t enough to offset the millions of jrpg fans who don’t play on switch.
@@jairekambui7738Xenoblade is actually a valuable asset for Nintendo because it attracts hardcore JRPG fans to their platform. It’s pretty clear that with series like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, and many third party series, Nintendo Switch is the ultimate platform for fans of JRPGs.
It's a lot like franchises such as Mega Man or Castlevania where the main characters are much more iconic and marketable beyond videogames than their game sales would lead you to believe. Not that they sell poorly, but these series tend to be much more popular with merch, crossovers, and other things compared to their games which are decently popular but not to the same degree as their contemporaries like Mario, Resident Evil, or Metal Gear.
It’s also because, for almost all those series, they get so many games back to back (at least in their heyday) that the sales eat into each other. Mega Man is well known but few people who know him have played all or even most of his best games.
Kirby is close to being a very big game franchise, they just need that breath of the wild game or mario 64 one. Kirby and the forgotten land was awesome a 9.5/10 game imo, but it didn't reinvent the wheel completely except a new dimension. a new open world kirby game would do it though.
1:05 “I hesitate to call it a graph…” I would just call it a chart then (a bar chart, specifically). It’s not showing a mathematical relationship between numerical values on two axes (just numerical values on one axis associated with each discrete nominal value). So I would agree.
Kirby is more about selling merch anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kirby sells more merch than Zelda. The games are just extra and going to 3D was such a good choice. Forgotten land was awesome.
I think people kinda forget this a bit but Kirby wasn't really that big until like mid 2010s. Then Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot came out during a time where peak Nintendo was very rare and suddenly they blew up like mad in gaming culture, to the point Star Allies was genuinely on a lot of people's minds when they were showing trailers for it
No joke, idk how it is in other countries but Pikmin has seen a SURGE in popularity recently in South Korea thanks to Pikmin Bloom Pikmin surge is real
Number of times I've seen a new playthrough or similar recommended to me on UA-cam too... Series is finally getting the respect it deserves. All it took was being released on a single successful console!
I love Xenoblade so much, I’m so glad it’s doing well but it deserves so much more, these are genuinely the best stories in gaming and they deserve so much more attention
It also feels like Nintendo wants their investors to know that they're doing well. If the investors know, Nintendo can push for their smaller IPs even more, maybe. It feels like Nintendo is asking for a chance to take bigger risks with these! It's exciting!
I feel since the investors are worried about large budgets ruining profits margins Nintendo is claiming their nerves by saying the smaller cheaper games also sell well.
Counterargument: Wii had two Kirby Games, Three metroid games, One Xenoblade game, and Two Pikmin Games. DS games Kirby had like 4 games, Metroid had 1, so this is the biggest sales Ive seen of these frachises in recent years. Besides if I recall correctly Other M sold poorly and some of the other titles are lesser known that they got remasters on switch (Return to Dreamland, Xenoblade Chronicles HD, etc.) I have a feeling that these franchises sold less on previous units and the switch has made these games huge. And if these series have seen growth, maybe we will see experimental releases with Star Fox, FZero, and Kid Icarus!
Pikmin 5 is almost certainly *not* a decade away and it feels surreal to even be able to say that after chasing the mirage that was 4 for so long. Nintendo values their IP in a way that the other two console manufacturers dream of doing, and it’s been paying them well all generation.
Star Fox and F Zero look at you with a frustrated look. Lol. Kid Icarus has left the room as well. However, I don’t think you are wrong when a franchise shows it can sell well. Look at Fire Emblem. Nintendo has the funeral and Awakening said thanks but not thanks. And Nintendo does at least try(except with F Zero apparently). Advance Wars got a reboot on the switch.
@@MatthewMedina-b7lKeeping all your IPs active is very difficult, the numbers of IPs they’re still making is impressive and hopefully somes like F-Zero will have things on Switch 2
When I was in 5th grade or so, The after-school program I went to had a wii, and Smash Bros Brawl. There were LOTS of Nintendo characters I had never heard of until I played that game, and for me; Kirby was one of them. Though, he was one of the characters some of the other kids actually knew about. NOBODY knew who Olimar or Samus was.
I understand hardcore Nintendo fans like Arlo not really vibing with Xenoblade because it’s a deep Jrpg experience that has more in common with games from Square enix, atlus and Bandai namco than Nintendo, companies with titles that became more associated with the PlayStation brand. Other than the snes era, jrpgs became almost exclusively associated with PlayStation, and if you were a big hardcore Nintendo fan growing up in the mid 90s and 2000s, you probably never grew up with these kinds of games and completely missed them. Maybe you owned a PS1 and PS2, but spent much more time on your N64 and GameCube. So I get the push back and disinterest from people who don’t want to try it out. It can be difficult to play something that you don’t really enjoy or aren’t familiar with especially when series and genres you are familiar with are still getting new high quality games. But man, Xenoblade is something else.
They just have too many series tbh. Too many to always be working on while also doing something new. I also don’t think they go into F-Zero, Star Fox and other B-listers with the thought process of “let’s make the next F-Zero game” unless someone really wants to work on it and explore that series. They come up with ideas and later say “this would be a good fit for Star Fox”, so they build a Star Fox game around that.
I’ll be honest, I was very surprised to find out that Kirby was niche! I always saw Nintendo as having 5 “main” IPs, those being Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Metroid, and Kirby
@@Cloud-dt6xb Gosh, I hope so. Nintendo did file a fresh trademark on Star Fox last November. I just looked in the database, and it was finally registered on October 29th this year. There was a rumor about 9 months ago that we may get a new Star Fox announcement in about 12 months from the rumor. So 12-9=3, and the Switch 2 is about to be revealed in 3 or so months as well. Fingers crossed that it's a launch title! But if not, I still have hope. The trademarks tell us that they still care and also we have lots of nods from Nintendo... Such as the profile pictures baked into the Switch 1 menu (not even Mother/EarthBound got those) and the Arwing appearing in the Mario movie. They did the same trademark stuff with Mario and Luigi after Alpha Dream went bankrupt, and also, the Princess Peach game got a trademark before both eventually were revealed.
