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News Pikmin 1 + 2 HD available now on the eShop, physical release coming in September

Removing the product placement is a bummer but if that’s what they needed to do to make it accessible on a modern console, it’s a worthy sacrifice.
 
MaitreWakou said:
Yeah. People keep saying Miyamoto keeps it alive, but it's not true. It's probably the most "Nintendo" modern IP they have. Imo even more than the likes of Splatoon.
You can tell Nintendo, as a company, love those products. They're going to keep making those.
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When Nogami was interviewed for the Splatoon Iwata Ask, he flat-out said that the latest character-based EAD IP was Pikmin. Splatoon took PIkmin's mantle, just like Pikmin followed Mario, Zelda, Star Fox etc.

There's a whole company culture around these games.

EDIT: Here it is. It was Iwata, but the point stands.

Nogami
So we all brainstormed ideas and gave a few presentations, and the idea that made it all the way to the end was the idea that grew into Splatoon.

Iwata
So I have to ask...The Entertainment Analysis & Development Division where you all work is responsible for a lot of Nintendo’s franchise characters, so they put a lot of work into maintaining series. This means that there’s not often a chance to make something new.

Nogami
You could say that.

Iwata
Of course they made games with a new structure when the Wii System came out, but the last new character was Pikmin and that was about 14 years ago.

Nogami
That’s right. That was the last new character from the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division (EAD), and it was made 14 years ago.
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MrBones said:
Cool they're doing HD ports.
Very stupid they're shadowdropping these on the eShop with minimal marketing. Didn't work out well for Prime HD, won't work well with this.
Nintendo is undervaluing the value of these HD ports.
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A complete Remaster is different than simple HD ports imo, this feels appropriate
 
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here’s a little trailer with actual footage they put out. I’m really happy this is a (mostly) straight upscaled port rather than them remastering the games with 3’s art style or something—love those photorealistic* gamecube textures
 
So Ai no Uta isn’t in anymore. What do the Pikmin sing in 2 when you have 20 of each colour?
 
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Lozjam said:
I think there is something to be said about manpower instead of viewing as money. Every trailer that is put up, every tweet up for launch, costs Nintendo time and money. And it appears their marketing branches has a lot going on. It could be advantageous to just dump them with minimal advertising. We don't know how profitable Metroid Prime was, but I am guessing it was extremely profitable.

With the fact that Nintendo is flush on cash, and very low manpower, it could be a good deal for them.
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I think this is an overall good thing for these titles. Digital only means they start making money back very quick + helps gauge the demand for a physical release later down the line along with pre-orders. If this does even 300k then the titles have basically paid for themselves.
 





I was in doubt until I read this:

aP4BYdK.png


SOLD! For me, NPC >>> GCN versions.
I'll wait for the physical release, tho.
 
Lozjam said:
I think there is something to be said about manpower instead of viewing as money. Every trailer that is put up, every tweet up for launch, costs Nintendo time and money. And it appears their marketing branches has a lot going on. It could be advantageous to just dump them with minimal advertising. We don't know how profitable Metroid Prime was, but I am guessing it was extremely profitable.

With the fact that Nintendo is flush on cash, and very low manpower, it could be a good deal for them.
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I doubt that. The sales benefits they'd get from just announcing the game ahead of time, allowing anticipation/word of mouth to build, would outweight any of the (likely negligible) marketing costs.

I'm not saying you need to give these remasters TOTK-levels of marketing budget. But there's no good excuse to be shadowdropping these, and the sales are reflecting that.
 
MrBones said:
I doubt that. The sales benefits they'd get from just announcing the game ahead of time, allowing anticipation/word of mouth to build, would outweight any of the (likely negligible) marketing costs.

I'm not saying you need to give these remasters TOTK-levels of marketing budget. But there's no good excuse to be shadowdropping these, and the sales are reflecting that.
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Do you have research or data to back up your claims?
 
MrBones said:
I doubt that. The sales benefits they'd get from just announcing the game ahead of time, allowing anticipation/word of mouth to build, would outweight any of the (likely negligible) marketing costs.

I'm not saying you need to give these remasters TOTK-levels of marketing budget. But there's no good excuse to be shadowdropping these, and the sales are reflecting that.
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What I am saying, is the costs are not really the problem. It's the manpower involved and also general market.
Already, Nintendo has to market and publish 12 original games this year, and make room for third party partners too. And support like, 6 games continually with DLC too on top of that. On top of that, we are getting these gamecube remasters.

