# New Pokémon Video Games Shatter U.S. Sales Records



## Vigilante (Mar 9, 2011)

Two new Pokémon™ video games went on sale on March 6 and promptly shattered all previous U.S. Pokémon sales records. The Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version games for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems became the fastest-selling Pokémon video games of all time, selling more than 1.08 million units after just one day of availability. That surpasses the previous one-day sales record of more than 780,000 set by the Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version games in April 2007.

“Longtime Pokémon fans are attracted to the new Pokémon, new battle systems and a new region to explore, while newcomers enjoy the ability to jump in and have fun right away,” said Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s senior director of Corporate Communications. “These sales numbers illustrate the continued strength of the Nintendo DS family of systems. Already established as the nation’s best-selling video game platform of all time, the installed base of more than 47 million makes it the ideal hand-held for developers to reach a huge gaming-focused target audience.”

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version feature more than 150 new Pokémon for players to catch, train and battle. The never-before-seen Unova region gives players a whole new world to explore. For the first time in the series, in-game environments change with the four seasons. The games also introduce Triple Battles and Rotation Battles, which give players even more choices when battling.[/p]





Source


It shows the great Pokemon love inside many people's hearts.


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## Cloak519 (Mar 9, 2011)

The popularity of this game took me by complete surprise.
One kid at school that I talk to here and there - a CoD fan, the type of person that only likes a game if the graphics are good and the game involves weapons/violence - bought this and about five other people of the same nature grabbed it after hearing about the game.
It amazes me that these 'Xbox elite hipster kids' (I'm not generalising Xbox fans here 'cos I like the Xbox myself - I'm just talking about the kids at school) drop their principles at the release of a new Pokémon game.


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## shakirmoledina (Mar 9, 2011)

1 million in a day... thts super crazy, the 3ds sold much less and its a console
i never knew the pokemon fans were rising at this rate. Maybe its the combined total that has caused it to rise so high but still, 1 million?!


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## ChaosBoi (Mar 9, 2011)

I'm just hoping Nintendo has lived up to their words about making these ones more refreshing. I haven't played the game yet and will probably pick up a copy as soon as I'm done with my rerun of the Ace Attorney series.


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## dinofan01 (Mar 9, 2011)

shakirmoledina said:
			
		

> 1 million in a day... thts super crazy, the 3ds sold much less and its a console
> i never knew the pokemon fans were rising at this rate. Maybe its the combined total that has caused it to rise so high but still, 1 million?!


pretty sure its easier to put down $40 then two hundred plus...

I blame the DS install base on this one. There so many DS's out there that it was near impossible to do this good.


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## fancysky016 (Mar 9, 2011)

i never played pokemon series and final fantasy...

why they so popular?


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## ShadowSoldier (Mar 9, 2011)

fancysky016 said:
			
		

> i never played pokemon series and final fantasy...
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> why they so popular?



Play them and find out. 


Anyways, sales don't really mean anything. They sold a lot big whoop. Does it mean it's the best Pokemon game? Not by a long shot.


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## redact (Mar 9, 2011)

shakirmoledina said:
			
		

> 1 million in a day... thts super crazy, the 3ds sold much less and its a console
> i never knew the pokemon fans were rising at this rate. Maybe its the combined total that has caused it to rise so high but still, 1 million?!


you're comparing USA sales (a much larger audience) of an easy to manufacture, $40 game to japanese sales of $300 hardware which is a lot harder to mass produce


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## Vigilante (Mar 9, 2011)

fancysky016 said:
			
		

> i never played pokemon series and final fantasy...
> 
> why they so popular?


No Pokemon?
No Final Fantasy?
Are you even a gamer?


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## Satangel (Mar 9, 2011)

Yay, that means it won't be long until we have a new Pokemon game on our hands. Just yay


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## Canonbeat234 (Mar 9, 2011)

fancysky016 said:
			
		

> i never played pokemon series and final fantasy...
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> why they so popular?



Personally, this question of yours is coming from opinion of what should be popular. 