Yeah I've been more interested in the lesser ips myself recently too. Loved Kirby forgotten Dreamland I actually finished it all and got the secret ending too. Nintendo got a lot better at marketing it's stuff too.
Of course that the smaller Nintendo franchise get a lot of sales as it's not a big surprise as the true Nintendo fans have enough about Nintendo bullshit to release almost every years the same cash grab franchise since 7 years with more 10 Mario and Pokemon games, 7 Zelda games, 6 Kirby games and 5 Fire Emblem games while we don't have much game for Metroid, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Country and somes others and still nothing for any new Star Fox, F-Zero, Kid Icarus and Tomodachi Life game, a Wii U/3DS port or a remaster game so, of course, it's always so refreshing to play something else for once among Nintendo IPs. Beside the sales of those last Kirby games start to become bad when we see Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe wasn't able to beat the sales from his original Wii game and the Forgotten Land sales who, him, was able to beat Star Allies sales and same for Kirby's Dream Buffet who get bad sales as well beside to be release in the same years of Forgotten Land so we can understand that the community have enough to play to the same cash grab franchise by start to feel disinterested.
Bruh I am sick and tired of Arlo saying that a few million units sold isn't good. With Xenoblade, Pikmin and Metroid. Selling more than a million copies for a game that's a console exclusive is really good. Again, we shouldn't be expecting these games to be Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon sellers. Or even Animal Crossing and Splatoon. Any number that's higher than what they originally had before the Switch is still a massive win. And I'm tired of pretending more than a million units being sold isn't a good number. Because it is. Otherwise Nintendo wouldn't report on them. The problem is that AAA companies have instilled the idea that that isn't a good number. But that's only because a lot of those games are multi-platform and have stupidly high budgets that a million units sold isn't enough.
I love a good mario game as much as the next guy, but xenoblade and pikmin are my two favorite series, so it warms my heart to see that they are finally getting love.
Fire emblem probably the biggest change went from Nintendo giving one last chance saying if Awakening doesn't sell well the series is dead to millions on the switch. Although engage being at only 1.6m sales after three houses 4.1m sales is disappointing. They are definitely going to do something more similar to three houses now to play it safe.
I’m happy that more experiencing Kirby like I did back in 2014-2019 I hope they liked as much as I did Kirby the forgotten land is a great game after all!
@@jclkaytwo Several people who worked on Metroid Dread weren't credited. This was originally thought to be a mistake, but it caused a bit of a controversy, and Mercury Steam stated they only credit those who work on a game for at least 25% of its development, or otherwise contribute in a major way (Such as major concepts that the whole game is based around). This may not necessarily sound all that bad at first, but this meant there were people who worked on a game for nearly a year who weren't in the credits.
it's so satisfying to hear that Pikmin's doing well, after the eternal wait for 4. here's hoping Star Fox gets its turn before we all grow old and return to the dust
I think the sheer popularity of the Switch has helped these smaller IPs get the limelight. A rising tide lifts all boats as they say. Plus some of these series have had such a long time since the last game that it was a 'blank slate', as it were, for new players. And good. It is nice to see smaller IPs get the attention. Variety is always helpful, and it might get people into the older games too.
I thought Animal Crossing was in this same tier with Korby and Metroid, but I looked it up and AC has sold way more than them. Metroid and Kirby usually have multiple entrees on each console and Animal Crossing normally has one, but it's still a big difference even with that, so that's pretty surprising to me.
Let's put into perspective how "poorly" Kirby has historically sold. You know Metroid? The notorious commercial failure that never gets games because of how poorly it sells? Metroid outsold or had similar sales figures to every mainline Kirby game sans the original and the NES game. On average, Metroid was more consistent of a seller. The numbers became even more damning including the spinoffs. The only exceptions were the 3DS games compared to Samus Returns.
This is actually untrue. Kirby regularly outsells Metroid. Heck, Kirby Super Star Ultra by itself outsold every Metroid game that isn't Dread. Kirby Squeak Squad & Kirby 64 outsold Metroid Prime 2 & 3. Kirby's Pinball Land outsold Super Metroid. Kirby Nightmare in Dream Land outsold Metroid Fusion. While Metroid isn't super far behind, most Kirby games outsell most Metroid games.
It also helps to bring back a collection of games from these niche series so that newer fans can get the full experience. Don't have to jump through hoops just to play previous games either since now it's all in one place.
I think niche franchises like Xenoblade, Pikmin and Metroid are sorta important to grow in a way. Because they don't really have an equivalent on other platforms and they often have very loyal fans. Xenoblade:s fans for example are extremely loyal where they basically will buy any console with Xenoblade on it. Think Metroid have a similar thing going on with their fans.
It’s lovely to see Kirby growing, his games are so consistently good with Forgotten Land being a real highlight of the Switch era. Seeing Kirby in 3D really felt like when 3D gaming first hit the world with Mario 64 (at least to me)
Hopefully we see some other IPs get treated this way in the switch 2 era. Would love for them to try with FZero, starfox, fire emblem, and rhythm heaven
The main takeaway from this chart is that Nintendo is happy with all four of these series and I think it does guarantee they'll try to be more frequent with each one. It also tells us that a new game does'nt have to get above even 4 million so long as there's more than one release in that series that also sells decently. That's something to keep an eye on as we get closer to Switch 2 and DK might just be the next one to get a boost.
