Biggest Game Industry Franchise: Mario

[bapenguin]

Mario is the biggest franchise of the current generation of games edging out Madden by a hair. Rounding out the Top 10: (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2367&Itemid=2)

3. Grand Theft Auto
4. Star Wars
5. Tony Hawk
6. Need for Speed
7. Pokemon
8. Halo
9. Sonic
10. Spiderman

It's amazing how many sales the GBA/DS brings in for Nintendo. I'm also surprised to see Tony Hawk that far up there.

[Borys]

What's even more amazing is that Halo, Xbox exclusive franchise that consists of only two games is up there with the multi-billion-sequel juggernauts.

Hats off to Microsoft & Bungie.

Here's a tear for Final Fantasy, GT and Zelda :'(

[mulligan]

What's even more amazing is that Halo, Xbox exclusive franchise that consists of only two games is up there with the multi-billion-sequel juggernauts.

Hats off to Microsoft & Bungie.

Here's a tear for Final Fantasy, GT and Zelda :'(


Hey... behold the power of Hype. :P

[bapenguin]

What's even more amazing is that Halo, Xbox exclusive franchise that consists of only two games is up there with the multi-billion-sequel juggernauts.

Hats off to Microsoft & Bungie.

Here's a tear for Final Fantasy, GT and Zelda :'(

I was surprised to see Zelda so low, but there's only been 2 Zelda games this gen right? Minish Cap and Windwaker?

[Blade]

Zelda has excuses, I guess. Not even close to the same number of titles as Mario. If they're going by current-gen, there have been only 4 Zelda games since 2001. GBA: LTTP, Minish Cap. GCN: Wind Waker, Four Swords. I guess it's impressive that those moved in excess of 5 million copies in the US alone.

[Steele Johnson]

I too find it amazing that Halo made the list. Only two games, and not to mention that it's a first person shooter!

[Serapth]

Does this count pack-in games? If so thats a bit unfair. For example, I bought my nephew a GameCube last Christmas and mario party came bundled in. Ditto for Halo, isnt it being included in alot of XBox bundles? I know Mario is bundled in with DS on Mariokart.

These games have to skew the numbers bigtime if counted.

[jacktion]

Nintendo ftw.

[Abednigo]

What's even more amazing is that Halo, Xbox exclusive franchise that consists of only two games is up there with the multi-billion-sequel juggernauts.

Hats off to Microsoft & Bungie.

Here's a tear for Final Fantasy, GT and Zelda :'(

I don't think it's that amazing. Like someone said, the "hype machine" does wonders. I never see any Mario commercials (maybe I just don't watch enough TV), but Halo saturated the media when it came out. Just look at the number of threads people started on this site before and after Halo 2 came out!!! I've never seen that kind of press for a Mario game, ever.

[HumpYourWay]

Mario sucks and its followers suck ass...

[Tia]

I don't think it's that amazing. Like someone said, the "hype machine" does wonders. I never see any Mario commercials (maybe I just don't watch enough TV). certainly you don't watch enough TV, or the right TV. But there are tons of Marion commercials when ever a new (mario) game comes out.

[Major Dan]

Hey... behold the power of Hype. :P

Riddle me this, when does it stop being hype and become the truth?

[Major Dan]

I don't think it's that amazing. Like someone said, the "hype machine" does wonders. I never see any Mario commercials (maybe I just don't watch enough TV), but Halo saturated the media when it came out. Just look at the number of threads people started on this site before and after Halo 2 came out!!! I've never seen that kind of press for a Mario game, ever.


Mario is all over man, you don't watch TV, it is on all kinds of channels and shows. I bet Mario got and gets much more press then Halo 1 or 2 ever did. Halo was done mostly word of mouth. Halo 2's add campaign was much bigger then Halo but still not very big.

[Major Dan]

What's even more amazing is that Halo, Xbox exclusive franchise that consists of only two games is up there with the multi-billion-sequel juggernauts.

Hats off to Microsoft & Bungie.