Their marketing team seems very stretched, and they need to focus on their bigger titles. And having that process of the "Release trailer->Send Previews->Send Reviews->Then Sell the game" takes a ridiculous amount of time. Not only that, but I am sure that Nintendo also doesn't want to canablize the sales of their new games, hence the quick and dirty release. If a Pikmin 1+2 trailer was announced last January, it definitely would have overshadowed Pikmin 4, and potentially set in franchise fatigue. The day 1 release probably makes it so much easier for their developers to just do a quick and dirty port and remaster, and shove it out the door. If it wasn't profitable or successful, then they wouldn't do it. But this has been their strategy with re-releases since 2020 with Mario All Stars and Fire Emblem. It just has evolved to this day 1 release.
 
I always enjoyed the three Pikmin simplicity of the first one. Even though I never beat it because I was a stupid kid.
 
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amiigo said:
Do you have research or data to back up your claims?
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Prime 1 HD underperforning. It's just intuition and my conclusions from following sales data and marketing cycles for over a decade.

Games sell better with more marketing. Even just a trailer drop and having a near-term release date allows word-of-mouth to happen. Shadowdropping these remasters on the eShop completely precents this and a single trailer in a direct is bare minimal marketing.

Do you have any hard research or data to back this up as an effective marketing technique?
 
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Lugia667 said:
if you mean constantly recenter them, that's the downside of being gyro instead of having an ir bar
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Yes but with Pikmin 3, you moved the cursor just by moving the Joycon. You had to press the recenter button every now and then. With Pikmin 1 Switch, you have to keep A or B pressed and move the Joycon.
 
Quoted by: Tye
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Gingerbread Man said:
Yes but with Pikmin 3, you moved the cursor just by moving the Joycon. You had to press the recenter button every now and then. With Pikmin 1 Switch, you have to keep A or B pressed and move the Joycon.
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I imagine this is done to help combat gyro drift. If the gyro controls are only active while a button is held down instead of being always on, there’s much less chance of drift—like how you don’t really encounter gyro drift in BotW or TotK since the gyro is only active when you’re using your bow or throwing an item. I’m waiting for the physical version so I haven’t played these yet myself, but I feel like it’s probably a change for the better, even if it means you have to hold down a button while using the gyro controls, because having to constantly reset the gyro in 3 Deluxe was honestly really annoying…
 
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MrBones said:
Prime 1 HD underperforning. It's just intuition and my conclusions from following sales data and marketing cycles for over a decade.
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Underperforming... with what metrics? Because we have no idea what were its sales expectations, or budget, or anything.
 
Wait, were Ai No Uta and Tane No Uta even actually in the original games to begin with? I thought they were just in the japanese marketing?
 
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After looking at some footage, I am happy about how it looks (1). I will buy the physical release for sure. I have not played these games since GC.
 
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Tangerine_Cookie said:
Underperforming... with what metrics? Because we have no idea what were its sales expectations, or budget, or anything.
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Compared to similar releases. Remakes of prestige games sell incredibly well. Just in the past few years: RE2R, RE3R, RE4R, Demon's Souls, FF7R, Diablo 2, Mario 3D All-Stars, Nier Replicant, Mass Effect Legacy Collection, Pokemon BDSP, etc.

Obviously Prime 1 HD is closer to a straight remaster than a total reimagining, so it's sales potential is inherently limited compared to some I listed. But remakes/remasters have undoubtedly have been very successful. And Prime 1 undoubtedly had bad marketing when it's decided to just shadowdrop on the eShop suddenly, announcing it in a sizzle reel of Direct headlines. They at least should have announced at the TGAs or the September Direct prior to let discussion and anticipation around it build. Same with Pikmin and the Spring Direct

I don't think 1m for Prime 1 HD sales is a bad number, Nintendo is probably happy with it. But considering the Switch Sales Boost and Dread's success, it would've been more successful if they opted for a traditional marketing effort.

Pikmin 1/2 aren't as prestigious as Prime but they're still kneecapping its sales pulling the same shit.
 
i had the feeling Hagi would eventually get used again. now the question is if that heavily rumoured "hd remaster" of Thousand Year Door is also using it.

Tangerine_Cookie said:
EDIT: The website also says some of the treasures in Pikmin 2 got changed.
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for the record, the treasures in the original game were an utter nightmare to manage. every region has a drastically different set with various unique examples of product placement. (and then there's multiple sets of completely unused ones.)

this is probably the first time it's been codensed into one single collection across the world.
 
I'll grab the physical in September, glad they are doing a double pack.

I'll also say stuff like this is why I think the chances of GameCube NSO ever being a thing are basically zero. Gamecube and up games are valuable enough to do remakes and remasters of. Can't see much appeal when so much of its tiny library gets fixed up with new graphics and quality of life improvements.
 
MrBones said:
And Prime 1 undoubtedly had bad marketing when it's decided to just shadowdrop on the eShop suddenly, announcing it in a sizzle reel of Direct headlines. They at least should have announced at the TGAs or the September Direct prior to let discussion and anticipation around it build. Same with Pikmin and the Spring Direct
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This is still so bizarre to me. Prime was a complete throwaway in the direct, almost like Nintendo was slightly bitter about Retro not releasing anything in 10 years. "Oh, and Metroid prime is releasing today, I guess, here's a video explaining that it's a first person exploration game..."

