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Forums - Nintendo - What doesn't North America get about the 3DS?

TheLastStarFighter on 28 August 2013
Soundwave said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Soundwave said:
zorg1000 said:
Soundwave said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
3DS is fine. It's not a massive seller like in Japan because we like consoles more here. It has to compete with PS3, 360, Wii, Wii U, and so on. I think the effect of Tablets and Smartphones on it are small - unlike how they have impacted Vita - but the market isn't handheld dominated like it is in Japan. 3DS is still a solid performer and should do really well at Christmas. Traditionally, Nintendo's handhelds have taken off in the US when a Pokemon releases, which is usually one year behind Japan.


Not really. GBA was a monster seller in North America from day 1, I believe it's the fastest selling North American gaming platform ever (for the first 12-14 months), besting the PS2, DS, and Wii. 

DS took off when the DS Lite + New Super Mario Bros. arrived. The chic new Apple-esque DS Lite fit in much more with Brian Training and Nintendogs too and those really grew evergreen legs.

I could be wrong but i thought GBA didnt start selling like crazy until the SP came out.

GBA was a monster pretty much from the get go. I believe in the NPD thread someone from NeoGaf posted DS/3DS/GBA/PSP comparables at roughly 2 years in, and the GBA was ridiculously far ahead of the pack.

You are incorrect.  The handhelds took off in NA when the Poekemon was released.  They take off earlier in Japan, but the handhelds also get their Pokemon earlier there.  XY is the first worldwide release.


You are wrong. DS took off like a rocket in Japan in late 2005 as Brain Training was combined with Animal Crossing and Mario Kart DS, long before Pokemon arrived.

GBA was a monster seller everywhere from day 1, in fact maybe some Nintendo fans might actually want to go back and look at how the GBA was selling in its early days -- it completely destroys the 3DS.

I'd venture a wild guess here that most Pokemon fans tend to be Nintendo fans in general and like Mario/Zelda/Kirby/DK/etc. as well. They don't just sit around in their basement waiting 2 years for Nintendo to release Pokemon.

You seem confused.  Look up the lifetime sales of DS in the US on this graph.  Note the point of release of Pokemon.  Note that the average weekly sales tripple at this point.  DS was doing good pre-Pokemon.  It was doing amazing post-Pokemon.  This was the way with the other systems as well, feel free to look it up.  Cheers.

http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_date.php?reg=USA&ending=Weekly



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Yakuzaice on 28 August 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:

You seem confused.  Look up the lifetime sales of DS in the US on this graph.  Note the point of release of Pokemon.  Note that the average weekly sales tripple at this point.  DS was doing good pre-Pokemon.  It was doing amazing post-Pokemon.  This was the way with the other systems as well, feel free to look it up.  Cheers.

http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_date.php?reg=USA&ending=Weekly

When exactly do you think Pokemon came out?  Because DS sales certainly did not triple, even less so if we're talking about the average before and after Pokemon.



TheLastStarFighter on 28 August 2013
Yakuzaice said:
TheLastStarFighter said:

You seem confused.  Look up the lifetime sales of DS in the US on this graph.  Note the point of release of Pokemon.  Note that the average weekly sales tripple at this point.  DS was doing good pre-Pokemon.  It was doing amazing post-Pokemon.  This was the way with the other systems as well, feel free to look it up.  Cheers.

http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_date.php?reg=USA&ending=Weekly

When exactly do you think Pokemon came out?  Because DS sales certainly did not triple, even less so if we're talking about the average before and after Pokemon.

It came out in April 2007.  Look at the graph.  Set it for 2005 - present.  Look at the thickness of the graph in 2006, then look at it in 2007.  The graph ranges from 2X - 3X the thickness post Pokemon.  Even the Christmans period sales are double the previous year.  This continues until 2011.  I would call 4 years a sustained boost.

Nintendo handheld sales skyrocket post-Pokemon.  I can't believe anyone is actually debating this.



Soundwave on 28 August 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:
Soundwave said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Soundwave said:
zorg1000 said:
Soundwave said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
3DS is fine. It's not a massive seller like in Japan because we like consoles more here. It has to compete with PS3, 360, Wii, Wii U, and so on. I think the effect of Tablets and Smartphones on it are small - unlike how they have impacted Vita - but the market isn't handheld dominated like it is in Japan. 3DS is still a solid performer and should do really well at Christmas. Traditionally, Nintendo's handhelds have taken off in the US when a Pokemon releases, which is usually one year behind Japan.


Not really. GBA was a monster seller in North America from day 1, I believe it's the fastest selling North American gaming platform ever (for the first 12-14 months), besting the PS2, DS, and Wii. 

DS took off when the DS Lite + New Super Mario Bros. arrived. The chic new Apple-esque DS Lite fit in much more with Brian Training and Nintendogs too and those really grew evergreen legs.