This is great to hear. I'm sure Nintendo's smaller IP's weren't financial losses before the Switch era, but I feel like they kept these series going out of passion, even if the profit wasn't very good. I pray that a Rhythm Heaven game is on the way.
I'm particularly happy about the fact that this means a LOT of people have been (re)introduced to these IP over the Switch's lifespan. I personally had never played the original Xenoblade or X. XC2 caught my attention. Its Torna DLC story stole my frickin heart. XC3 had me begging for more on this IP. XC4 might very well become the system-seller for the Switch's successor for me.
I actually like your voice here Arlo, more than usual. I mean, sure, you can kinda hear that there's some kind of an issue there, being sick or whatever. But it just seems more genuine somehow, slightly less fake and more your own voice, I guess. Also even the material seems to be more genuine, it seems to come more from the heart. Nice one!
Super Metroid was one of the first games I ever played 25 years ago! I seriously think it shaped my taste in games ever since then and I love the idea of them releasing new entries in the series- my favourite series in all of gaming. I'm also happy Metroid, even if it is a small IP compared to some others today, inspired so many people into making games like it, and it feels like I'll never get bored because there are some many games like it coming out. People call them metroidvanias, but I like to call them Metroid-likes, because Castlevania has nothing to do with the genre and it itself got influenced by Metroid in the first place.
I have seen mention that Kirby does well in merchandise sales. That may be a worthy topic of discussion. The merchandise side of their series. There isnt much merch for Metroid but I'm starting to see more for Pikmin. I'd love to see more from them here and how that reflects their overall appeal, extending beyond their actual games.
I cannot deal with MP1 Remastered only selling 1 million. The people have no idea what they're missing. I don't understand why more people aren't buying these games. It will never cease to astound me.
On another video I mentioned that a big part of what makes Nintendo better than companies like ubisoft or sqaure is that they can make games that are only moderate successes. But the irony is that BECAUSE of that mentality, they actually allow their smaller hits to become much more successful. Right now these games are finding as many people in their audience as possible while also converting new people to those audiences, instead of compromising the games' identities to try and get the MOST audience ever.
A lot of games have been growing this generation aside from Nintendo, and that's a good thing. I still remember a time where people outside of Japan didnt know what a Monster Hunter or Ace Attorney was. I also think Smash Bros is a big factor into the success of some franchises.
The market has defiantly shifted back to Nintendo's strengths. During the PS3 and PS4 gens graphics ruled. The fancier and more realistic the better. But that quest for graphics hurt every other aspect of a title. Game play became repetitive, stories generic, and originality disappeared. Throw on top monetization, predatory pricing, and divisive content you have a house of cards. People want quality entertainment at a reasonable cost and value. Nintendo doesn't have to rely on gimmicks any more.
I think what it comes down to is developers. These series aren’t going to continue because they’re super successful, they’re gonna keep going because they’re successful and another development team is working on them not taking resources from the latest Mario Zelda or Splatoon
I don't think Nintendo is looking for confidence that their games will sell enough; I think it's more that they care about how the customers perceive the QUALITY of the game; which can be pretty strongly co-related, but it isn't the same thing. I imagine they're immensely proud of GameCube, even though it's on the lower end of units sold.
You love to see it. Even though I’m not a huge Xeno fan, this generation really got me into Metroid 2D and 3D. And forgotten land is the first Kirby game I’ve beaten in probably 15 years. Holding out hope for a late third Fire Emblem game on the system too.
Xenoblade 2 sold 2.7 million copies, outselling ARMS and almost sold as much as Metroid Dread. Xenoblade 3 sold 1.9 million in the same time frame as Fire Emblem Engage sold 1.6 million. For comparison's sake, Fire Emblem Awakening sold a little over 2 million. Fire Emblem Three Houses was a huge one with over 4 million. So yeah, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem has seen a lot of growth since their inception, going from nearly not existing anymore to now 2 of Nintendo's most stable franchises.
I’m happy Nintendo is happy with Metroids success for once. It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve played any Pikmin, I’m kind of over Xenoblade these days despite loving the first two, and Kirby was never my thing- but Metroid- 2D especially- will always be my most beloved Nintendo series. I don’t need it to be a tentpole and getting new games every year or two, but it does make me pretty happy to see it isn’t lost to time at the very least
It goes to show that big budgets does not equate to big profits. You look at how Sony puts all its chips into Concord when they could have maybe 10 smaller games to bolster their meager roster of IPs.
I’m kind of surprised Donkey Kong isn’t on this list. It’s funny because it’s seen as one of Nintendo’s flagship IPs but.. outside of the 3 SNES games we got what, 1 game on N64, nothing on GC, 1 game on Wii, 1 game on Wii U and nothing on Switch (not counting a fancy Wii U port) so we’ve got 6 main line games in the franchise, half of which are on a 35 year old console. Only 2 games in the past 25 years! And I’m not counting spinoffs like Jungle Beat or the Mario vs DK games, otherwise we’ll have to count Federation Force and Blast Ball as Metroid games lol.
I truly believe someday Metroid has the potential to be as big as something like halo. If Beyond is a launch title for switch 2 and has online multiplayer that can bring in a Halo type crowd … idk I just feel like the vision is there
Metroid simply isn’t built to be an FPS lik Halo. It’s first-person, you shoot, and there’s probably going to be multiplayer, but the focus will be on its Metroidvania single player. The action-focused Halo crowd won’t go for it.
I really feel like having online multiplayer for Beyond (Prime in general) is a mistake. Metroid Prime is about gameplay and level design, not competitive shooter especially if Splatoon already exist.
I genuinely hope they continue to reinvigorate some of their less notorious franchises in the next generation with sequels/ remakes I'd love to see another Kid Icarus, Custom Robo, The Last Story.. even Ever Oasis!