Here's a tear for Final Fantasy, GT and Zelda :'(

I do find this truly amazing! The only other platform specific one is Pokemon and that was and still a huge Juggernaut (HAHAHAHA). Microsoft and Bungie really need to take care of their baby don't they. Gives me hope for Halo 3.
:D :D

[phantomhitman]

Does this count pack-in games? If so thats a bit unfair. For example, I bought my nephew a GameCube last Christmas and mario party came bundled in. Ditto for Halo, isnt it being included in alot of XBox bundles? I know Mario is bundled in with DS on Mariokart.

These games have to skew the numbers bigtime if counted.

i know gamecube bundles the hell out of everything. however, halo is not that big of a bundled game.

[Nite_Moogle]

Forget Halo making the list, how in the name of all that's holy is the Need for Speed franchise ahead of the juggernaut that is Pokemon?

[mulligan]

Riddle me this, when does it stop being hype and become the truth?


When people buy it.

[jeffbax]

Halo > Final Fantasy.

[MosBen]

Wait, do you mean buy it, buy it, or believe it?

Edit: Oh, the fanboys. Everything good that happens to your favored comapany is merit and every sucess by the competitor is hype or the sheepish masses. If only we were all as smart as the fanboy! (directed at nobody in particular, by the way)

[The Letter 3]

Wait, do you mean buy it, buy it, or believe it?

Edit: Oh, the fanboys. Everything good that happens to your favored comapany is merit and every sucess by the competitor is hype or the sheepish masses. If only we were all as smart as the fanboy! (directed at nobody in particular, by the way)
If we didn't have fanboys, who would use up all of the excess oxygen?

[mulligan]

Wait, do you mean buy it, buy it, or believe it?

Edit: Oh, the fanboys. Everything good that happens to your favored comapany is merit and every sucess by the competitor is hype or the sheepish masses. If only we were all as smart as the fanboy! (directed at nobody in particular, by the way)


Mos at one point or another we are all fanboys, its inevitable like death and taxes, so I think you should include yourself in that reference...


and to answer your question: when you buy it, because of the hype, then it becomes your reality


oh.. deep ;)

[Royal Fool]

i know gamecube bundles the hell out of everything. however, halo is not that big of a bundled game.

Yes it was/is. Halo and Midtown Madness 3 were bundled with Xboxes, and so was Halo 2.

Halo was also given away with some PCs, although I don't think it was very common. And now that Halo 2 is going to be one of Microsoft's flagship games for Windows Vista, it wouldn't surprise me if Halo 2 was sold with some PCs in the future.

Forget Halo making the list, how in the name of all that's holy is the Need for Speed franchise ahead of the juggernaut that is Pokemon?

NFSU, NFSU2 and NFSMW all sold ridiculous amounts of copies.

[Major Dan]

Mos at one point or another we are all fanboys, its inevitable like death and taxes, so I think you should include yourself in that reference...


and to answer your question: when you buy it, because of the hype, then it becomes your reality


oh.. deep ;)

I never really got into GTA. I tried it because of the hype, borrowed a friends copy, but just didn't care for it. My wife got Halo for me when she bought a launch day X-Box back when. I didn't even play FPSs at that time, but I really liked Halo and now play many different FPSs. I really enjoyed Civilization back in the day, tried it because of HYPE and enjoyed it a lot. Black and White on the other hand was bought because of hype and I did not enjoy that. So yea, we are all fanboys at some time or another and hype becomes reality for different things. Boy am I incoherant today.

[Kelegacy]

Halo > Final Fantasy.
You are a crazy coot. I suppose someone could argue that Halo is just as overrated as FF though, but I don't think that FF is overrated.

I just played through Halo 2 again a month back and was so underwhelmed...I couldn't see what everyone was so shit-happy about. I wasn't playing multiplayer, of course, but SP modes should carry a game just as much as MP, IMO. I think Halo should just scrap their SP story and release their games like Unreal Tournament--online/multiplayer only. Halo 1 and 2 are still fun games, but they are not deserving of all the insane press and hype, I think.

Singleplayer > Multiplayer

[Nite_Moogle]

I guess since NFS:U 1/2 ended up in the bargain bin pretty quickly they sold quite a few copies at the $20 mark. I guess what really shocks me looking at that graphic is how huge the PS2 demographic is for almost all of those games, especially for Madden. I guess there's no denying who got the greater household proliferation. I do have to snicker at the itty bitty slivers that are the PSP sales, though. :P

Did Republic Commando really sell well enough on the Xbox to tie the PS2 sales of the rest of the Star Wars games like that? That franchise is a stark contrast to the rest of the multi-platform releases.

