Pokemon has such a wide appeal because it had a combination of a massive ad campaign and it was such a unique game idea that no one had ever seen (basically the concept of an MMO before MMOs existed with additional single player traits).
As for why other companies don't utilize the 'hype' of Pokemon to help sell their products, its partially stupidity and partially because they don't know how to sell their product. Games like Final Fantasy, Disgaea, Persona or Fire Emblem can't really find a tie-in with Pokemon, but that's okay. They have found their audience and are doing well with that 'niche'. The games that should be trying to make a tie-in with the 'Pokemon Crowd' are games like Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter and the Mario RPG series. Games which either have similar gameplay to Pokemon or have ties to a similar heritage back to 'classic' JRPGs of the past, such as Dragon Quest.
Why these companies have decided time and time again to forgo good advertising and just throw their games on the market hoping they would sell is beyond me. Its only been recently that one company (Nintendo) has stepped up and shown that they were going to try to proactively fix the problem by advertising the games themselves. And considering their choice of games to publish and advertise (Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter), I don't think its any big coincidence.
Alic0004 said:
That's kinda random.
Monster Hunter has more in common with Diablo or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance than it does with Pokemon! |
Its true, series like Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter have many ties to WRPGs. Heck, to someone who wasn't trying to actively look for them, they might even mistake Dragon Quest for an older styled WRPG. But make no mistake, they have a ton of JRPG influence. Especially Dragon Quest, having created many of the formulas and genre defining gameplay elements found in other JRPGs today.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
