New Pokémon Snap's Launch Sales More Than Doubled Those Of The N64 Original In The US

Yeah, it is hardly surprising, Switch sold more than 2 times as many as the N64 at this point.

@Octane These comparisons are bonkers, because gaming was a totally different thing back then.

The Switch effect is real, pretty much every mainline Nintendo title has the potential to perform it's best on the Switch.

@Max_the_German It wasn't all that different back then, but the N64 sold nowhere near as many units as the Switch currently, let alone when Snap came out on the N64. Bigger audience means it's easier to sell more copies.

I seriously don't know why every family-friendly game worth playing ever made isn't on Switch by this point.

@Octane I agree, and I still say that it was totally different back then. Back then, we had the number of game releases per month that we have now in one week and less. Smartphone gaming, easily the by far biggest gaming platform, was not a thing. These days, the number of „gamers“ is higher by a factor of 100 (?).

This doesn’t sound THAT impressive, but bear in mind that seeing Pokemon in 3D alone was a selling point for the original, during the series peak in popularity.

"New Pokémon Snap was the 3rd best-selling game of April 2021"

I won't be able to play this until I get the new Switch model, but I'm glad its doing well. The original was the only Pokemon game I cared to play.

Game that touches Switch, game that doubles the sales.
Come on Nintendo, bring on F-Zero, Golden Sun, Starfox and so on!

@the_beaver I feel so bad for people that just want a conclusion to Golden Suns' story

Will get eventually. Gotta focus on lower print/older games first. Glad it is doing well.

I know Nintendo doesn't like to put it's games on sale and they value their price and whatnot but seriously, a game that seems like it can be completed in 10 hours, and an on rails shooter at that, I really think this game should have gone for $40 and sales would have been even higher.

Panzer Dragoon Remake is currently on sale on the eShop for $6.24 if anybody wants an on rails shooter.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/panzer-dragoon-remake-switch/

And yeah, it's not Nintendo, it's Gamefreak, and it's Pokemon, but it still should have been $40. I bought Pokemon Rumble U on Wii U for $20, it had Pokemon, and toys to life, and it was $20.

And Nintendo can release games for less than $60 i fit wants to, such as Garage, which is $30. I added an extra $10 for Pokemon.

I may actually buy this later today b/c I have $50 credit at Best Buy which expires tomorrow which I just can't seem to find anything to spend it on.

@Max_the_German I agree, but I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference in the end. Game attach rates haven't changed considerably since the 90s, despite the different environment. Software-hardware ratio is also comparable. Different times I agree, but it's not like Odyssey has sold considerably more or less than Mario 64 relatively speaking.

I remember n64 games were more expensive all other game titles cause these small cartridges

Even more impressive when you consider these numbers don't include digital

I'm really happy for it. New Pokémon Snap is really an amazing game, made by people who really understood the original. It's easily one of the most lovingly crafted Pokémon games, and I think is in strong contrast with Sword/Shield, or any Pokémon game for Switch, really.

@gcunit : I am still utterly baffled at the complete absence of a Wii Sports successor. Even the monumental flop that was the Wii U got Wii Sports Club.

@rjejr I am not gonna argue the subjectiveness of the value of a game in terms of its length. I will say for this particular game, maybe 10 hours if your just gunning to complete the story and that's all you're looking to do. There is no way this game is only 10 hours if you're looking to complete further objectives as well. I'm already up to 15 hours with still a bit more to do and Pokemon to find

The game's great! I've put nearly 30 hours into it and I'm not finished yet.

@UmbreonsPapa Length is always going to be subjective, I've put over 500 hours into ACNH, my kid has probably put 1,000 into SSBU, and Snap has a photo editor mode that you can probably spend the rest of your life messing around with, but there are websites that look at game length and the consensus for Snap seems to be around 10 hours.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=80153

https://primagames.com/tips/new-pokemon-snap-how-long-beat#:~:text=The%20answer%20to%20the%20question,as%20little%20as%208%20hours.

https://game8.co/games/New-Pokemon-Snap/archives/328227

Gamers read these websites. I think cost vs game length is something some gamers take into account for a game like this. It's not endless play SSBU or ACNH, it's an onlien photo mode.

Not sure how much better it may have done at $40, but I think a bit better for sure. Enough to make up a $20 lower price? That's above my pay grade.

If this weren't Pokémon, just an on rails shooter of say an African savannah, I doubt it sells for $60. But Nintendo new there was pent up demand for a sequel, so I can't say that I blame them, take the money and run, but sales would almost certainly have been better at a lower price.

@UmbreonsPapa 15 hours and a bit more to find? I've been playing it for over 70 hours now, and I still have tons to find! I haven't found every Pokémon, interaction and secret path, and actually could only do just over half of the requests.

A game like this is designed around replayability. It may only take 10 hours to roll credits (which honestly I still feel like is a bit low) but you won't come close to finding all the pokemon in this game in that time. I've put in 100 hours so far and have barely touched photo editor. Any linear bare bones run of this game is a very poor indication of the amount of available content.

@Krisi I was being a bit underwhelming in my explanation. I'm sure I have a pretty long way to go and alot more to find. I'm sure when all is said and done, I'll be right up there in terms of playtime

@rjejr Yes. The consensus being if you strictly play towards the credits, it's about 10 hours, give or take. But those websites also mention if you choose to do more than just play for the credits, then it's well over 10 hours.

@Max_the_German its not just that the gaming was different, but the pokemon fan base has grown since then, despite gamefreak and the animes writers...
we got people who grew up with pokemon raising their kids with it, then you have the constant population increase to attribute to it. we have somewhere over 48 million more people living in the us these days than we did when snap first came out, pokemon go dragged even people who hate pokemon into the fan base and there various other reasons why the fan base has increased. theres also that inevitable portion of new pokemon snap players that have never played a pokemon game before as well.

@UmbreonsPapa "then it's well over 10 hours."

I saw that, but the top line number, the first number people see is 10 hours. All of these "Game lengths" come with a "your mileage may vary" disclaimer. My son is playing Immortals Fenxy Rising now. I think the consensus is 60 but he's gong to play a lot longer than that b/c he's playing on nightmare mode and every once in awhile he'll come across a boss that takes him several attempts to beat. But it was a 60 hour game, at least, that cost $60. Which I bought the complete $100 edition on sale for $50 only 2 or 3 months after release.

So New Pokemon Snap is a 10 hour game that may take some people 20 hours and it cost $60. A lot of 60 hour games cost $60. I think a lot more people would have purchased this for $40. I do think people will buy it for $60 b/c Pokemon and Nintendo never puts it's games on sale - 4 eyar old Zelda BotW is still $60, and the green line DLC is still an additional $20 - but people know this is short, so less than $60 would have been better I'm guessing.

Will be curious to see if this goes on sale in less than 4 years or they wait for the Deluxe edition on Switch 2 to put this on sale? Most Nintendo IP games don't go on sale but Mario vs Rabbids was on sale for $20 not too long after release. I do think Pokemon holds it's price well though. Time will tell.