Kirby beat the "First game sold the best" allegations this generation. That's my boy.
Forgotten Land earned it. So happy that future titles will have that game to look to
I do hope we can get a mix of 2D and 3D Kirby in the future. But it’s still pretty awesome to see.
I still cannot believe that you can buy ALL the pikmin games and ALL the xenoblade games on one console
Well, you still can’t buy the best Pikmin game (Hey Pikmin)
I've always wondered why the original kirby's dream land sold so well. are there any particular reasons for that?
Tetsuya Takahashi: Let's go gambling!
Xenoblade Fans: I can't stop winning!
Seriously
🥳
I'm on fire! 🔥🔥🔥
Samus Returns did sell around half a million, but Mercury Steam ran such a tight ship during production, they still managed to make a profit. It’s the main reason Nintendo trusted them enough to try again with Dread.
I do kinda hope a team other than MercurySteam works on the next sidescrolling Metroid. Dread was good but it kinda went over the top with things like cutscenes and focusing more on the combat side of things when Metroid is at its best when combat is secondary to exploration
@@Dingalow
I'm the opposite end, I hope MercurySteam becomes a mainstay for 2D Metroid games; even though Dread isn't perfect, I can see them taking feedback into account for a Metroid 6 because they did a great job nonetheless. It could get worse if you get a new studio who has zero experience with the franchise,
The way the graphic has kirby with the smallest bar yet the bar itself has the most sales lol
Well yes because it's tracking growth and not sales numbers themselves. Being one of the best selling series already, it had less growth comparatively. Thus it's lower on a graph tracking growth.
that's because the graphic is using proportional data versus itself. Kirby may have the biggest total sales numbers of the bunch, but it only had about a 1.5x increase in sales in comparison to it's series Wii U/3DS titles. Metroid is closer to 5x growth overall, which is why it's bar is bigger than Kirby's.
biggest number y no big bar
@@meiji_tom because if it were data accurate, the bar would have to be double the hight which would deminish the other statistics or "break" the format
Math.
This Switch era has really brought the Zelda series to such huge heights. It's pretty much on par with the Mario series now.
I wouldn't say "on par" (Zelda's spinoff bag isn't nearly as deep yet), but it's definitely growing massively from the lows of the Wii era (sales wise), to the peaks of today. I looked it up, and SSHD outsold the original Wii release. That's how big the jump is.
@@samt3412 twilight princess sold 10 million units wdym the Wii era was the lows and was the best selling 3d game until botw
U mean the Wii U?
@lemon5000-tj6nv I meant roughly the first half of the 2010s. It's hard not to look back on Skyward Sword and think "yeah, Zelda needed a rework right about then". The best thing by far from that time period was ALBW, mainly because of the ways it shook up the standard formula.
On par me 2D and 3D Mario yes. Mario the brand and spin offs not even close. Mariokart sold so well it’s the 6 best selling game of all time.
3D Zelda officially sells better than 3D Mario.
Xenoblade becoming a full trilogy made this the best Nintendo generation ever to me.
Not just a trilogy, but a 6 part epic with their respective epilogues and prequels. One of those is significantly less epic but still.
@ Yes, Takahashi finally fulfilled his 6 part epic that he’s been planning to do since Xenogears. And with more to come on the way? Amazing. Monolith soft has me extremely excited for the next Nintendo console.
Now QUADRILOGY. X is going to be retroactively changed to be more canon to the 3 games.
Kirby, Metroid and Pikmin are so good to see. Xeno’s rise in popularity was rapid but those other three have been struggling to keep up with the other Nintendo IP for a while now.
As a fan of Metroid since my middle school days, it fills my heart with joy to see the rest of the world discovering its peakness. Took a little longer than I would have liked, but better late than never!
I’m new to Metroid, but I’m absolutely loving it so far! Thank you to the Metroid fans base for being welcoming
@@chillfrog2938 we only want more people to join us, we arent into gatekeeping 😂
Yeah i got into it last year and now it’s one of my favourite series
Dread really did a lot for the series, I played Fusion before then and loved it. Finished Dread too, and have been loving the series since then. I’m almost done with Prime 3 and I’ve enjoyed every numbered Prime game a lot, so I can’t wait for Prime 4 to be out
Thanks to nso i’ve been playing super metroid as my introduction to the series and have been having a blast. After i finish, I wanna play metroid dread.
Nintendo isn’t bragging. It just had a hard childhood and it is learning to recognize its own achievements.
You know what this is actually kinda describing my life now. Thank you random UA-cam philosophy!
Xenoblade went from not being released outside of Europe and Japan to a small NA release to becoming one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Some underdog story.
If you factor in their predecessors Xenogears and Xenosaga, the dog becomes even more under
@@tatltails3923One of the underest of dogs for sure
Xenoblade did release in Europe dont forget that. It's the reason we got British English voices. We did not get xenogears, xenosaga 1 or 3 though.
Yeah, REALISTICALLY the next Smash is DUE for two more reps for Xeno. HECK even XENOGEARS, heck XENOSAGA needs to make the franchise go full circle. Remaster the game series and make KOS-MOS (who appeared in XC2) once again a household name.
arlo xenoblade arc will begin soon....
He’s just gotta sit down and play 1, 2, and 3 back to back. He will get it then.
We will pray and see
ARLO FORGOT ABOUT HEY PIKMIN!!!
Good!!!
Most of us forgot about hey pikmin
I GUESS ARLO IN PARTICULAR HATES PIKMIN
1 unit sold
At least someone remembers Hey! Pikmin.
Kirby and the forgotten land did soooo much for that franchise.
Every switch owner should have that game imo
Ehh. I played the demo, it just reminded me of every 3d platformer/ collectathon from the N64 PS1 days.