It would be nice if the graph included information about how many games make up the franchise. Something that's annual like Madden must be an amalgamation of about 20 or more games by now.

[Shadowmage952]

I would love to see this kind of chart for world wide sales. What would be even better is if we had one for each major market and then a merged one. I imagine that would lead to some interesting discussions.

[MijiT]

is that just for america? or world wide?

[Wedge]

is that just for america? or world wide?
It is a NA survey. I doubt Madden, GTA, Spiderman, Halo, Tony Hawk, NFS and maybe Star Wars would be on a Japanese list. And Madden would definetly not be on a European list, but otherwise similar I think.

[AndoCalrissian]

Mario sucks and its followers suck ass...
Nice mature response.

It's interesting, as I would never have placed Mario so high. But then I remembered all the Mario Sports titles and other various Mario offshoots. It's still a very powerful brand.

[Dark Hamlet]

is that just for america? or world wide?
That data is just for North America.

I can't believe that Zelda got beat by Yu-Gi-Oh of all things. I wasn't aware that people actually bought games in that franchise. :confused:

edit: just ignore my answer to MijiT's question, hadn't refreshed in a while

[mulligan]

I never really got into GTA. I tried it because of the hype, borrowed a friends copy, but just didn't care for it. My wife got Halo for me when she bought a launch day X-Box back when. I didn't even play FPSs at that time, but I really liked Halo and now play many different FPSs. I really enjoyed Civilization back in the day, tried it because of HYPE and enjoyed it a lot. Black and White on the other hand was bought because of hype and I did not enjoy that. So yea, we are all fanboys at some time or another and hype becomes reality for different things. Boy am I incoherant today.

Im not saying Halo sucks or that is a bad game, all I'm saying is that a 2 game franchise is now such a big event because of the hype surrounding it, c'mon, lets all be serious, Halo was NOT the most awesome game ever, nowhere near, it was not a revolution in FPS's in general, it just did what a game is supossed to do, and did it right.


but thats just me :

[MosBen]

I guess it depends on what you call a fanboy. If by fanboy you mean simply being a fan of a company or product, then yeah, at some point it's inevitable that we all become fanboys at some time or another. If by fanboy you mean someone who so faithfully follows their chosen company/product that they are incapable of acknowlodging weaknesses or failings of said company/product or are incapable of acknowlodging strengths or sucesses of the competing companies/products than I don't think it's innevitable that we all become fanboys, except perhaps when we are young and foolish. I usually think of the latter definition as the most applicable.

To be a fanboy, as I understand the term, is to be unreasonable, and that's not an inevitable state.

[Zanzibar]

Did Republic Commando really sell well enough on the Xbox to tie the PS2 sales of the rest of the Star Wars games like that? That franchise is a stark contrast to the rest of the multi-platform releases.


SW:Battlefront I was a HUGE seller on the Xbox, particularly because of its online play. It came out a few months before Halo 2, and definitely wasn't bad - they did a good job of making it feel like a huge battle, which Halo 2 did not give.

[Major Dan]

[QUOTE=Nite_Moogle]

Did Republic Commando really sell well enough on the Xbox to tie the PS2 sales of the rest of the Star Wars games like that? That franchise is a stark contrast to the rest of the multi-platform releases.
QUOTE]


You bring up a really good point, that green bar is really big for Star Wars and Republic Commando was a GOOD game, but there has been several other Star War Games on Xbox, namely KOTOR I and II, and Obi-One, scratch that, how about Star Wars Battle Front I and II. Any way I think they might have caused that bar to be so big. :)

[Nite_Moogle]

Oh duh, I forgot KotOR was an Xbox exclusive. I do remember stories about how it was the first real system seller since Halo came out now that you mention it.

[Zanzibar]

Oh duh, I forgot KotOR was an Xbox exclusive. I do remember stories about how it was the first real system seller since Halo came out now that you mention it.

Yeah. Me = double-duh. I had forgotten as well. I had even played both KOTORs.

[SaintArnold]

I think Halo should just scrap their SP story and release their games like Unreal Tournament--online/multiplayer only.