Pokemon from my experience came out from truly hating the series due to the fact it was so freakin' hype! After playing it one day inside my cousin's house (I took the game cartiage since I was so addicted to it back then) I didn't realize it was that awesome! Training a pokemon of your own, learning how to use them and battle with them. Your FIRST time playing an actual RPG and Pokemon game gives you an experience you can never forget. I remember when I got so far in Pokemon Yellow until I got stuck in Indigo Plateau...stupid rocks and switches. However, Nintendo redeem me by making a revision of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. 

My first Final Fantasy game I played with a spin-off; FF: Mystic Quest. It was a good ROM at that time, did thought me about the world of emulators and roms. Heh heh. Personally you should at least play a PKMN game once, you'll be surprised how freakin' addictive it can get. I stopped playing Pokmon after Pokemon HG and SS.


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## Forstride (Mar 9, 2011)

ShadowSoldier said:
			
		

> Anyways, sales don't really mean anything. They sold a lot big whoop. Does it mean it's the best Pokemon game? Not by a long shot.


Have you played it yet?  You'd be surprised at how fresh it feels.  I'm assuming G/S/C is the best in your opinion too...


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## rockstar99 (Mar 9, 2011)

well they deserved it
I already clocked 70 hours in and Im playing for like 5 days


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## TM2-Megatron (Mar 9, 2011)

They're good games, but IMO the lack of several features which should, by now, have become standard (even for the initial 2 versions of a generation) leave me feeling a bit disappointed in B&W.  Yes, the games are relatively fun and fresh your first time through, but after the Elite 4 they leave something to be desired.

There isn't even a VS Seeker, for instance, which was present not only in FireRed/LeafGreen, but Diamond/Pearl and Platinum as well.  Even Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald had a mechanism by which you could rematch a decent number of trainers on routes in the overworld.  Sure, you can rematch some trainers at the Battle Subway, but I often feel like going out and wandering around the routes and mixing the rematches in with some wild battles.


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## Gundam Eclipse (Mar 9, 2011)

Vigilante said:
			
		

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Thats like saying those who don't play Call of Duty are not gamers...


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## mkoo (Mar 9, 2011)

Gundam Eclipse said:
			
		

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No it's more like saying who never played Half Life are not gamers.


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## Forstride (Mar 9, 2011)

mkoo said:
			
		

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No, it's more like saying those who haven't played Pac-Man are not gamers.


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## Nebz (Mar 9, 2011)

TM2-Megatron said:
			
		

> They're good games, but IMO the lack of several features which should, by now, have become standard (even for the initial 2 versions of a generation) leave me feeling a bit disappointed in B&W.  Yes, the games are relatively fun and fresh your first time through, but after the Elite 4 they leave something to be desired.
> 
> There isn't even a VS Seeker, for instance, which was present not only in FireRed/LeafGreen, but Diamond/Pearl and Platinum as well.  Even Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald had a mechanism by which you could rematch a decent number of trainers on routes in the overworld.  Sure, you can rematch some trainers at the Battle Subway, but I often feel like going out and wandering around the routes and mixing the rematches in with some wild battles.


This is what annoys me with these games... They do something right and then strip it away. I'm assuming once they feel as if they're at the end of their rope with this series they'll begin busting out everything we want and do everything right.


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## SamAsh07 (Mar 9, 2011)

Well I must say, the games deserved this feat and I hope they sell even more!! Just bought Pokemon Black today (yay I'm in the 1 million now) - and pirated the White version....sad...if only I had more cash.

Anyways, the introduction of double wild Pokemon encounters has taken me by surprise, and I can't wait for more surprises.

By the way, Lumburr pwns!


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## Maz7006 (Mar 9, 2011)

Notice how when the game sells well, they don't bitch about piracy.

that being said, ill buy the game, but i wouldn't feel im getting the most out of it with my almost broken Ds Lite (plus i cant participate in all of the features) - if i ever get a Dsi, XL, or even a 3DS then ill definitely pick this up.

Good job they still ship real popular DS games here.


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## GeekyGuy (Mar 9, 2011)

And they say piracy is hurting sales.


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## ShadowSoldier (Mar 9, 2011)

TDWP FTW said:
			
		

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Well it's good that it's fresh. That's what it's supposed to be. Also, no I don't think GSC are the best, Yellow easily takes the cake imo.

But anyways, just because it's fresh, still doesn't mean it's the best Pokemon ever.


