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nuckles87 on 02 January 2017
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Pavolink said:
nuckles87 said:

I would not know about that. Again, all past third versions have sold from 6-7 million units, which is puts the equal to or greater than even the best selling Zelda titles. That is also past plenty of 3D Mario titles, including the most recent one. And that isn't even counting Pokémon Yellow, which blew all the 3D Marios away at 14 million by virtue of letting you start Red/Blue with a Pikachu.

And it's not as if Pokémon fans have some aversion the annual releases, either. Black and White 2, X and Y, and OR/AS were all released in a three year span, and they sold 8.52, 15.64, and 13.18 million respectively. Those last two did better than any 3D Mario. 

So look, if what you say is true about Mario being  bigger draw than a Pokémon game, than that's all the more reason to launch Switch with it. As I see it, Nintendo ought to launch it with their biggest gun, and in March Mario IS that title.

No. Again. You are missing the point. The Pokemon audience is already busy. They are not going in a rush to buy the Switch unlike the Zelda and 3D Mario. Missing a third version is nothing important as they already bought the main games.

Well then, I guess i am not so much missing the point as I am ignoring it, because I know you can't offer me much in the way of proof that 8 million Pokémon fans won't go out and buy a Switch to play HD Pokémon on an HD console, and I can't offer any to say that they will. But I can at least demonstrate that Pokémon fans tend to be devoted enough to buy third versions and annualized releases in massive numbers, and overall represent a much bigger fan base then 3D Mario or Zelda. True, they've never had to buy a new system for that third version before, but that third version has also never been an HD game on a home console before. So who is to say they won't? We are in uncharted territory here as far as Pokémon goes, but the lowest ANY mainline Pokémon title has ever sold is six million. That would be a heck of a precendent for Switch to break, especially in the wake of Pokémon GO.

But here is the thing: I don't even want Pokémon to be the Switch's big holiday title anyway. Nor do I want it to be Mario. Or Zelda. Mario needs to be a launch title. Zelda needs to be out by the summer, if not also a launch title. Pokémon needs to be out by the fall, if not the summer. Honestly, I don't even care about what they have planned for the holidays, because as I see it, jump starting the system's sales with evergreen titles that will bring huge demand early and keep on selling long after launch is paramount, and way more important than a big holiday title. Because nothing will kill the Switch quicker then slow sales at or soon after launch.