Haha, that is pretty much what they did with Halo 2. :D

[Nintendo Revolution]

Kind of suprising that Sonic on the GameCube outsells Sonic on the Xbox and PS2 combined. 20 million Gamecubes, 80 million PS2s (and 20 million Xbox)? That's quite a Sonic following for Nintendo.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Well, the two Sonic Adventure games were Gamecube exclusives in this generation (the Dreamcast isn't counted as a "current-gen" console), so that no doubt helped push up the GC figure. Also the Mega Collection was a Gamecube exclusive for a good while.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Kind of suprising that Sonic on the GameCube outsells Sonic on the Xbox and PS2 combined. 20 million Gamecubes, 80 million PS2s (and 20 million Xbox)? That's quite a Sonic following for Nintendo.


Soul Caliber 2 also sold more on the GCN than the other consoles combined. Sony must have given Namco a lot of money for SC3.

Sega's Gamecube titles did very well this generation - nearly all of them sold in the millions. Contrast this to their Xbox sales, which were nearly all abysmal. I still don't understand why they didn't back the Cube more.

[MosBen]

Actually, Splinter Cell was out before KOTOR and was, I believe the first second gen system seller for the Xbox.

[KamaItachi]

I'm surprised to see Spiderman was that high compared to some of the other big series out there. How many games have there been for this generation, disregarding different platforms? 2?

[Royal Fool]

Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man for GC/Xbox/PS2. Plus various DS/PSP/GBA variations of the console games, along with the notorious PC version of Spider-Man 2.

Spidey's been pretty busy. I think there were like 2-3 games as well for the Genesis/Mega Drive. And maybe 1-2 Game Boy games.

[fitbabits]

Congratulations, Mario and Nintendo. Now, how about some innovation instead of the same old regurgitated pish. :rolleyes:

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Congratulations, Mario and Nintendo. Now, how about some innovation instead of the same old regurgitated pish. :rolleyes:

How about I shove my Mario-red boot up your ass and call it a day instead? :rolleyes:

[fitbabits]

How about I shove my Mario-red boot up your ass and call it a day instead? :rolleyes:
An offer I simply cannot refuse. :)

[bobbler]

It only took a couple dozen "Mario" games to put it in first (I believe 29 to be exact)... EA needs to take lessons from Nintendo it seems!

The more impressive numbers are Halo (3 games -- halo 1, 2 and some triple pack, I think), Socom (4 games), and GT (2 games), Simpsons (8 games), Zelda (6 games), and FF (8 games), GTA (8 games), Namco museum (9 games) in no particular order... all the other games required 10+ to get where they were.

These numbers include multiplatform as seperate titles (so GTA had 8 titles counted even though only 3 actual games).

These numbers are for the US only... I wonder what Japan or EU would look like.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

An offer I simply cannot refuse. :)

I thought as much.

[Nintendo Revolution]

Soul Caliber 2 also sold more on the GCN than the other consoles combined. Sony must have given Namco a lot of money for SC3.

Sega's Gamecube titles did very well this generation - nearly all of them sold in the millions. Contrast this to their Xbox sales, which were nearly all abysmal. I still don't understand why they didn't back the Cube more.

Yeah, as far as SC3 goes, I couldn't agree more. It's just now coming to arcade.

[Major Dan]

Soul Caliber 2 also sold more on the GCN than the other consoles combined. Sony must have given Namco a lot of money for SC3.

Sega's Gamecube titles did very well this generation - nearly all of them sold in the millions. Contrast this to their Xbox sales, which were nearly all abysmal. I still don't understand why they didn't back the Cube more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nintendo Revolution
Kind of suprising that Sonic on the GameCube outsells Sonic on the Xbox and PS2 combined. 20 million Gamecubes, 80 million PS2s (and 20 million Xbox)? That's quite a Sonic following for Nintendo.

Maybe these games sell more because there are less GOOD games on the Cube, interesting UMH????

[mister_slim]

Maybe these games sell more because there are less GOOD games on the Cube, interesting UMH????
Actually, it's pretty obvious the problem is that Xbox owners have no taste.

[Major Dan]

Actually, it's pretty obvious the problem is that Xbox owners have no taste.
I think you might find a nugget of truth in that, :D