Topic: Mario 3D World Japan sales

Plus Dreamcast was the last in a conga line of failures for Sega. Sega CD, 32x, Nomad, the Saturn... all had been disasterous for Sega and thus the hopes were low for DC to begin with. Wii U/Nintendo isn't in that spot.

To get SEGA out of the woods, Dreamcast would not just need to have good sales, it needed to be a miracle like no other before. The console sold around 11 million units in just 2 years, more than the Saturn in 4, so it wasn't selling that bad, it just was not nearly enough for SEGA. Out of four home consoles, only one was really a success for SEGA, the Mega Drive/ Genesis. So, we can't really compare that SEGA of the 90's to Nintendo of today.

And Nintendo has the 3DS.

Playstation 4 will put Sony in a more dangerous position if it doesn't do well. And no, first day sales don't mean anything.

Weren't these sales based on 4 days and not a whole week?

Yes. Still below expectations, though.

And they're not burnt on EA Sports titles or FPSs?

Mario is not geared towards the west. In Japan, there is 100x the exposure of Mario than there is in the west. Even dollar stores in Japan have Mario-Themed items!
To me, as a resident of Japan, this is a big surprise. Maybe it was because the weekend had really nice weather, or perhaps families are waiting for the major bundles, or new year's sales, to happen. I don't know. But it's definitely a letdown in every way.

I think every genre is "burnt out" if you ask me.
Every genre will be mostly the same, just the setting will change the fun of the games.
Just look at Tearaway for example or LBP 1+2 that is. The experience is phenomenal, but still a platformer.

Of course it depends on tastes. And tastes can change. For me for example I can't stand any FPS anymore but getting excited for platformer now. I think it's just the time that pushes platformers back. We will have to see how this all turns out in the future.

Ya, the comparison of Wii U to Dreamcast in terms of commercial success is pretty naive, to say the least. Plus, like @DarkWingLz said, you can't really say Mario is "old" if FPS and sports games are just as much of a re-run.

ive found mario and zelda stuff in dollar stores here in canada too.

I wouldn't call them old or rerun's but I personally have gotten a tired of Mario despite 3D land being my favorite in the series thus far. On the platformer thing its one of my favorite genre's but I think that Nintendo's line up is too heavy with them, when the company needs something that makes them look up and sit.

First Person Shooters also suffer from fatige but the big ones tend to get away with it due to having a bigger focus on Narrative focus. Take Bioshock Infinite or The Last of Us. Both are great games in their own rights but I played through them mostly for the story parts. Call of Duty survives because its a competitive game and even than the two last games multiplayer population are still pretty high. I do feel this was the year in which it and Battlefield got the most criticism and people are looking forward to Titanfall and Destiny much more.

Sports games however are pretty much immune to this effect unless the publisher just deicdes to ship a horrible game like EA did with Live 14. These games tend to get a big boost since they usually release sports games around the same time the actual season starts in real life.

@shingi_70: Probably because Mario takes up some of the top spots for almost every Nintendo system. I don't think Mario is as fatigued because there's more variety than you're giving it credit for. There's Mario Kart, Mario Party, 3D Mario, 2D Mario, and 2-3D Mario (3D Land and World). Saying people will be fatigued of Mario will be saying that Final Fantasy is fatiguing...oh wait

Still enjoying my Wii U. I don't think I will be able to afford 3D World on release in the UK next friday though... time will tell.

Nintendo uses the character on many spinoff titles such as Mario Kart, Party, Tennis, Golf and that may be tiresome for some. The thing is these games would be new IPs were not for the Mario characters on it. But slapping Mario on top of them makes them sell much more and Nintendo knows this.
The main series of Mario are the platformers and I don't think it's being overused. From Super Mario Bros to 3D World, this is the greatest series in gaming.

yeah Mario platformers are ALMOST overused lately but as long as Nintendo gives it a 3-6 month rest(meaning absolutely nothing Mario related during this time) Mario can always keep going.

Good eye

Those aren't apartments. That's a Capsule Hotel, where businessmen & the like spend the night on short trips (people don't actually live in them).

That said, portable gaming is bigger than console gaming over there, and while their smaller living spaces probably do play a part in that, it's mostly due to the fast paced lifestyle of the people commuting to & from the big cities, where they spend large parts of their day on the Shinkansen bullet trains.

Exactly. Just because Mario is in the name, doesn't mean that you're jumping around and stuff.

Yeah, I'm not buying into Mario anymore now after NSMBU + Luigi. Sonic Lost World is more the old school type of difficulty I like... Massive pass on ALBW also

That still doesn't mean some people aren't fatigued with the IP in general. I totally understand why Nintendo is using Mario, buy I wish they would use other IP more. I feel the same way about DC canceling Vibe for another Batman book.