@@alibabaschultz352 and that's a bad thing?
@@jclkaytwo Definitely. Yooka Laylee proves my point. Game devs didn't know how to make 3d games back then. They got a lot better on the GC/Ps2.
@@alibabaschultz352 you are not comparing forgotten land to yooka-laylee, come on man 💀
@@jclkaytwo Yooka Laylee was designed specifically to mimic N64 style 3d platformers. And it did so very well... but people realized that those games weren't actually that great.
Arlo cannot escape the Xenoblade
10 years from now, when they're releasing Xenoblade Chronicles 5 with Xenosaga tie-in DLC, Arlo will finally play Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition 4K on the Switch 2, and we'll just see a glorious thumbnail of Arlo with Gaur Plains in the background and a caption "I get it now"
Honestly glad Xenoblade got an actual chance on a console without some third party interfering with the price or be on a console that didn’t have much of an audience. I hope it stays consistent
I still wish it was at least on pc if not PlayStation. I feel like Nintendo alone isn’t enough to offset the millions of jrpg fans who don’t play on switch.
@@jairekambui7738Xenoblade is actually a valuable asset for Nintendo because it attracts hardcore JRPG fans to their platform. It’s pretty clear that with series like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, and many third party series, Nintendo Switch is the ultimate platform for fans of JRPGs.
@jairekambui7738 If they dont have switches, it means they dont have pikmin either. People like that don't deserve xenoblade.
I never really considered Kirby as a small Nintendo franchise I always thought he was a main Nintendo franchise
It's a lot like franchises such as Mega Man or Castlevania where the main characters are much more iconic and marketable beyond videogames than their game sales would lead you to believe. Not that they sell poorly, but these series tend to be much more popular with merch, crossovers, and other things compared to their games which are decently popular but not to the same degree as their contemporaries like Mario, Resident Evil, or Metal Gear.
It’s also because, for almost all those series, they get so many games back to back (at least in their heyday) that the sales eat into each other. Mega Man is well known but few people who know him have played all or even most of his best games.
There's also Smash and the huge push he gets in those games since Sakurai created Kirby.
isn't it one of the better selling platformers it's not small by any means.
Kirby is close to being a very big game franchise, they just need that breath of the wild game or mario 64 one. Kirby and the forgotten land was awesome a 9.5/10 game imo, but it didn't reinvent the wheel completely except a new dimension. a new open world kirby game would do it though.
1:05 “I hesitate to call it a graph…”
I would just call it a chart then (a bar chart, specifically). It’s not showing a mathematical relationship between numerical values on two axes (just numerical values on one axis associated with each discrete nominal value). So I would agree.
Strange to think that Kirby is considered one of Nintendo's "smaller" franchises...
Kirby is a really odd case as culturally, he's very known, but his games never sell a huge amount.
@@averypatrick5279Yeah, I’ve spoken with people who know of Kirby but don’t even realize he’s a game character until I tell them.
Kirby is more about selling merch anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kirby sells more merch than Zelda. The games are just extra and going to 3D was such a good choice. Forgotten land was awesome.
@@averypatrick5279I'd say the same for Metroid, to a lesser degree.
I think people kinda forget this a bit but Kirby wasn't really that big until like mid 2010s. Then Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot came out during a time where peak Nintendo was very rare and suddenly they blew up like mad in gaming culture, to the point Star Allies was genuinely on a lot of people's minds when they were showing trailers for it
No joke, idk how it is in other countries but Pikmin has seen a SURGE in popularity recently in South Korea thanks to Pikmin Bloom
Pikmin surge is real
Number of times I've seen a new playthrough or similar recommended to me on UA-cam too...
Series is finally getting the respect it deserves. All it took was being released on a single successful console!
I love Xenoblade so much, I’m so glad it’s doing well but it deserves so much more, these are genuinely the best stories in gaming and they deserve so much more attention
That's pretty damn impressive. There was a tonne of Kirby on 3DS.
It also feels like Nintendo wants their investors to know that they're doing well. If the investors know, Nintendo can push for their smaller IPs even more, maybe. It feels like Nintendo is asking for a chance to take bigger risks with these! It's exciting!
I feel since the investors are worried about large budgets ruining profits margins Nintendo is claiming their nerves by saying the smaller cheaper games also sell well.
Counterargument: Wii had two Kirby Games, Three metroid games, One Xenoblade game, and Two Pikmin Games. DS games Kirby had like 4 games, Metroid had 1, so this is the biggest sales Ive seen of these frachises in recent years. Besides if I recall correctly Other M sold poorly and some of the other titles are lesser known that they got remasters on switch (Return to Dreamland, Xenoblade Chronicles HD, etc.) I have a feeling that these franchises sold less on previous units and the switch has made these games huge. And if these series have seen growth, maybe we will see experimental releases with Star Fox, FZero, and Kid Icarus!
Pikmin 5 is almost certainly *not* a decade away and it feels surreal to even be able to say that after chasing the mirage that was 4 for so long. Nintendo values their IP in a way that the other two console manufacturers dream of doing, and it’s been paying them well all generation.
Star Fox and F Zero look at you with a frustrated look. Lol. Kid Icarus has left the room as well.
However, I don’t think you are wrong when a franchise shows it can sell well. Look at Fire Emblem. Nintendo has the funeral and Awakening said thanks but not thanks. And Nintendo does at least try(except with F Zero apparently). Advance Wars got a reboot on the switch.
@@MatthewMedina-b7lKeeping all your IPs active is very difficult, the numbers of IPs they’re still making is impressive and hopefully somes like F-Zero will have things on Switch 2
I like how often Xenoblade pops up in topics Arlo wanna talk about recently
When I was in 5th grade or so, The after-school program I went to had a wii, and Smash Bros Brawl. There were LOTS of Nintendo characters I had never heard of until I played that game, and for me; Kirby was one of them. Though, he was one of the characters some of the other kids actually knew about. NOBODY knew who Olimar or Samus was.
