Pokemon: Could D/P bring it back!

[Steve 3.2]

I think Pokemon on the DS has the potential to outsell the GBA versions (D/P is about to outsell R/S in Japan), but I don't think it will ever catch the original.  (For the record, this site put those sales at 31.37M.)  When Pokemon launched in 1996 for the GB, the system already had close to 50M units out there (12M in Japan alone).  When the 'craze' finally made it to the US in late 1998, the system had about 70M (w/ 24M in the US).  As such, Pokemon had a huge audience of potential buyers.  It also didn't hurt that the game was something very original, that it generated a ton of buzz, and was launched around the holidays in the US and Europe (a year later in 1999).

One of the main reasons I think D/P will not sell as well is that the current DS installed base is much lower (at about 40M worldwide right now) and the DS is owned by a very different group of users.  Nintendo really has opened up the system to people who would never think of picking up a Pokemon game.  And the new game isn't that different from all the previous versions.  I'm sure D/P will drive system sales and plenty of users will pick up a copy, but no where near 31M.