Echoes is probably the best comparison (although Mario and Luigi also works really well) but we have to consider some other things.

Echoes sold about 700 K, compared to 500K for Samus returns.  Echoes outsold returns by about 150K in Japan.  So the sales difference is almost completely due to the series popularity there.

More importantly though, both Fates and Awakening sold about 2 million.  So, there was a HUGE decline from the first two games on the 3DS.

This could be because there are some changes to the formula from Awakening.  Or, it could be that it was a remake of an old game.  Or, it could be that it launched towards the death of the 3DS.

With Samus Returns sharing at least two of those 3 traits (arguably three, because fans of Metroid were very split on the counter and a couple of other mechanics), we should expect it to sell far less than is typical for the franchise.  And, it did.

Talking about sales "these days" is the whole flaw in your logic.  There are lots of different games these days.  For some franchises, 5 million in sales is enough to get the plug pulled.  For other games 250K is a huge success.  For a 2-D sidescroller with little in the way of cutscenes, 2D graphics, SD, and an existing engine, I'm pretty sure it falls more towards the latter.

To the point though, it doesn't make sense to compare it to every game or even the average game.  It makes sense to compare it to similar games.  When you do compare it to other remakes launched in 2017 on the 3DS, or 3DS remakes in general, it fares decently.  I broke this down in detail in an earlier post.

Well. Many reviews and opinions clearly go against your own.

Agreed.
I just want a game with similar flair as Super Metroid... The later games seemed to have focused more heavily on Samus as a character, complete with a story, text, audio... And I think that ruins the point of having the player essentially make their own narrative.

Same issue with The Master Chief in Halo, he shouldn't/doesn't need to be a chatty fellow.

Not sure if Samus Returns falls into that same trap... But Zero Mission did to a small degree and that did put me off later games a bit.

As far as I can recall, Samus does not say a word.  There's a couple of scenes to show new bosses (think of the boss intros in Ocarina of Time but more elaborate) and an opening and ending cutscene.  So, maybe like 5-10 minutes of that sort of stuff all combined.  

So, if that was your only issue, I think you'll be ok with this.  Except, I don't think you can really make your own narrative... The narrative for this game is pretty much the same as the original Metroid 2.  Look, there are Metroids.  Go kill them.

That's good to hear!

I would have no problem with Mercury Steam making another Metroid game.  Even though I actually do like Metroid II better than Returns.

Seems like a stance change to me after you've just contradicted yourself.

People still care about the 3DS or else Nintendo would've stopped supporting it, besides DQ 11 released both on PS4 and 3DS both sold good numbers.

The only absurd notion here is you sugarcoating it's bad sales.

Like what are you even saying? Handheld was always the expected console for a 2D/2.5D Metroid game nobody was expecting this for WiiU or Switch before anouncement except for you i guess. Metroid Dread was even rumored to have been in development for NDS. 

Zelda HD visuals?

OoT 3D sold 2m

MM 3D 2,5m

Triforce Heroes 1,43m so i don't think HD is as big of a sales factor as you're making it out to be.

You mean the same purists who don't buy the game anyway? Fuck that  #MakeMetroidSuccesfulAgain!

Ok..?

Fire Emblem Fates and Awakening sold great numbers, both around 2m, which by having a spin-off underperform doesn't make it as bad as Metroid which is the only 2D Metroid game we've gotten in years to underperform like it did.

LOL! ok.

fixed it for ya.

Echoes is a spinoff which wasn't marketed as well as both mainline FE games on 3DS and it was advertised as like a different kind of game. Like you said a different formula which most fans just don't seem to be to interested in.

Can we PLEASE stop using the "remake of old game" bullcrap for once? Generally speaking, NOBODY played the original game because it wasn't released outside of Japan. This is a new game for the West. Besides OoT 3D did good numbers, SF64 3D too and MM 3D did even better numbers so there goes "remake old game" argument. There just wasn't that much of an interest for Echoes but considering how Awakening and Fates sold combined over 4m Nintendo won't get to worried about wasting resources on Fire Emblem but Metroid....

I don't know how to explain it any better to you, so i'll just copy and paste. 

I mean for a 25+ year old franchise which on average sells 1 - 1,5 million, got solid promotion online to make atleast it's own vocal dedicated following aware of it's existence

released on a still relevant 70m+ system. 1 million or 500k are not good numbers in any stretch in this day where game development costs up to millions of dollars but for this game let's say those would be acceptable sales numbers. Despite all that this game did even less than those numbers so yea it is a failure dude. If you're okay with mediocrity well then it's a success in your book.

And for comparisons sake Metroid SR lifetime sales are worse than both Poochy and Yoshi and Echoes like i've showed in an earlier post. 

THANK YOU! 

Me neither, i was first very skeptical about them at first but with Nintendo's guidance they can make a good Metroid game. I still think Nintendo should make Metroid inhouse.

Zelda is a much bigger franchise than Metroid, and none of those Zelda games released post-Switch.

Nobody, or no significant amount of people, wanted a 3DS Metroid in a post-Switch world. The sales prove it.