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## machomuu (Mar 9, 2011)

Gundam Eclipse said:
			
		

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Ugh...I'm going to end this before it gets out of hand.  The CoD/Halo/Xbox/PS3 playing gamers are called mainstream (or FPS) gamers for the most part (there are the special few that aren't). These guys tend to flock to what's popular, 90% of the time only FPS's, and most of the time reject other games, genres, and Nintendo (so no Final Fantasy, no Mario, No Pokemon...No Phoenix Wright).  They make up more than 80% of modern gamers and 95% of the time have nearly nonexistant taste in games simply because they don't need them, as they buy what looks cool.


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## SPH73 (Mar 9, 2011)

Pokemon is still the World's most popular video game franchise.


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 9, 2011)

GeekyGuy said:
			
		

> And they say piracy is hurting sales.



It does.


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## YayMii (Mar 9, 2011)

TDWP FTW said:
			
		

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He's not saying that B/W sucks. He's not saying anything about the game itself. He just said that the amount (or speed) of sales don't affect the quality of the game, that's all.


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## TornZero (Mar 9, 2011)

YayMii said:
			
		

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He said it in a way that makes it sound like he believes it's not as good as the other games. I can understand why TDWP said what he did.


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## ShadowSoldier (Mar 9, 2011)

TornZero said:
			
		

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Lol no I didn't. I just said because it sells a lot, doesn't mean it's the best Pokemon game. Other Pokemon games have outsold others, but they aren't as good.


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## Vulpes Abnocto (Mar 10, 2011)

WiiBricker said:
			
		

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Well do you think we've hurt them enough that they won't make any more pokemon games?

No?

Well damn. I guess we'll have to try again next year.


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## B3astinSnipes (Mar 10, 2011)

yay pokemon


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## machomuu (Mar 10, 2011)

Vulpes Abnocto said:
			
		

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But sitll, a paper cut, even when compared to a stabbing, still hurts.


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## GeekyGuy (Mar 10, 2011)

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Proof please.

The music industry took their tantrum out too during the initial populating of the Web, and after that big fat baby calmed down, some suggested that piracy only served to increase property recognition, i.e. free publicity for their "artists." The concrete benefit, either way, was that it forced that industry to approach the medium and audience differently. Now, everything's tied to product placement, and they're making more money than they ever could have dreamed of. Artists are now signed to more shit than they even understand (ergo well-paid slaves), and the beast is gorging itself on mounds of cash.

The games industry is a bit slower, however, because they're co-dependent on hardware. The only thing they can agree upon is that digital distribution smells the least like poo. Regardless, Reggie will be eating steak tonight, rest assured.


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 10, 2011)

GeekyGuy said:
			
		

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It's realy simple. You claim that piracy didnt affect sales, right? Well as long as at least 1 human exists that would not buy lets say game X if the human simply can download it for free, but would buy game X if it's not availabe for free, it would mean that this is hurting sales.

Your claim implies that no such persons exist in the world but thats bullshit. The world is full of them.


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## basher11 (Mar 10, 2011)

I'm one of those 1.08 million people


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## ShadowSoldier (Mar 10, 2011)

WiiBricker said:
			
		

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You know you really over analyze and take things waaay too literal and seriously.


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 10, 2011)

ShadowSoldier said:
			
		

> You know you really over analyze and take things waaay too literal and seriously.


Dont give me that crap. I just delivered proof. The claim "piracy does not hurt sales" is simply not true.


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## ShadowSoldier (Mar 10, 2011)

You still take things too seriously and too literally.


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## _Chaz_ (Mar 10, 2011)

ShadowSoldier said:
			
		

> You know you really over analyze and take things waaay too literal and seriously.


You can't ask for proof of a claim and then tell the person that they over-analyze and take things too seriously upon receiving it.


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## KingVamp (Mar 10, 2011)

Can we say piracy does hurt sales much? :/


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 10, 2011)

KingVamp said:
			
		

> Can we say piracy does hurt sales much? :/


That's another question which is useless to discuss on this board.


