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.

Then why even bring up Zelda if we already knew this? Seriously, your PS2 and FIFA comparisons were already way off to begin with and you're only making your arguments more vague as you go on.

I don't see how passing on a good entry of your favorite game series because it's on a handheld you probably already own is a good reason to pass on it. It only proves that you're not as interested in this series as you've claimed you are. 

I've never said gamers don't support Metroid i said it's fanbase is mostly to blame for it's low sales like most Metroid entries. They always blame Nintendo for not giving us Metroid but when we do get Metroid there loaded with excuses to justify it's low sales. I'm glad you're one of the main ones here to keep proving me right.

Then why even bring up Zelda if we already knew this? Seriously, your PS2 and FIFA comparisons were already way off to begin with and you're only making your arguments more vague as you go on.

I don't see how passing on a good entry of your favorite game series because it's on a handheld you probably already own is a good reason to pass on it. It only proves that you're not as interested in this series as you've claimed you are. 

I've never said gamers don't support Metroid i said it's fanbase is mostly to blame for it's low sales like most Metroid entries. They always blame Nintendo for not giving us Metroid but when we do get Metroid there loaded with excuses to justify it's low sales. I'm glad you're one of the main ones here to keep proving me right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Gaiden

According to Wikipedia Fire Emblem GAIDEN never released outside of Japan. So, yes Fire Emblem Echoes is a new game in the West.

You can keep comparing it to other games or compare how it sold between regions, targeted age groups, it's ESRB rating, how many languages it supports etc. but in the end it, what really matters are it's lifetime sales which is what this whole thread is about. It sold less than 500k and this is a series which has been struggling for years, whereas the Fire Emblem games sold combined over 4 million on the 3DS alone.

Both Metroid Fusion and Zero Missions launched post Gamecube and one sold over a million and the other over 800k.

Just because other games equally underperformed doesn't somehow make SR's sales fine or acceptable especially not if this game is the lowest selling of the bunch. Super Metroid wasn't a success when it initially launched during the final years of Super Nintendo what happened after that? Did Nintendo take that as an "Oh well, it must be us" Nope. No more Metroid for 8 years.  

Zelda HD visuals?

OoT 3D sold 2m

RolStoppable said: 

If you aren't interested in the quality of the game, then you won't be able to make a proper sales analysis and subsequently fail to draw valid conclusions.

What I am seeing in this thread is very similar to the aftermath of Skyward Sword sales on Wii where people were in plain denial regarding the question if Skyward Sword is a good Zelda game. Instead they came up with excuses such as "Wii audience are primarily non-gamers", "People have moved on from Wii" and "SS required Motion Plus to play, so the userbase it could sell to was limited". Today Skyward Sword isn't look at in the same way anymore, because Breath of the Wild happened, so Zelda fans are more open to the idea that SS wasn't all that great.

What we have here with Samus Returns is a Metroid fanbase that has been starved for a new game, so they'll defend an at best decent game as if it were a great entry in a long-running series. But the Metroid fanbase that is usually not posting on gaming forums looks at Samus Returns as a questionable game with melee moves and a lack of d-pad controls, developed by the same studio that already killed the Castlevania series. Their voices are not heard here, but it shows in sales, or rather the lack thereof. Metroid fans who own a 3DS have skipped Samus Returns, just like a lot of Metroid fans skipped Other M despite owning a Wii.

Or put another way, does anyone here honestly want Mercury Steam to get another shot at making a Metroid game? Those guys couldn't even manage to make Metroid music sound good despite having the benefit of being able to fall back on lots of classic themes.

A game being gimped by being on obsolete hardware at a time when a vastly superior alternative was available is a perfectly good reason to pass on it. 

If Prime 4 turns out to be superb and still sells poorly, then your argument might hold some water, but for now, your claims are baseless as every Metroid game that has underperformed had clear and obvious reasons for doing so. It's not the fanbase's job to blindly buy every Metroid game Nintendo releases, it's Nintendo's job to convince us why we should, and if they fail in that regard, it's entirely on them.

Me, I'm glad Samus Returns underperformed, it makes me happy to see that Nintendo's choice to put it on the wrong hardware was rightfully punished.

[snip]

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. 

[snip]

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.