And sorry, but to say a platform with 3 games in the top 75 is relevant is just silly.

The issue here is that you've built up this narrative that "gamers snubbed Samus Returns for no good reason" when in fact they had very good reason to pass on it.

Metroid II was released in North America. I played it on the original GameBoy back in the day and according to VGC, most of the sales come from NA.

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/3782/metroid-ii-return-of-samus/?region=All

You can repeat the same thing as often as you like.  It was wrong the first time, and it will be wrong if you say it again.

You say the sales are bad because of a general disinterest in Metroid.  I say it's because of the console it was on, the time it launched, that it's an NA focused title, and the fact that it's a remake.  How do we figure this out?  By comparing it to similar games.  By similar games, I mean remakes that released post switch.

1. Echoes is the first one.  Echoes saw a huge drop in sales.  I did say there were some changes to the formula, but they were by no means major.  Nowhere near major enough to account for sales dropping more than 50%.  When you discount Japanese sales, the two games sold within 50K of each other.  

This is also the lowest fire Emblem has sold within a decade with one exception.  Shadow Dragon, which was another remake, also released towards the end of a console's life. 

That alone is not enough to make any kind of conclusion.  So, let's see what else we have.  You brought up Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World.  Let's see how that goes.

2.  Yoshi and Poochy's Woolly World has sold 540K.  Not a huge difference.  But, it launched earlier, so it has extra sales.  When we correct for that, sales are 4.78 million, compared to 5.14.  Sales are 36K apart.  Which really is such a small difference, that it's basically the same considering the margin of error in VGChartz.

Yoshi had a bundle which included a physical amiibo, so digital sales were likely lower.  Also, sales of Samus Returns were much higher in the US (about 50K) and about equal in Europe.  The difference is however about 100K in Japan.  Just like with FE Echoes, that is the main difference in sales.  Again though, even with that difference, the sales are close enough that when we take into account the accuracy of VGChartz and the factor of digital sales, it's really hard to say which sold better.  Functionally, sales were the same.

Thus far, this is the lowest selling game starring Yoshi, although it may beat Yoshi's Touch and Go, or Topsy Turvy.

3. Another one is Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga.  Another remake released post Switch at more or less the same time.  The sales difference, when we take away the few extra weeks Samus had, is 30K.  Again, this is extremely small, and within the margin of error for VGChartz. 

Again, in the US, Samus Returns has a somewhat sizeable lead (50K).  The gap in Japan is 10K in the favor of Mario, which surprisingly makes EU the region that makes the most difference.  The important thing though is that sales are functionally identical. 

Sales were also hugely down for Mario and Luigi compared to the first entry (by about 1.5 million), moderately down from Paper Jam (by about 300K).  So either the fact that it's a remake, or the timing of the release clearly hurt sales.  

Oh and this just happens to be the lowest selling entry in the series.  It's unlikely to sell another 300K to beat Paper Jam.  But, maybe Bowser's Inside Story remake will do worse.

4.  Mario Party the Top 100 is not exactly a remake, as it pulls content from across the series.  But it's still among the best comparisons we have.

Over the same time period, it's 50K ahead of Metroid.  Metroid is about 50K ahead in the US, and 20K or so ahead in the EU.  In Japan, Mario Party is about 150K ahead.  So, once again Japan, where the 3DS is at its most vibrant and Metroid has generally done poorly, makes up the difference.  And ultimately, that difference is rather small.

Sales are down 300K from Star Rush, and down 1.8 million from Island Tour.  Definitely seeing a pattern of game sales declining over time for the 3DS later in life.  And, unless something surprising happens, the top 100 will be the lowest selling game in the franchise for the forseeable future.  

5.  Wario Ware Gold falls into the same category as Top 100, being a compilation.  It released much later though.  As we would expect if timing is negatively influencing sales, sales are way lower for Wario Ware than Samus Returns.  Sales are less than half of what Samus Returns did over the same number of weeks.  

Wario Ware: Gold is trending below the criminally underrated Wario Ware: DIY.  It will most likely end up as the worst selling entry in the Wario Ware series.  It also may be the worst selling Wario game in general, but it may have a chance to beat Game and Wario.


In conclusion then, Nintendo has released 5 remakes or compilations of games since the Switch's release.  Aside from Echoes, Metroid was within 50K of all of them.  Without Japanese sales, Metroid is ahead of all of them, and within 50K of echoes.  All of these games are showing sharp declines from previous entries in their franchise, and all of them are franchise lows (again except for Echoes, but that is still a decade long low).

The numbers show that remakes on the 3DS post Switch are not selling well.  Metroid is falling completely in line with its peers. 

And yet, Nintendo keeps on making remakes for the 3D.  If sales for these remakes keeps falling around 500K and they keep announcing new ones (Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story, Luigi's Mansion, and Kirby's Epicer Yarn) it seems that this is the level of sales they're expecting from these titles.  You can keep repeating your arguments if you like, but the numbers are not in your favor.

It's a remake in the same way that Castlevania 4 is a remake of Castlevania 1.  In other words, it's a completely different (new) game that retells an old story.