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Forums - Sales - Super Mario Galaxy is a failure and Nintendo is to blame

Kenryoku_Maxis on 09 November 2009
Khuutra said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Khuutra said:

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=2279&region=All

Well.... Super Mario 64 DS only got about ~45% of its sales in the states and continues to sell remarkably well - it'll probably end up breaking 8 or 9 million itself, eventually.

You do realize that a large part of why Mario 64 sold so much is because it was one of only 4 launch titles for the DS and possibly because of its namesake.

It's still selling 12-20k a week, too. Its yearly sale rates are almost identical, except that, outside of tthe first, holiday spikes are actually getting larger.

I donno where they keep buying the game.  I haven't seen the game on the shelf for a long time.  Then again, I'm mostly frequenting places like GameStop and Best Buy, not places like Wal-Mart and such.



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Khuutra on 09 November 2009
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Khuutra said:

It's still selling 12-20k a week, too. Its yearly sale rates are almost identical, except that, outside of tthe first, holiday spikes are actually getting larger.

I donno where they keep buying the game.  I haven't seen the game on the shelf for a long time.  Then again, I'm mostly frequenting places like GameStop and Best Buy, not places like Wal-Mart and such.

They're finding it somewhere. Like I said above: it's beating Galaxy on a weekly basis.



theRepublic on 09 November 2009
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
theRepublic said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:

I've said three times in this thread that 3D Mario games don't sell as well as 2D Mario games and that's why Mario Galaxy isn't selling as high as some people think it should.  It has nothing to do with 'cutscenes' or 'flow' or etc.  3D Mario games cater to a different crowd than the 2D games.  Those who like more detail in the visuals, a little more emphasis in fighting and more exploration.  And many of the points made in this thread hint at people wanting a 3D Mario to play and cater to those things that a 2D mario does, such as 'getting right to the gameplay' and 'less story and cutscenes'.

In other words, you want all Mario games to do the same thing.  That's not smart on Nintendos part, as the reason Mario has been so successful is he has hit nearly every type of platform, genre and style of gaming out there.  If all the Mario games were the same, people would be complaining.  Much like some others in this thread are complaining that Mario Galaxy didn't cater to their tastes.  There's a remedy for that...go play a different Mario game.  There's only 120+ Mario games out there.

I'm not talking about comparing Galaxy to the 2D Mario games.  Games that are 2D will pretty much always be more accessible than a similar 3D game.

I'm talking about comparing Galaxy to 64 and Sunshine.  I think that the sales of Galaxy are a bit disappointing compared to the sales of those two games.  Do you agree with that?  If so, what is your reasoning why it did not perform since you do not agree with Rol?

I already addressed that too...  As its been stated, Mario 64 was bundled with the N64.  Also, 3D Mario titles since Mario 64 hasn't sold as well in regions outside of America.  So comparing 3D Mario titles to Mario 64 isn't really practical, since none of them have been bundled with the system and they've mostly been popular in America.  Once again, pointing to my example of how the 3D Mario games are being made more for those who like action games with a detail for graphics (sounds exactly like the American market to me).

Also there's the simple fact that Mario Galaxy still isn't finished selling and despite the doom and gloom people keep dishing out in this thread, 8.2 million is a LOT for a game to sell.  That's only 3.5 million away from Mario 64 (again, which was bundled with the 64).  Calling Mario Galaxy a failure is about as innaccurate as calling a Final Fantasy game a Failure.  Mario Galaxy sold more than Final Fantasy X, XI and XII just as an example.  And I bet Mario Galaxy had 1/100 the production cost of each of those games.

I'm almost positive that Super Mario 64 was not bundled with the N64.  It was a launch title though.  Still, I do not think that fact alone can account for the 3.5 million difference in sales.



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Kenryoku_Maxis on 09 November 2009
RolStoppable said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
RolStoppable said:

Nintendo games have different standards when it comes to the failure status. Super Mario Sunshine was bundled with the GC in Europe for about a year, but then Nintendo switched to the more successful Double Dash!! bundle.

But no, 3D Mario isn't made for those who like detail for graphics. Only Galaxy would fit this description, but 64 didn't look as impressive as Pilotwings 64 or Wave Race 64 and Super Mario Sunshine had blurred textures all over the place. Neither game was nowhere as good looking as Galaxy relatively to the hardware they were made on.

Marios role in 3D games has changed.  And even with Mario Sunshine, they were trying to market it to the 'core' American players.  And yes, its graphics were a primary feature of that.  Try not to look at it from a technical standpoint and after the fact, but from a marketing standpoint.  3D Mario is about visuals and action, while 2D Mario is about 'retro' and 'fun' gameplay.

If you don't believe me, oh well.  But you'll see over the years as more and more 3D Mario titles resemble Mario Galaxy.

Wait a second. I am not American, but the infamous Sunshine commercial got posted several times here on VGC and nowhere did that look like marketing towards the "core", except if you mean kids in the age range of 6-12 years.

I donno what you were seeing.  But this is the one I was seeing (edited for TV).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDg-HaoXvoI

While it may not be considered 'core' by todays standards, it definitely made fans of Mario 64 hyped for the game back then.  Too bad the game wasn't as good as this commercial...



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max power on 09 November 2009
theRepublic said:
max power said:
theRepublic said:

I'm not talking about comparing Galaxy to the 2D Mario games.  Games that are 2D will pretty much always be more accessible than a similar 3D game.