Gotta love Arlo pretending that Hey Pikmin doesn't exist.
I understand hardcore Nintendo fans like Arlo not really vibing with Xenoblade because it’s a deep Jrpg experience that has more in common with games from Square enix, atlus and Bandai namco than Nintendo, companies with titles that became more associated with the PlayStation brand. Other than the snes era, jrpgs became almost exclusively associated with PlayStation, and if you were a big hardcore Nintendo fan growing up in the mid 90s and 2000s, you probably never grew up with these kinds of games and completely missed them. Maybe you owned a PS1 and PS2, but spent much more time on your N64 and GameCube. So I get the push back and disinterest from people who don’t want to try it out. It can be difficult to play something that you don’t really enjoy or aren’t familiar with especially when series and genres you are familiar with are still getting new high quality games. But man, Xenoblade is something else.
You would think that with this data they would say "You know what, it's time for new F-Zero, or Star Fox or something along those lines"
A fan can dream
Honestly, I have hope for Fzero after Climax and 99.
I'm afraid Star Fox gameplay is outdated.
@@birdbig6852 So is Metroid. Both series need a Botw moment.
They just have too many series tbh. Too many to always be working on while also doing something new.
I also don’t think they go into F-Zero, Star Fox and other B-listers with the thought process of “let’s make the next F-Zero game” unless someone really wants to work on it and explore that series. They come up with ideas and later say “this would be a good fit for Star Fox”, so they build a Star Fox game around that.
XENOBLADES GROWING!!!!
I’ll be honest, I was very surprised to find out that Kirby was niche!
I always saw Nintendo as having 5 “main” IPs, those being Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Metroid, and Kirby
Because its the smallest main
@@PAINt0theMAX Of the franchises they mentioned, Metroid would actually be the smallest.
I just want Star Fox to come back. That IP has so much potential, but it feels like it always gets squandered or sidelined.
I have a feeling we'll see Star fox for Switch 2 this is showing that taking a new chance on a smaller franchise can get good results.
@@Cloud-dt6xb
Gosh, I hope so. Nintendo did file a fresh trademark on Star Fox last November. I just looked in the database, and it was finally registered on October 29th this year. There was a rumor about 9 months ago that we may get a new Star Fox announcement in about 12 months from the rumor. So 12-9=3, and the Switch 2 is about to be revealed in 3 or so months as well. Fingers crossed that it's a launch title! But if not, I still have hope.
The trademarks tell us that they still care and also we have lots of nods from Nintendo...
Such as the profile pictures baked into the Switch 1 menu (not even Mother/EarthBound got those) and the Arwing appearing in the Mario movie.
They did the same trademark stuff with Mario and Luigi after Alpha Dream went bankrupt, and also, the Princess Peach game got a trademark before both eventually were revealed.
Yeah I've been more interested in the lesser ips myself recently too. Loved Kirby forgotten Dreamland I actually finished it all and got the secret ending too.
Nintendo got a lot better at marketing it's stuff too.
Secret ending as in the Dream mode
@@murderman8578100 percented everything
kirby forgotten dreamland 💀
As a fan of all four series: this is heaven
I wouldn't really consider Kirby to be a small franchise. It was never as big as Mario or Zelda though, so it's great to see him grow regardless.
Im so happy for Luigi's Mansion going from 6.5m to 14.2m on Switch. Glad to see it finally getting the recognition it deserves!
Of course that the smaller Nintendo franchise get a lot of sales as it's not a big surprise as the true Nintendo fans have enough about Nintendo bullshit to release almost every years the same cash grab franchise since 7 years with more 10 Mario and Pokemon games, 7 Zelda games, 6 Kirby games and 5 Fire Emblem games while we don't have much game for Metroid, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Country and somes others and still nothing for any new Star Fox, F-Zero, Kid Icarus and Tomodachi Life game, a Wii U/3DS port or a remaster game so, of course, it's always so refreshing to play something else for once among Nintendo IPs.
Beside the sales of those last Kirby games start to become bad when we see Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe wasn't able to beat the sales from his original Wii game and the Forgotten Land sales who, him, was able to beat Star Allies sales and same for Kirby's Dream Buffet who get bad sales as well beside to be release in the same years of Forgotten Land so we can understand that the community have enough to play to the same cash grab franchise by start to feel disinterested.
Bruh I am sick and tired of Arlo saying that a few million units sold isn't good. With Xenoblade, Pikmin and Metroid. Selling more than a million copies for a game that's a console exclusive is really good. Again, we shouldn't be expecting these games to be Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon sellers. Or even Animal Crossing and Splatoon. Any number that's higher than what they originally had before the Switch is still a massive win. And I'm tired of pretending more than a million units being sold isn't a good number. Because it is. Otherwise Nintendo wouldn't report on them. The problem is that AAA companies have instilled the idea that that isn't a good number. But that's only because a lot of those games are multi-platform and have stupidly high budgets that a million units sold isn't enough.
I love how Arlo hates the Metroid: Dread music and yet Kane always uses it in these videos 😂
Metroid dread was so fun and addicting for me! First Metroid game ever.
The movement of Samus was so nuanced and excellent. Made it very satisfying just to move around.
Finally, the Kirby sweep I've been waiting for approaches
Xenoblade fans have been and will continue to feast
Feel free to get into peak
I love a good mario game as much as the next guy, but xenoblade and pikmin are my two favorite series, so it warms my heart to see that they are finally getting love.