Meanwhile Skyward Sword HD received a whole presentation from Aonuma, amiibo, etc.
They should be more proud of the Prime series. Huge games today like Jedi are really pulling from it
 
MrBones said:
Compared to similar releases. Remakes of prestige games sell incredibly well. Just in the past few years: RE2R, RE3R, RE4R, Demon's Souls, FF7R, Diablo 2, Mario 3D All-Stars, Nier Replicant, Mass Effect Legacy Collection, Pokemon BDSP, etc.
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You're not answering my question, though. Is it underperforming according to the metrics Nintendo themselves set for it? Because that's all that matters here.

Chasing what "similar releases" are doing is pointless, and its endgame brings shit like trying to chase the Call of Duty audience with Tomb Raider. Did the game underperform according to Nintendo? Or did they decide, based on their budget, expected ROI, and general marketing plan, that this was more than enough?
 
MrBones said:
Compared to similar releases. Remakes of prestige games sell incredibly well. Just in the past few years: RE2R, RE3R, RE4R, Demon's Souls, FF7R, Diablo 2, Mario 3D All-Stars, Nier Replicant, Mass Effect Legacy Collection, Pokemon BDSP, etc.

Obviously Prime 1 HD is closer to a straight remaster than a total reimagining, so it's sales potential is inherently limited compared to some I listed. But remakes/remasters have undoubtedly have been very successful. And Prime 1 undoubtedly had bad marketing when it's decided to just shadowdrop on the eShop suddenly, announcing it in a sizzle reel of Direct headlines. They at least should have announced at the TGAs or the September Direct prior to let discussion and anticipation around it build. Same with Pikmin and the Spring Direct

I don't think 1m for Prime 1 HD sales is a bad number, Nintendo is probably happy with it. But considering the Switch Sales Boost and Dread's success, it would've been more successful if they opted for a traditional marketing effort.

Pikmin 1/2 aren't as prestigious as Prime but they're still kneecapping its sales pulling the same shit.
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i understand what you re saying but:

like you said, most of your examples are waay above what metroid sells, with only nier replicant and demon souls being comparable.

But also, nintendo did a complete marketing campaign for dread just one year and a half earlier, i dont think they felt the need to do a big marketing campaign here, as such i fully believe the 1 million was a success for them.

Could they have had 2 million or more in the first quarter? if they marketed it? I fully believe so, considering xenoblade definitive edition's first quarter was of 1,4 or 1,5 million and metroid is way larger than xenoblade.
 
Tangerine_Cookie said:
You're not answering my question, though. Is it underperforming according to the metrics Nintendo themselves set for it? Because that's all that matters here.

Chasing what "similar releases" are doing is pointless, and its endgame brings shit like trying to chase the Call of Duty audience with Tomb Raider. Did the game underperform according to Nintendo? Or did they decide, based on their budget, expected ROI, and general marketing plan, that this was more than enough?
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I did though
MrBones said:
I don't think 1m for Prime 1 HD sales is a bad number, Nintendo is probably happy with it. But considering the Switch Sales Boost and Dread's success, it would've been more successful if they opted for a traditional marketing effort.
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Nintendo is thankfully pretty logical and has conservative sales estimates that they're happy with. But would they be happier if the game sold more? Absolutely. And a traditional marketing strategy would result in better sales than this shadowdrop approach
 
Mr Doggo said:
i understand what you re saying but:

like you said, most of your examples are waay above what metroid sells, with only nier replicant and demon souls being comparable.

But also, nintendo did a complete marketing campaign for dread just one year and a half earlier, i dont think they felt the need to do a big marketing campaign here, as such i fully believe the 1 million was a success for them.

Could they have had 2 million or more in the first quarter? if they marketed it? I fully believe so, considering xenoblade definitive edition's first quarter was of 1,4 or 1,5 million and metroid is way larger than xenoblade.
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I'm not saying they need to rollout the red carpet with these remasters. But even something as simple as revealing them a Direct ahead time would work wonders. Fan anticipation and the word of mouth is a powerful tool. It's better than sizzlereel shadowdrops for sure.
 
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MrBones said:
I did though

Nintendo is thankfully pretty logical and has conservative sales estimates that they're happy is. But would they be happier if the game sold more? Absolutely. And a traditional marketing strategy would result in better sales than this shadowdrop approach
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Then I'm very confused as to what underperforming even means. You say Nintendo is probably happy, and you yourself think it's a good number. So why is it underperforming?

A bigger marketing campaign costs money, and all. I'm assuming someone running the numbers already went through the possibility of spending more on marketing the game and it was decided that it wasn't a risk worth taking.
 
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