I'm talking about comparing Galaxy to 64 and Sunshine.  I think that the sales of Galaxy are a bit disappointing compared to the sales of those two games.  Do you agree with that?  If so, what is your reasoning why it did not perform since you do not agree with Rol?

It already outsold Sunshine.  And while it doesn't have huge legs, they will be cut short by a Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Maybe it was a bit of a disappointment that Nintendo's flagship game isn't selling as well as, say, Wii Play and Wii Fit, but that's part of the nature of the Wii market.  The bigger install base of the Wii aren't necessarily the same people who bought M64 on N64...

Anyway, I don't care so long as they keep pumping out high quality games... and I'm excited to see a second Mario game on a platform (haven't really seen that since NES!)

I know it already outsold Sunshine, but it only outsold it by 2 million.  I thought it should do more than that.

Look at Super Mario 64.  Galaxy is over 3.5 million behind.  It was never going to catch up even without SMG 2 (presumably) hurting its legs.  There has got to be a reason for that, and I don't think that Super Mario 64 being a launch title can account for all of that difference.

Thats what I meant about the different install base.  The Wii's might be bigger, but they play different (more casual) games.



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Khuutra on 09 November 2009

What are we to make of the fact that Super Mario 64 DS is outselling Galaxy on a regular weekly basis?



Kenryoku_Maxis on 09 November 2009
RolStoppable said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
RolStoppable said:

Wait a second. I am not American, but the infamous Sunshine commercial got posted several times here on VGC and nowhere did that look like marketing towards the "core", except if you mean kids in the age range of 6-12 years.

I donno what you were seeing.  But this is the one I was seeing (edited for TV).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDg-HaoXvoI

While it may not be considered 'core' by todays standards, it definitely made fans of Mario 64 hyped for the game back then.  Too bad the game wasn't as good as this commercial...

This is what I was talking about.

...yeah, never saw that.

But even if Mario Sunshine had mixed signals going on, Mario Galaxy doesn't.  And its certain that many consider Mario Galaxy to be innovative in the Platformer genre.  While some in this thread think the game isn't performing well in sales, it certainly is performing well in all other ways.

While I still think the game is doing quite fine in sales, perhaps the reason it isn't selling as high as you want it to is because of other factors outside of the game itself.  Mostly many of the fans of the 3D Mario titles felt burned on Mario Sunshine and are/were hesitant for Mario Galaxy and/or the Wii audiance is much different than the audiance on the N64, as well as a number of other factors.

I know personally that before Mario Galaxy came out, I was hesitant to buy it because of my experience with Mario Sunshine.



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theprof00 on 09 November 2009
RolStoppable said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
RolStoppable said:

Wait a second. I am not American, but the infamous Sunshine commercial got posted several times here on VGC and nowhere did that look like marketing towards the "core", except if you mean kids in the age range of 6-12 years.

I donno what you were seeing.  But this is the one I was seeing (edited for TV).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDg-HaoXvoI

While it may not be considered 'core' by todays standards, it definitely made fans of Mario 64 hyped for the game back then.  Too bad the game wasn't as good as this commercial...

This is what I was talking about.

ugh, what was that horrible thing at the end of the commercial? It was covered it disgusting filth that mario obviously forgot to clean up.

 



Kenryoku_Maxis on 09 November 2009
RolStoppable said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
RolStoppable said:

This is what I was talking about.

...yeah, never saw that.

But even if Mario Sunshine had mixed signals going on, Mario Galaxy doesn't.  And its certain that many consider Mario Galaxy to be innovative in the Platformer genre.  While some in this thread think the game isn't performing well in sales, it certainly is performing well in all other ways.

While I still think the game is doing quite fine in sales, perhaps the reason it isn't selling as high as you want it to is because of other factors outside of the game itself.  Mostly many of the fans of the 3D Mario titles felt burned on Mario Sunshine and are/were hesitant for Mario Galaxy and/or the Wii audiance is much different than the audiance on the N64, as well as a number of other factors.

I know personally that before Mario Galaxy came out, I was hesitant to buy it because of my experience with Mario Sunshine.

I don't think that this is a good reason. With those reviews and word of mouth from "core" gamers, surely those other hesitant to buy "core" gamers would have been convinced by now and went out to buy the game.

The Wii audience may be different to the N64 audience, but that didn't stop other sequels on the Wii to outsell their N64 and GC counterparts. So I guess we are back to square one.

You go by a false assumption that 'reviews' change peoples perception.  Especially gamers who play the Wii.  How many games on the Wii have been positively affected by a Review?  Not Muramasa.  Not Madworld.  Not Zack and Wiki.  And how many have been negatively affected by a review?  Not WiiMusic.  Not MarioKart.  Not WiiFit.  Gamers who own the Wii know what they want and don't listen to reviewers.  Hence why reviewers don't cater to the Wii audience.

And while we're at it, what are all these sequels I keep hearing that are selling 'better than their GC counterparts'?  Aside from Mario Kart and perhaps Fire Emblem, I can't think of any.



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theprof00 on 09 November 2009

*shakes head* that was such a sad time for big N.

Although I will defend that console to the death! Maybe I like it because of the tragic situation when my "friend" stole it (and zelda) and sold it for drugs...he prevented me from seeing how bad the software lineup actually was, maybe?