Donkey Kong, FZero, and Starfox sitting in a corner crying
This is making me very happy that they are especially Xenoblade and also Fire Emblem as someone who has been playing those series for years
Fire emblem probably the biggest change went from Nintendo giving one last chance saying if Awakening doesn't sell well the series is dead to millions on the switch. Although engage being at only 1.6m sales after three houses 4.1m sales is disappointing. They are definitely going to do something more similar to three houses now to play it safe.
I’m happy that more experiencing Kirby like I did back in 2014-2019
I hope they liked as much as I did Kirby the forgotten land is a great game after all!
2:40 damn, Hey! Pikmin just got sad
I'm just hoping mercury steam changes the way they credit people for their next Metroid game.
I'm out of the loop, what happened?
@@jclkaytwo Several people who worked on Metroid Dread weren't credited. This was originally thought to be a mistake, but it caused a bit of a controversy, and Mercury Steam stated they only credit those who work on a game for at least 25% of its development, or otherwise contribute in a major way (Such as major concepts that the whole game is based around). This may not necessarily sound all that bad at first, but this meant there were people who worked on a game for nearly a year who weren't in the credits.
@@themc3140 that's crazy wtf? how could that possibly be justified?
@@jclkaytwoYeah, it just seems petty.
Crediting people for their work is basically free.
I’m so glad that all of these franchises are growing, we stay winning
Now what we need is Wario Land
it's so satisfying to hear that Pikmin's doing well, after the eternal wait for 4. here's hoping Star Fox gets its turn before we all grow old and return to the dust
Only a Rhythm Heaven fan can dream of those numbers man...
HES TALKING ABOUT XENOBLADE MORE!!!
Kirby on the come up 📈
My appetite for Burgers has been GROWING
Arlo and topic arlo notifications give me little dopamine hits
Good, these series are way too praised to be niche, they deserve to be getting 5 million minimum
I think the sheer popularity of the Switch has helped these smaller IPs get the limelight. A rising tide lifts all boats as they say.
Plus some of these series have had such a long time since the last game that it was a 'blank slate', as it were, for new players.
And good. It is nice to see smaller IPs get the attention. Variety is always helpful, and it might get people into the older games too.
It is really nice to see this for these series tbh!
I thought Animal Crossing was in this same tier with Korby and Metroid, but I looked it up and AC has sold way more than them. Metroid and Kirby usually have multiple entrees on each console and Animal Crossing normally has one, but it's still a big difference even with that, so that's pretty surprising to me.
Let's put into perspective how "poorly" Kirby has historically sold. You know Metroid? The notorious commercial failure that never gets games because of how poorly it sells? Metroid outsold or had similar sales figures to every mainline Kirby game sans the original and the NES game. On average, Metroid was more consistent of a seller. The numbers became even more damning including the spinoffs. The only exceptions were the 3DS games compared to Samus Returns.
This is actually untrue. Kirby regularly outsells Metroid. Heck, Kirby Super Star Ultra by itself outsold every Metroid game that isn't Dread. Kirby Squeak Squad & Kirby 64 outsold Metroid Prime 2 & 3. Kirby's Pinball Land outsold Super Metroid. Kirby Nightmare in Dream Land outsold Metroid Fusion.
While Metroid isn't super far behind, most Kirby games outsell most Metroid games.
Yeah no its false, Kirby always sold better on average than Metroid
It also helps to bring back a collection of games from these niche series so that newer fans can get the full experience. Don't have to jump through hoops just to play previous games either since now it's all in one place.
I'm waiting for another Burger video to drop
I think niche franchises like Xenoblade, Pikmin and Metroid are sorta important to grow in a way.
Because they don't really have an equivalent on other platforms and they often have very loyal fans.
Xenoblade:s fans for example are extremely loyal where they basically will buy any console with Xenoblade on it.
Think Metroid have a similar thing going on with their fans.
3:44 Nice Christopher Walken impression
It’s lovely to see Kirby growing, his games are so consistently good with Forgotten Land being a real highlight of the Switch era. Seeing Kirby in 3D really felt like when 3D gaming first hit the world with Mario 64 (at least to me)
Hopefully we see some other IPs get treated this way in the switch 2 era. Would love for them to try with FZero, starfox, fire emblem, and rhythm heaven
Can’t wait for more !!
Hopefully someday DK starfox And f zero will get some love
EARTHBOUND 😩
The main takeaway from this chart is that Nintendo is happy with all four of these series and I think it does guarantee they'll try to be more frequent with each one. It also tells us that a new game does'nt have to get above even 4 million so long as there's more than one release in that series that also sells decently. That's something to keep an eye on as we get closer to Switch 2 and DK might just be the next one to get a boost.
This is great to hear. I'm sure Nintendo's smaller IP's weren't financial losses before the Switch era, but I feel like they kept these series going out of passion, even if the profit wasn't very good. I pray that a Rhythm Heaven game is on the way.
how could arlo forget about the fan favorite pikmin game hey pikmin that released on the 3ds
As a Metroid superfan, hearing Artaria second version theme immediately upon clicking this video brings me immense joy
I'm particularly happy about the fact that this means a LOT of people have been (re)introduced to these IP over the Switch's lifespan. I personally had never played the original Xenoblade or X. XC2 caught my attention. Its Torna DLC story stole my frickin heart. XC3 had me begging for more on this IP. XC4 might very well become the system-seller for the Switch's successor for me.
I actually like your voice here Arlo, more than usual. I mean, sure, you can kinda hear that there's some kind of an issue there, being sick or whatever. But it just seems more genuine somehow, slightly less fake and more your own voice, I guess. Also even the material seems to be more genuine, it seems to come more from the heart. Nice one!
