How much would Nintendo's "dead" IPs sell if they made a return?

[Salnax]

RolStoppable said:

tbone51 said:

well they could do a reboot, i mean KIU is a very successful IP. Ice Climbers on the same boat, it can evolve. You never kno, i would of never thought that Kid Icarus would turn into KIU (gameplay/mechanic wise)

KI:U is not very successful. It sold about a million copies. But that's not really important.

When we look at the original games of Kid Icarus and Ice Climbers, it's obvious that KI is leaps and bounds ahead of IC in everything. KI had decent platforming and shooting, variety in the level design and a shop to purchase upgrades. IC was hop to the top with the most basic of an attack. Leave it in the trash can where it belongs, because there is nothing to build on.

Ice Climbers had a few things going for it. Cooperative platforming in 1985, decent vertical control in a 2D game, etc. The problem is, other, better series like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Kirby have come in and taken those ideas and combined them with what makes  them worthwhile.

I think if Nintendo tried to revive the Ice Climbers anytime from 2001 until NSMB Wii, they could have found a niche among either hardcore platforming fans (like DKCR) or more casual players (KRtDL). A 2.5D platformer Ice Climber game on the GameCube could have at least have sold as much as some of Nintendo's other niche multiplayer games (Four Swords Adventures for example.)

Maybe I'm just being silly, but when I played Ice Climber, I saw both the game's roughness and sloppiness and some good ideas and execution. I'd have liked for the series to be more than a fighting game cameo and a programmer's practice for Super Mario Bros.