I could be wrong but i thought GBA didnt start selling like crazy until the SP came out.

GBA was a monster pretty much from the get go. I believe in the NPD thread someone from NeoGaf posted DS/3DS/GBA/PSP comparables at roughly 2 years in, and the GBA was ridiculously far ahead of the pack.

You are incorrect.  The handhelds took off in NA when the Poekemon was released.  They take off earlier in Japan, but the handhelds also get their Pokemon earlier there.  XY is the first worldwide release.


You are wrong. DS took off like a rocket in Japan in late 2005 as Brain Training was combined with Animal Crossing and Mario Kart DS, long before Pokemon arrived.

GBA was a monster seller everywhere from day 1, in fact maybe some Nintendo fans might actually want to go back and look at how the GBA was selling in its early days -- it completely destroys the 3DS.

I'd venture a wild guess here that most Pokemon fans tend to be Nintendo fans in general and like Mario/Zelda/Kirby/DK/etc. as well. They don't just sit around in their basement waiting 2 years for Nintendo to release Pokemon.

You seem confused.  Look up the lifetime sales of DS in the US on this graph.  Note the point of release of Pokemon.  Note that the average weekly sales tripple at this point.  DS was doing good pre-Pokemon.  It was doing amazing post-Pokemon.  This was the way with the other systems as well, feel free to look it up.  Cheers.

http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_date.php?reg=USA&ending=Weekly

DS was already selling at a fever pitch before Pokemon came out in North America. As a matter of fact DS sales actually decreased the month Pokemon launched on DS from the month prior in NPD tracking.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/NPD_March_2007

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/NPD_April_2007

DS had already found it's stride and was breaking 500k+ in non-holiday months before Pokemon arrived. Trying to paint the picture now that the DS was some ho-hum product that only found traction after April 2007 is pure revisionist nonsense. It's simply not true, the system had tremendous momenteum prior to Pokemon launching and it carried that momenteum forward.

By fall 2006, the DS had clearly found its stride. I would bet money that the DS in holiday 2006 with no Pokemon will easily crush what the 3DS is able to do this holiday in North America *with* Pokemon.



Yakuzaice on 28 August 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:

It came out in April 2007.  Look at the graph.  Set it for 2005 - present.  Look at the thickness of the graph in 2006, then look at it in 2007.  The graph ranges from 2X - 3X the thickness post Pokemon.  Even the Christmans period sales are double the previous year.  This continues until 2011.  I would call 4 years a sustained boost.

Nintendo handheld sales skyrocket post-Pokemon.  I can't believe anyone is actually debating this.

Ok so it came out in April 2007.  Now look at sales in February and March.  Then look at sales in April and May.  Where are you seeing a sustained boost at triple the previous average weekly sales?

I don't know why you are attributing 4 years of Christmas periods to Pokemon.  Even in 2007 Pokemon wasn't the top DS seller during Christmas.



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NoirSon on 28 August 2013

Probably because Western publisher and developers don't really support the system besides tie ins for family related products.

If you are into RPGs, platformers and other old school genres that originated during the 8 to 32/64-bit era or Japanese games then the 3DS is a godsend device. But for the majority of Western gamers that buy Madden, Halo, Call of Duty and the like there really isn't much on the system to draw them in.



attaboy on 28 August 2013
Cobretti2 said:
attaboy said:
Blame it on Obamacare.


how does this relate and hwo is it bad anyway?


I don't know.  I just wanted to sound intelligent. :(



Gamerace on 28 August 2013

They need to justify why I need to spend $200 (after tax) on an addition piece of hardware I must then carry around to use sporatically, and $40 on each game I want when I can play thousands of games for cheap/free on a device I already have in my pocket.



 

Cobretti2 on 29 August 2013
Soundwave said:

People don't want to admit smartphones/tablets, but it's simply the truth.

I've been all across North America the last year or so in about 8 or 9 different airports; the amount of kids I see playing games on their own/parents phone/tablet outnumbers any type of gaming handheld by 3 or 4 to 1 quite easily these days.

3DS does better in Japan simply because it's not only a game handheld it's also the main game console for many households period. That will never happen in North America, people love their big screen TVs and lounging on their comfy couches too much, they'll always want a home console (at least for now).

If I was a parent and didn't particularly have any vested interest in any kind of video game brand, I'd probably much rather my kids got hooked on tablet games for on the go too. $1 a game vs. $40 a game is an easy choice.


If you were a LOVING parent you would get them the best they can get. Sacrafices have to be made for the future of your kids. 



 

 

oldschoolfool on 29 August 2013

What the hell are you talking about? the system is selling great globally and it's usually at the top of the list in north america,so I don't get what your complaining about.