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Why does Nintendo make so many Kirby games?
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Funny how OP says the series has "literally dozens" of games, yet this chart reveals there are 23 Kirby games in the series.
DragonSworne
Banned
It probably has something to do with Iwata's history as President of HAL, just maybe.
Sapiens
Member
I'm convinced Kirby is a well selling trojan for Nintendo to experiment with new control ideas or gameplay types.
It's really hard to NOT buy a new Kirby game. I mean, Mass Attack was great and so are a lot of the other Kirbies that don't fit into the mold that the original GB/NES games established.
It's a low risk way to try new things with the buying public.
It's really hard to NOT buy a new Kirby game. I mean, Mass Attack was great and so are a lot of the other Kirbies that don't fit into the mold that the original GB/NES games established.
It's a low risk way to try new things with the buying public.
entremet
Member
I seriously doubt Nintendo would continue to make them if they weren't profitable.
Games look cheap to make and kids loves them. It's not that difficult. You can release Mario for every game.
I don't think Miyamoto wants another F-Zero game to be made ever.
Like others said the budget doesn't break the bank and they sell really well.I mean they're not on Mario's level but all Kirby games sold more than good enough to keep going and frankly they often show a lot of creativity. We've had so many non-traditional Kirby games in the last decade.
Because they are linear, side-scrolling platformers which are typically 5-10 hours long, and often released on handhelds.
astrogamer
Member
Yes, a number of times.
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I believe Nintendo's talked before about how they try to come up with a fun mechanic/concept first and then fit that into one of their franchises.
Unique Kirby games sell way better than, say, Metroid Prime Pinball.
They're also good about reusing content, especially with the extra modes being typically slightly reskinned versions of the main game's content.
UncleSporky
Member
What does?
Iwata becaome president in 2002. According to that chart, since 2002 they have made less Kirby games than they did in the 10 years prior to him becoming president.
1M sales worldwide is nothing these days. Especially for anything that isn't a low budget affair. Bayonetta broke 2M.
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
Why is this questionable? I thought Kirby sold quite well, not to mention it's clearly inexpensive for them to develop.
I mentioned this in another thread, but there's been individual DS and Wii games that have sold more than the entirety of the Metroid series, despite being around for 25 years. It's always been a B-tier franchise, at best, in terms of sales.
THAT'S NEARLY LITERALLY /TWO/ DOZENS.
/TWO/ DOZENS, DONT YOU SEE WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS?!?!??!?!?!?11111 /s
6 games in 10 years for Metroid isn't that bad.
It's probably pretty reasonable to expect that Kirby games require much smaller budgets than Metroid games though.
It's probably pretty reasonable to expect that Kirby games require much smaller budgets than Metroid games though.
Sorry, OP. One more and you might have a case.
Worldwide shipment in million.
F-Zero
F-Zero SNES 2.85
F-Zero X N64 1.10
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity GBA 1.04*
Kirby
Kirby's Dream Land GB 5.13
Kirby Superstar Ultra DS 2.99
Kirby's Dream Land 2 GB 2.36
Kirby Squeak Squad DS 2.27
Kirby's Pinball Land GB 2.19
Kirby: Nightmare In Dreamland GBA 1.92*
Kirby Epic Yarn Wii 1.84
Kirby 64 N64 1.77
Kirby's Adventure NES 1.75
Kirby Return to Dreamland Wii 1.74
Kirby Super Star SNES 1.44
Kirby Tilt N Tumble GB 1.23
Kirby Mass Attack DS 1.21
Metroid
Metroid NES 2.73
Metroid Prime GC 1.87*
Metroid 2: Return Of Samus GB 1.72
Super Metroid SNES 1.42
Metroid Prime 3 Wii 1.41
Metroid Fusion GBA 1.39*
Metroid Prime Hunters DS 1.08
Metroid Other M Wii lol
Star Fox
Star Fox 64 N64 4.00
Star Fox SNES 2.99
Star Fox Adventure GC 1.69*
*Figures not definitive (shipment until 2003)
Plus most of Bayonetta's sales came after the game bombed. Plus a lot of copies were just given away in bundles.
I can't imagine the 2D GBA games or Metroid Prime 2 (Aka let's reuse all those Prime 1 assets) being especially high-budget.
And Bayonetta is an HD game. Bit of a difference in development costs there.
I'd expect that (outside of Epic Yarn).
I'm not saying Metroid is a better investment than Kirby, I just find it ridiculous when "Metroid generally doesn't sell well" mutates into "Metroid games are bombas, no Metroid game ever sold well."
Nintendo focusing more on Kirby than Metroid makes sense, considering how japan-centric they are. Metroid really only had success in the west unlike Kirby has a pretty good track record world wide.
I sure remember the backlash F-Zero GX got at the time.
Of course there was none cause the game was godly
Right now Kirby has a bigger appeal compared to Star Fox, Metroid and F-Zero.
This. It has become apparent ever since Canvas Curse: the series has been used to experiment various new mechanics.
Exterminieren
Banned
As 2D sidescrollers go, I could definitely imagine the GBA games being high budget. Those were some detailed sprites- far more detailed than the average 2D Kirby game goes for.
Opinionatedfish
Member
They sell well enough and there is a vast amount of experimentation in the Kirby franchise.
Also, I can't stop buying them for some reason.
Amazing Mirror, Mass Attack, Air Ride, Superstar, Dreamland 2, Blockball, and so many others were just so good.. that might be the reason I keep buying them.
Also, I can't stop buying them for some reason.
Amazing Mirror, Mass Attack, Air Ride, Superstar, Dreamland 2, Blockball, and so many others were just so good.. that might be the reason I keep buying them.
