Wii U

Some people think that unless a game is as recognizable as Mario, Halo, or Pokemon, it will fall under the radar.

I don't think FE is that major considering a good chunk of the games are Japan-only.

From my experiences from hearing game talk at my high school, the hugely popular game franchises are:

• Mario
• Zelda
• Pokemon
• Halo
• Call of Duty
• Assassin's Creed
• Madden
• Final Fantasy
• Team Fortress 2
• Angry Birds
• Grand Theft Auto
• Just Dance

Zelda, FF, and TF 2 stretch it to the female gamers I've met. Pokemon goes both ways (and Zelda), but the Xbox/Playstation games are more popular amongst the males at my high school

edited 29th Apr '15 8:05:17 PM by powerpuffbats

The didn't consider that western fans would want anything to do with the series before 2001. That doesn't mean it's not a major franchise. Just niche.

By this point FE has had international releases for over a decade and half of the games have been or will be released internationally. I don't think that's a reason to not count it. Of course FE doesn't have sales numbers even close to the big three but outside of them it's probably one of Nintendo's most prominent series. It has more games than Metroid, Star Fox, or F-Zero after all.

edited 29th Apr '15 8:11:36 PM by Kostya

FE is blatantly major. But for many, somewhat obscure. It's niche alright.

There's a tons of series who barely had anything, and sometimes the only reason they even have different "games" is due to ports or updated releases on the same system alone. Imagine if OOT was the only game in the Zelda series. People would still recognize it because it's been remade twice in two variant ways; A gameplay fix via the 3DS remake, and Master Quest. It's highly recognizable since it's the only game with two remakes and is released worldwide. No other game in the series was done like this. Some got one remake at best. TP would come close if it got a new release on 3DS/Wii U. The Wii version has enough differences via some glitch fixes and being an entire world flip, and an entirely different control scheme for it be considered two different versions.(of course, the story is entirely the same, as is all the base gameplay and world outside of the world flip). I also say "come close" because it's still only one game, with so few differences that it's like comparing the three different n64 versions of OOT at best. Or maybe slightly more unique than those, but still.

Fire Emblem is a major series in Japan, but its genre is niche overseas. So it has more games than many Nintendo series, but isn't well known outside Japan.

I rank Fire Emblem as a B-rank Nintendo series personally (same level as Kirby and Metroid), but I find it hard to consider it a major series. It's well liked critically and consistently makes money, but it's still really small sales wise overall. Pokemon XY has probably outsold the entire series combined (unless you count Sacred Stones as part of the ambassador program), and that's after Awakening exploded the series in popularity. And Marth isn't nearly as iconic as Kirby or Samus, so it's harder for the series to grow big without a proper face/mascot. It's one of those series that fills a release schedule well, but it won't take care of major months like November on its own.

I'm going more like in the US than Japan.

I think once read somewhere a long time ago about the top Nintendo series in the US and Japan. If I'm remembering right, Mario, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing where 3 of the biggest in both countries. The other 2 most popular in America were Zelda and Metroid, while the other 2 most popular in Japan were Kirby and Fire Emblem.

Yes, but FE recently got a major boost thanks to Awakening. All you have to do is pop by the FE thread and see how many people there have only played Awakening or have Awakening as their first game (much to the chagrin of some of the veteran players since it colors their perceptions as to what makes a FE game good).

The likes of Fire Emblem and Metroid are big with the core, but they're never been huge tentpole titles despite their history and importance to the industry. Fire Emblem makes a decent splash in Japan, but it's far from being huge. And I'm not confident the next one will retain the western fanbase. Metroid meanwhile is a consistent million seller when it's good, and Samus is decently iconic, but I feel like it's never sold as well as it should've.

Then there's the opposite side, the DS/Wii casual games. Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Nintendogs, Brain Age, etc were all huge. They made lots of money, and even the mainstream got to know them. Wii Music was even allowed to carry the holidays in 2008 alongside Animal Crossing. I'd call those major if they held onto their fanbases, but alas. You won't hear the core (the people who actually vote in the polls) say they like these though.

Then there's Splatoon and Xenoblade. One is new, the other niche. Nintendo is trying to play them up as major franchises. Splatoon is called the next Mario Kart by Nintendo. The recent Direct placed Xenoblade next to Zelda and Metroid. Only time will tell if they'll succeed. Well, they won't in Japan due to being on Wii U, but there's a chance for the west.

