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Forums - Nintendo - Why does Tropical Freeze sell so bad?

Veknoid_Outcast on 14 July 2014

I've been thinking about this too. It's still surprising to me that it sold relatively few units. It's a sequel to a huge hit from a beloved franchise developed by one of the industry's most talented studios. Plus it was only $50 at launch and Nintendo advertised it on TV.

I understand that there are only so many WiiU owners out there, but I would have guessed more of those owners would have picked up a copy.



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Darwinianevolution on 14 July 2014

It appeared when the WiiU was doing horrible, now that the console is better, the game has no advertisement or nothing to stand out anymore (NSPBU and M3DW are more known platformers, MarioKart8 looks better and pushes more the machine...).



You know it deserves the GOTY.

Come join The 2018 Obscure Game Monthly Review Thread.

TheLastStarFighter on 14 July 2014

Everyone's summed it up pretty good. I'll add that the name is lousy. It sounds like a spin-off or side story, and those never sell as well as a main game.



phaedruss on 14 July 2014
ExplodingBlock said:
phaedruss said:
DerpSandwich said:
Jizz_Beard_thePirate said:
Cause it was a platformer in a sea of platformers, it didn't matter how great of a game it is, it didn't really matter... Its like eating Chocolate after finishing a Chocolate Cake, you just dont care enough even if the Chocolate is good

And yet, two of the upcoming games on Wii U are also platformers...  I think Nintendo is having a bit of a crisis at the moment.  It's like they're compensating for the difficulty of HD developing by making everything a platformer.  I'm surprised Zelda wasn't one.


Yup, let's pump out platformers of all of our mascots and then racers of all of our mascots. Greeaaaat...


And the only racing nintendo game being Mario Kart 8 and.................


Well, supposedly Diddy Kong Racing, but we'll see if that's true or not.



RealGamingExpert on 14 July 2014
TheLastStarFighter said:
Everyone's summed it up pretty good. I'll add that the name is lousy. It sounds like a spin-off or side story, and those never sell as well as a main game.

Whats wrong with the name? It sounds like a normal DKC title to me!



If you're interested in Nintendo content and understand german, maybe you want to take a look at my youtube channel! :)

https://www.youtube.com/user/RealGamingExpert

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TheLastStarFighter on 14 July 2014
RealGamingExpert said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Everyone's summed it up pretty good. I'll add that the name is lousy. It sounds like a spin-off or side story, and those never sell as well as a main game.

Whats wrong with the name? It sounds like a normal DKC title to me!


Let's review them, shall we?

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2

Donkey Kong Country 3

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

 

I don't think I need to explain what's different about the last item, do I?



RealGamingExpert on 14 July 2014
TheLastStarFighter said:
RealGamingExpert said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Everyone's summed it up pretty good. I'll add that the name is lousy. It sounds like a spin-off or side story, and those never sell as well as a main game.

Whats wrong with the name? It sounds like a normal DKC title to me!


Let's review them, shall we?

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2

Donkey Kong Country 3

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

 

I don't think I need to explain what's different about the last item, do I?

I fail to see the problem. Its still called "Donkey Kong Country". The only difference is that it has an actual title instead of a number.

Mario Kart is also switching between numbers and titles and still has no problems to sell.

I dont think this is a problem at all.



If you're interested in Nintendo content and understand german, maybe you want to take a look at my youtube channel! :)

https://www.youtube.com/user/RealGamingExpert

TheLastStarFighter on 14 July 2014
RealGamingExpert said:
TheLastStarFighter said:

Let's review them, shall we?

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2

Donkey Kong Country 3

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

 

I don't think I need to explain what's different about the last item, do I?

I fail to see the problem. Its still called "Donkey Kong Country". The only difference is that it has an actual title instead of a number.

Mario Kart is also switching between numbers and titles and still has no problems to sell.

I dont think this is a problem at all.

Well then it's good that you (presumably) don't work in naming or marketing for Nintendo.  Since you brought up Mario Kart you may want to look up the sales of the MK series.  The two worst-selling titles both have a ":" and subtitle in their name.  MK64 sounds like the definitive MK for N64.  Same with Wii.  Double Dash!! sounds like a quirky offshoot.  If you don't understand this, I don't know how to explain it beyond that.



breakthewalls on 14 July 2014

2 reasons why:

1-no marketing

2-the wiiu wasn't doing good



*Sound Of Rain on 14 July 2014

As I've said before, I personally think platformers are getting less popular as a genre. The new consoles (including Wii U) are powerful enough now that people don't exactly want platformers...specifically 2D platformers.

That's also a reason why I think Wii U hasn't been going all that great. It only has platformers, niche games, and Mario Kart. This will of course improve though :)

Basically, $50 for a 2D platformer on an 8th gen HD system isn't all that exciting.