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## YayMii (Mar 10, 2011)

ShadowSoldier said:
			
		

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See, I was right. I win. HIGH FIVE! *puts up hand towards ShadowSoldier*

On-topic (or at least on the topic of that other tangent): It actually depends on what kind of person is doing the piracy. Say if the person was incapable of purchasing the game, or won't purchase the game anyway, that wouldn't hurt sales. If a person downloaded the game and became convinced to buy it, that would actually help sales. But if someone was able to purchase it but didn't, or was too lazy to go to the store, or just downloaded just because they had the ability to, then I'm pretty sure that's a lost sale. And then there are other cases where people pirate games from huge companies because they hate the company but like their games. I think it's up to opinion to determine whether that's a loss or not.


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## Nujui (Mar 10, 2011)

Piracy is pretty much opinion, depending on how you look at it.

Also, aren't we getting off topic?


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## machomuu (Mar 10, 2011)

Sheaperd121 said:
			
		

> Piracy is pretty much opinion, depending on how you look at it.
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> Also, aren't we getting off topic?
> Nope, because the topic title is:
> QUOTENew Pokémon Video Games Shatter U.S. Piracy Records


Or at least that's what most people are reading.


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## Nujui (Mar 10, 2011)

machomuu said:
			
		

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I guess that is it huh?

But anyway, nice to see pokemon getting much attention. I'll be planing on buying it when I get about 22 more dollars.


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## GeekyGuy (Mar 10, 2011)

WiiBricker said:
			
		

> It's realy simple. *You claim that piracy didnt affect sales, right?* Well as long as at least 1 human exists that would not buy lets say game X if the human simply can download it for free, but would buy game X if it's not availabe for free, it would mean that this is hurting sales.
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> Your claim implies that no such persons exist in the world but thats bullshit. The world is full of them.



I made no such claims. Please go back and re-read my post. I merely asked for proof that piracy does, in fact, hurt sales. Even if 50,000 people pirate the game, there's no proof that they are hurting sales. As a matter of fact, I'd probably have an easier time proving those 50,000 people are helping sales by simply helping to make the game more of a household name. You should take a marketing class or two before you make assumptions that certain ideas are bullshit. But like I said, I didn't claim anything. You did. I'm still waiting for proof. Instead, you give me one more reason to believe that Nintendo is merely giving away promo copies and calling it piracy. There are all sorts of ways to spin facts.


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## Zerosuit connor (Mar 10, 2011)

This was way too predictable. Even with piracy it was known this was going to be the case as pokemon is one of the largest franchises ever


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## Scott-105 (Mar 10, 2011)

I bought Pokemon Black, and I plan to get White once I get more money. It was well worth the cash. I quite like the game. Addictive as hell.


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## Fear Zoa (Mar 10, 2011)

And this is why nobody really doubts Nintendo's first party support......(and probably the same reason theres very few 1st party games on the 3ds for a while)


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## awssk8er (Mar 10, 2011)

CA519705950 said:
			
		

> The popularity of this game took me by complete surprise.
> One kid at school that I talk to here and there - a CoD fan, the type of person that only likes a game if the graphics are good and the game involves weapons/violence - bought this and about five other people of the same nature grabbed it after hearing about the game.
> It amazes me that these 'Xbox elite hipster kids' (I'm not generalising Xbox fans here 'cos I like the Xbox myself - I'm just talking about the kids at school) drop their principles at the release of a new Pokémon game.



You won't believe how many kids in my school did too. Same situation you described.

Literally, everyone, of all grades in my high school is playing Pokemon Black or White.


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## Searinox (Mar 10, 2011)

Okay, the games are good. I admit it. But I'm a Pokemon fan, what's that to any non-Pokemon fan? Seriously, what did they do to attract new clients? Was it the graphics? The promise of something well redesigned? The adverts? The new generation of ppl eager to try something new? I don't get it...


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## PeregrinFig (Mar 10, 2011)

Searinox said:
			
		

> Okay, the games are good. I admit it. But I'm a Pokemon fan, what's that to any non-Pokemon fan? Seriously, what did they do to attract new clients? Was it the graphics? The promise of something well redesigned? The adverts? The new generation of ppl eager to try something new? I don't get it...


It could be people's recommendations, since this is a genuinely good game. I'd personally say Black and White are the best Pokemon games since G/S/C.