Another thing is that FE got a serious boost in playable reps in Smash, something that a lot of series didn't get a severe boost outside of Mario and somewhat in KI. More than one series lost a character too. FE is clearly being pushed up in how notable it is. Keep in mind it was supposed to have 3 in Smash 4 as is, but still, that's a double amount since Melee overall. And then there's the files that imply Roy will be DLC, putting them up to 5 overall. For such a niche franchise, it's definitely making a splash in the US. Smash is a great way to make some series more known, due to its immense popularity and even mentioning some of the story to get people interested. The Masterpieces help a bit too(as they help other series as well, although many don't need much help, like Mario or Zelda. People know the old games well enough, well, many do).

So what exactly are we talking about as a "major series"? Cause if we're talking about something on the level of being really well known even to people who have barely played video games, that's very few video game series ever.

If we talking about, say, popular in how well known and played it is among huge gamers, then it becomes a lot more arguable.

According to Smash you'd think Fire Emblem is bigger than DK or Kirby. And that Kid Icarus outranks Animal Crossing. I don't think Sakurai was too concerned about fairness or how big something is once he got in the required characters (Animal Crossing character, new Pokemon, Miis, Shulk, etc).

On another note it seems that Yoshi is shaping up well. Apparently it's pretty difficult as well. Good thing Mellow mode exists to help players and reviewers that hate frustration.

I think the second definition is more accurate.

"Iconic" is something that applies well beyond video games. The likes of characters like Mega Man, Mario, Sonic, Pac-Man, and namely those who show up in so many different media that they're super easy to recognize.(Ryu is almost as notable as Mega Man outside of video games, but I feel he might be a little less recognizable due to not having a ton of movies/shows in comparison. He's the defining guy when it comes to fighting games, but he didn't exactly make a splash in movies or the few shows either, so it's easy for non-gamers to not recognize him in pure comparison to Mega Man, who had a lot more that people would notice via ads or otherwise. Even if it's very different and unique versions of Mega Man, the name shows up far more often. He's more iconic overall to non-gamers, basically)

edited 29th Apr '15 9:24:43 PM by Irene

Those reviewers will probably hate on Mellow Mode just because it exists.

I keep forgetting Yoshi and I keep forgetting that I really want that game.

Why does it seem like reviewers always suck at video games?

To be fair, their job isn't to be good, it's to play the game and judge it themselves. Another point is that many are more or less bribed to a degree. They can't get that early copy without guaranteeing a good review. Most of the time user reviews are a bit more likely to be as honest as possible. Not agreeable with everyone's opinions, but honest.

A lot of games are hard for some people. They aren't going to be great at any game they play. And some reviewers just aren't good at games because of bad fingers, for instance.

I usually watch reviewers like Some Call Me Johnny for my video game reviews.

So that Amiibo Tap game came out today. I gave it a download and it seems to be a fun little time waster if you don't already have most of the full versions of these NES and SNES games already bought on the VC (which I kinda do, so eh). Also, there seems to be little rhyme or reason as to which amiibos unlock which games. For some reason, my Samus unlocked a demo of Zelda Ltt P, as opposed to, y'know, Metroid or Super Metroid.

They flat out said it unlocked random VC games. This kind of thing really isn't for us, people who are quite aware of Nintendo's history.

Well, I figured I'd give it a try since it was free anyway. Maybe it'll give some younger kids more of an interest in Nintendo's back catalog. For what it's worth, what it gives you is fairly generous for a free demo, three minutes of play in each one out of several "scenes".

edited 30th Apr '15 11:23:51 AM by CombatC122

Doesn't really make much sense to unlock a random game rather than a relevant one.

Unless they did something funny by mixing it up NES Remix style (e.g. touch down Mega Man to play as Mega in Castlevania).

yeah, I know that'd never happen, but I find the concept amusing

edited 30th Apr '15 5:15:58 PM by Odd1

If they made the game relevant then certain amiibo would do nothing. Shulk, Villager, the Pokemon, etc. would have nothing to unlock.

edited 30th Apr '15 5:21:50 PM by Kostya