Super Metroid was one of the first games I ever played 25 years ago! I seriously think it shaped my taste in games ever since then and I love the idea of them releasing new entries in the series- my favourite series in all of gaming. I'm also happy Metroid, even if it is a small IP compared to some others today, inspired so many people into making games like it, and it feels like I'll never get bored because there are some many games like it coming out.
People call them metroidvanias, but I like to call them Metroid-likes, because Castlevania has nothing to do with the genre and it itself got influenced by Metroid in the first place.
Manifest the Metroid Samus Returns Remaster everyone!!!
I have seen mention that Kirby does well in merchandise sales. That may be a worthy topic of discussion. The merchandise side of their series. There isnt much merch for Metroid but I'm starting to see more for Pikmin. I'd love to see more from them here and how that reflects their overall appeal, extending beyond their actual games.
It's so nice to see Metroid finally experiencing some growth, it's such a fantastic series.
I cannot deal with MP1 Remastered only selling 1 million. The people have no idea what they're missing. I don't understand why more people aren't buying these games. It will never cease to astound me.
Just hoping with the DK park, Mario movie, and DKC returns HD we'll get a brand new DK in a couple years.
They kinda HAVE to at this point...makes no sense having DK so big in the movie and even as a theme park now without new games coming.
On another video I mentioned that a big part of what makes Nintendo better than companies like ubisoft or sqaure is that they can make games that are only moderate successes. But the irony is that BECAUSE of that mentality, they actually allow their smaller hits to become much more successful. Right now these games are finding as many people in their audience as possible while also converting new people to those audiences, instead of compromising the games' identities to try and get the MOST audience ever.
Well yeah you wouldn’t call it a graph, that’s a bar chart, not a bar graph
A lot of games have been growing this generation aside from Nintendo, and that's a good thing. I still remember a time where people outside of Japan didnt know what a Monster Hunter or Ace Attorney was.
I also think Smash Bros is a big factor into the success of some franchises.
The market has defiantly shifted back to Nintendo's strengths. During the PS3 and PS4 gens graphics ruled. The fancier and more realistic the better. But that quest for graphics hurt every other aspect of a title. Game play became repetitive, stories generic, and originality disappeared. Throw on top monetization, predatory pricing, and divisive content you have a house of cards.
People want quality entertainment at a reasonable cost and value. Nintendo doesn't have to rely on gimmicks any more.
I think what it comes down to is developers. These series aren’t going to continue because they’re super successful, they’re gonna keep going because they’re successful and another development team is working on them not taking resources from the latest Mario Zelda or Splatoon
Dude totally forgot about the existence of "Hey, Pikmin"
I don't think Nintendo is looking for confidence that their games will sell enough; I think it's more that they care about how the customers perceive the QUALITY of the game; which can be pretty strongly co-related, but it isn't the same thing. I imagine they're immensely proud of GameCube, even though it's on the lower end of units sold.
You love to see it. Even though I’m not a huge Xeno fan, this generation really got me into Metroid 2D and 3D. And forgotten land is the first Kirby game I’ve beaten in probably 15 years. Holding out hope for a late third Fire Emblem game on the system too.
pikmin, metroid, and xenoblade all deserve 10 million more honestly
Xenoblade 2 sold 2.7 million copies, outselling ARMS and almost sold as much as Metroid Dread. Xenoblade 3 sold 1.9 million in the same time frame as Fire Emblem Engage sold 1.6 million. For comparison's sake, Fire Emblem Awakening sold a little over 2 million. Fire Emblem Three Houses was a huge one with over 4 million. So yeah, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem has seen a lot of growth since their inception, going from nearly not existing anymore to now 2 of Nintendo's most stable franchises.
I’m happy Nintendo is happy with Metroids success for once. It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve played any Pikmin, I’m kind of over Xenoblade these days despite loving the first two, and Kirby was never my thing- but Metroid- 2D especially- will always be my most beloved Nintendo series. I don’t need it to be a tentpole and getting new games every year or two, but it does make me pretty happy to see it isn’t lost to time at the very least
It goes to show that big budgets does not equate to big profits. You look at how Sony puts all its chips into Concord when they could have maybe 10 smaller games to bolster their meager roster of IPs.
It literally sounds like the blue monster is fading from us in real time.
I’m kind of surprised Donkey Kong isn’t on this list. It’s funny because it’s seen as one of Nintendo’s flagship IPs but.. outside of the 3 SNES games we got what, 1 game on N64, nothing on GC, 1 game on Wii, 1 game on Wii U and nothing on Switch (not counting a fancy Wii U port) so we’ve got 6 main line games in the franchise, half of which are on a 35 year old console. Only 2 games in the past 25 years!
And I’m not counting spinoffs like Jungle Beat or the Mario vs DK games, otherwise we’ll have to count Federation Force and Blast Ball as Metroid games lol.
I truly believe someday Metroid has the potential to be as big as something like halo. If Beyond is a launch title for switch 2 and has online multiplayer that can bring in a Halo type crowd … idk I just feel like the vision is there
Metroid simply isn’t built to be an FPS lik Halo. It’s first-person, you shoot, and there’s probably going to be multiplayer, but the focus will be on its Metroidvania single player. The action-focused Halo crowd won’t go for it.
I really feel like having online multiplayer for Beyond (Prime in general) is a mistake.
Metroid Prime is about gameplay and level design, not competitive shooter especially if Splatoon already exist.
I think we should get another Kid Icarus
Ubisoft could never
I genuinely hope they continue to reinvigorate some of their less notorious franchises in the next generation with sequels/ remakes
I'd love to see another Kid Icarus, Custom Robo, The Last Story.. even Ever Oasis!
Just imagine what those crazy ass graphs would look like if they put Mario or Zelda up there.
Meanwhile F-Zero... Also today marks Metroid Prime 2's 20th anniversary... So hoping for a shadow drop of that game. One can dream.