TreasureHunterG
Banned
LOL. Joke post?
Historic sales data shows otherwise.
Yes, because Nintendo's management actually cared to keep it relevant, especially because Iwata was a former HAL employee, unlike Star Fox, Metroid and F-Zero which were outsourced and badly managed and they didn't give a shit for them ever since.
See? There's this common trend now to call F-Zero a niche franchise that no one cares about and it can't sell, but the pre-Iwata titles were million sellers.
Metroid hasn't been "dead" that long, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it come back before too much longer. With Star Fox they were struggling as to how to sell the things, which is why we ended up with the weird string of Adventures, Assault, and Command (admittedly Adventures is for somewhat different reasons, but still). I'd honestly imagine a retail rail shooter is a hard sell nowadays (poor Sin and Punishment II), and the other styles they were trying to "bulk" the games up just weren't working.
F-Zero is probably the most unfortunate, though. How were sales on the GBA games/GX, anyway? I also think I recall Miyamoto saying he "couldn't think of anything new" to do with the series (which isn't a good excuse of course).
I mean, it probably just ultimately comes down to Kirby games being easier to conceptualize/make, working well as a frame for more experimental stuff, and pretty much never running into a bomb sales wise. I don't really think it's some kind of conspiracy where Iwata is single-handedly assuring Kirby gets games due to some affection for his previous work on the series.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Good points. All the above franchises however would not do great at retail however in the current market place; as such, I do believe we will see the next Metroid as a F2P game with episodic content. It's a much more viable method and much easier for gamers to pick-up instead of an MSRP of 49.99$.
So Nintendo didn't actually want Metroid/F-Zero to sell? Did they send employees to stores in an effort to force consumers to leave them on the shelves?
Joseph Merrick
Member
because I love kirby. and I always get what I want.
TreasureHunterG
Banned
Star Fox Assault and Command sold badly because were awful games, very different from series known formula, Assault had most of the missions based on ground battles and Command had no rail-missions and strategy like input. Both got bad receptions, disappointed and drove away the fans from buying. There was never a true sequel to Star Fox 64 that everyone was expecting to happen. Wii motion controller would be great for a Star Fox game and yet, Nintendo didn't gave a shit. It's a common misleading idea from Nintendo fanboys to say Star Fox lost it's appeal because the genre "can't sell" when actually the franchise was badly mismanaged, got awful games. Star Fox for SNES and N64 were among the best selling Nintendo games in the time, if they fall this under all of a sudden in the GCN era, certainly was because of mismanagement.
About Metroid and F-Zero, yeah, I agree with you. But it was already proven in this thread that sales weren't issues in the past for them both.
No that they didn't wanted to sell, they badly mismanaged it and instead to admit they fuck up and try again, they simply put the blame on the sales instead of the disappointing result of the game which resulted the underperformance.
This would outrage the fans and probably wouldn't be successful at all.
MrSaturn99
Member
They're super fun, are prime for experimentation, full of fun characters, what's not to like?
Historic data show that F-Zero was a declining series with rising cost in development and with at best a shot at 1M (not sure if GX got there).
And I'm saying it as a big fan of the series.
Star Fox has a similar problem, higher development costs for a genre whose popularity is waning.
I don't think Armada ever sold 1M.
For the record I think Nintendo will give another spin to the F-Zero franchise.
Believe!
Nah, the reason is that Kirby was always a steady seller.
Most game sold > 1.5M
Star Fox, F-Zero or even Metroid cannot guarantee that level of sales.
In truth they probably won't even achieve 1M in sales.
The only confirmed number is that it barely sold above 100k total in Japan.
SafeinSound
Member
I don't know. Why do they make so many Mario games?
210K in US as May 2004.
TreasureHunterG
Banned
F-Zero had steady and constant numbers until was outsourced to Sega and Suzak as yourself provided with numbers. GX underperformed next to X and Maximum Velocity, yes, but what blew it were the disastrous numbers for GP Legend and Climax. If I remember correctly, Climax sold less than 10k in the first week. Suzak's F-Zero games were never hot in reception.
How was the genre the fault for it's underperformance since one of the major complains about Adventures, Assault and Command was exactly they weren't faithful to the series's formula? This is misleading and not accurate to the facts.
Ah, yes, Star Fox 64 3D... for the same reason DKCR 3DS and WW HD Edition didn't made nowhere near the original release performance, it was unrealistic for Nintendo to rely on it to be a parameter for the series success rather than a brand new title. But, as far as I remember, it did almost 500k in US alone, so, for a port, it wasn't really THAT BAD. But, Nintendo's management is japanese-centric, so they consider only their homeland performance, so they believe, yes, the series is dead.
For Wii U, certainly, given how piss poor it's selling. For 3DS and Wii, a proper game would sell nicely. Other M was awful, got terrible reviews and reception and scared away buyers, but it's naive from Nintendo to believe (if they really do), just because they made one fuck up, when the series had steady and constantly million seller games.
Hm, seems a lot more crowded back in the 90s.
...What was your argument again?
I actually kind of wish they made more, like they did in the 90s. Overall I think I prefer the franchise to Mario, though the last few 3D Mario platformers have been fantastic.
Are you making stuff up or what? Pretty sure Nintendo/Miyamoto said they just don't know how to improve/add new gameplay mechanics to the already released versions of F-Zero to make them better. That's why they haven't released new ones.
TreasureHunterG
Banned
No surprise, Miyamoto has been out of touch for some time now. This post sums up well:
Has there ever really been a bad Kirby game though?
Squeak Squad was pretty ewww.
Squeak Squad was boring, and some parts of Amazing mirror weren't great. The Crystal Shards has its detractors too.
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