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## haddad (Mar 10, 2011)

0_O wow


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## klim28 (Mar 10, 2011)

wow. 1m+. hope I'm one of those 1.08m 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




got both copies though I'm not in the US


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## stanleyopar2000 (Mar 10, 2011)

this is how Nintendo is rewarded when the FRESHEN UP the series.

now we ask that all pokemon look like the 2 main pokemon on the start screen. make them 3D rendered and make them actually HIT eachother..

kinda like what other companies did..

Fossil Fighters, Dinosaurs : Clash of Giants, a crapload of Japanese Beetle Fighting games, Zoids DS etc.

the even the characters (IE : Fossil Fighters) could be 3D rendered. 

why can't pokemon transfer into the 3D rendering group on the DS?

you don't need the 3DS to do that! >_<

I can't complain though...Its a start...


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## Raiser (Mar 10, 2011)

But can it blend...?

It's good to know that gamers of all ages still like and play Pokemon.
Whoever came up with "Pokemon is for little kids, man!" .. I guess not, eh?

I'll hope to get ahold of Black soon. o.o


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 10, 2011)

GeekyGuy said:
			
		

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I think you and I have a different understanding about "hurting sales". In my opinion even 1 copy less sold is in fact hurting sales. In your opinion you probably mean, even if 1000 people pirate games, the publisher would still earn enough money if the game is sold lets say over 1 million times.


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## Sylar1 (Mar 10, 2011)

See Nintendo doesn't need me to buy their games, everyone else does.


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## Coto (Mar 10, 2011)

Well, if one of Nintendo´s manager is reading this topic.

Imagine how cool´d be to have a improved version of Pokemon stadium 2 for the Nintendo Wii, using Pokemon B/W DS.

That would be nice =p sigh


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## KingVamp (Mar 10, 2011)

stanleyopar2000 said:
			
		

> this is how Nintendo is rewarded when the FRESHEN UP the series.
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> now we ask that all pokemon look like the 2 main pokemon on the start screen. make them 3D rendered and make them actually HIT eachother..
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Huh? These are ds-dsi enhance games. The 3D there isn't the same 3D as 3DS.

Seem I miss understood. If it was rendered like  Fossil Fighters then I wouldn't want to rush thorough the battle, I be more hooked.


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## Guild McCommunist (Mar 10, 2011)

stanleyopar2000 said:
			
		

> this is how Nintendo is rewarded when the FRESHEN UP the series.
> 
> now we ask that all pokemon look like the 2 main pokemon on the start screen. make them 3D rendered and make them actually HIT eachother..
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Honestly, people always say they want a 3D Pokemon game and I say time after time that it's such a shitty idea.

Pokemon works well because it's not dragged out. It's light on plot, RPG elements are accessible but surprisingly deep, and you can finish a wild Pokemon battle in seconds. When they render this in 3D and do all these long, drawn out, and useless animations so a few fangirls can squeal over Charizard using Flamethrower, the rest of us spend all that time jamming the A button so we can just finish the fucking battle. It's why there hasn't been a console main game and pretty much most of the console games are vastly inferior to the handheld ones.

Not to mention most Pokemon knock offs suck, the only decent ones I've found really were Monster Racers (a pretty good under-the-radar DS game) and Dragon Quest Monsters. Most other things are terribly boring.


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## Terminator02 (Mar 10, 2011)

Coto said:
			
		

> Well, if one of Nintendo´s manager is reading this topic.
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you're missing the point, the pokemon sprites should be 3d, like in pokemon stadium or something


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## stanleyopar2000 (Mar 10, 2011)

Guild McCommunist said:
			
		

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Pokemon X.D was OKAY.

but holy shit..You're right..I never thought of it that way...the 2D sprites have a way with fast battling...

It's just sometimes I get a little ticked when the pokemon use "tackle" and they don't actually hit each other.


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## Clydefrosch (Mar 11, 2011)

yeah, unless you can seriously speed up and skip all the animation and stuff, 3d pokemon sucks.
i mean, even with these supposedly fast pokemon battles, its still annoyingly slow (mainly the time between encounter and being able to attack for the first time is terrible)

and I never played through those gamecube games, it just took too long (not to mention all that stupid befriending and taking the darkness away...)

also, its not that hard for pokemon games to sell many units since usually, about 1/3 of the people buy two games for whatever reason.
to that lots of couples or siblings buy the games together as well.
so yeah, its great, but kinda not hard to understand


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