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A Storm trooper let an escape pod with two droids, C3PO and R2D2 escape... choosing not to shoot it down.
This one, very minor error caused the fall of the evil Empire.
And it was a small thing that could be the cause for the Gamecube's downfall.
On May 3rd 2002 Nintendo launched the Gamecube in Europe, it was one of the most cunningly planned gaming launches ever. It's original price of £169.99 meant Nintendo's launch into the next generation of gaming was almost half that of Microsoft's, who launched their system just over a month before.
The X-box got a prompt and very hasty price cut to £200 with a promise to make it up to angry X-box fans feeling hard done by. Nintendo smiled, they'd expected this, and took a rather less hasty and well-planned price cut to £129.99 before the system was even released. It was planned, Nintendo knew it may have to happen. But why was it less hasty? Because the price cut was £40, the exact price of a game. So Nintendo fans willing to pay the full £170 now had a spare forty quid to spend on a game. Driving software sales up. It was also enough to distance Nintendo from Microsoft price wise.
Sure enough it worked. The poor sales of the Microsoft X-box continued when the Gamecube was launched. A very well placed launch in fact, the Resident Evil movie was around the corner and hype for the Resident Evil Gamecube title had begun. The World Cup had started and so World Cup 2002 was a brilliant launch title, as was Star Wars: Rouge Leader... just in time for Episode 2: Clone Wars which hit screens around that time. Nintendo had issued no triple A title, there was no big hitter, Super Monkey Ball, Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion are hardly system shifters. But they shifted systems anyway.
As the big Gamecube launch started to die down Nintendo gave the world Smash Brothers... 2 weeks later Pikmin was launched and was rather successful considering it was a new franchise. For over a month at least one Nintendo game was in the top 10 all formats UK charts, something that has never happened since. The summer drought came and went but, surprisingly Nintendo hadn't kept their big lead over Microsoft. The slow building hype of Halo (a game that launched with the X-box and is STILL the only game that truly sells the system) had meant sales crept up, whilst the Gamecube's stayed stationary. The launch of Resident Evil in September was Nintendo's main effort to pull ahead. But surprisingly it failed.
And here is where we reach the critical disaster point, that single moment where everything went wrong for the Gamecube in Europe. The thing is the Gamecube had a steady supply of software, it had a steady income of sales... but Nintendo's desire to stay ahead of the X-box meant their AAA masterpiece of the year, Super Mario Sunshine, was released on October 3rd 2002.
Nintendo cannot give me any bull about how they planned to launch it then, a Christmas game is launched in November or early December, sales in September and October are fine but they tend to be ignored in the Christmas rush when new titles are released. Super Mario Sunshine went head to head with Hitman 2 and despite an initial victory by hitting the all format top spot, it eventually fell. And fell it did, right out of the charts. Sunshine had been forgotten and the worst Christmas the Gamecube will ever have to suffer came about.
Rare Ware's Starfox Adventures and Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness (both companies who are no longer tied to Nintendo) were the biggest releases for the Gamecube's first Christmas. Dear oh dear oh dear. I'm not saying a November release of Sunshine would have crushed the likes of GTA: Vice City, but it would mean the Gamecube's sales were very good. Mario Sunshine would sell the console with the likes of Starfox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Mario Party 4 offering support (someone considering buying a Gamecube for Sunshine would look at the other titles to see what else was on offer).
Imagine what would have happened if Sunshine was delayed a mere month. Christmas sales momentum would take things into march with the release of Resident Evil 0 and Metroid Prime, which would easily last a month for the release of Wind Waker... this continued momentum would have taken it to the Christmas release of games and of course Mario Kart.
Ever since Pikmin the Gamecube has failed to regain momentum, Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker and Mario Kart (even the recent Pokemon Coliseum) gave the Gamecube a short burst of adrenaline, where for a week (although it was longer in Mario Kart's case) sales rose quickly. But then, just as quickly, fell again.
All because they released Super Mario Sunshine too quickly, missing the Christmas boat. Would Christmas 2002 be a disaster if Nintendo had released a Mario platformer, arguably the biggest franchise Nintendo own, during the Christmas months??? Certainly not.
So is it over?
Not just yet. You see there was a sign of hope after Christmas. Although Metroid Prime and Wind Waker had limited success the fact both games were released so close to each other meant, for a whole 2 months, the Gamecube was on peoples lips. Christmas 2003 also saw a price cut, loads of software and Mario Kart: Double Dash... and once again... Nintendo's Gamecube was on everyone’s lips.
The thing is after Wind Waker Nintendo didn't release anything successful until September, the year before proved how damaging the summer break can be. After the Christmas success Nintendo offered nothing exciting at all, which meant the release of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid was relatively quiet (certainly wouldn't have been the case on the PS2).
But not all is lost. You see PS2 sales are down, and will continue to slide, not because people no longer like it but because everyone has one. Nevertheless Christmas will be hard for Nintendo, the X-box will see Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Halo 2 cause a surge in X-box sales with the only title likely to outsell them being the PS2's GTA: San Andreas. So can Nintendo's relatively unknown titles manage to defeat such juggernauts of hype? Of course not but that does not mean Nintendo are just going to give Christmas up. You see there aren't many video games available this Christmas for children, the big hitters, all 4 of them, are adult games. Nintendo therefore will push emphasis on Pikmin 2 (October), Paper Mario 2 (November) and there GBA parent loving titles Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red.
Whilst all our teenage brethren will be arguing which is the best first person shooter or why GTA: SA beats them all, Nintendo will be attracting a fan base that is almost totally ignored this Christmas. Even Ubi-Soft's classic Prince of Persia is getting an adult make over. It's not to say Nintendo aren't providing any adult support for their machine, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes may have a difficult job against Halo 2 but if there was one game that would give Microsoft's king a run for its money then all bets would be on Samus.
It is evidence of Nintendo's smarts. We often criticise Nintendo for side stepping the opposition but with so many massive releases it is perfectly understandable this time. In fact it is the most thoughtful set of game releases since the launch of the console. This brief momentum could well take it into 2005 when what is potentially the Gamecube's savior is released.
Resident Evil 4 will be colossal, it will be on the front cover of all of the multi-format console magazines, it will recieve praise in teenage giants such as FHM and Kerrang, it'll have adverts, a lot of hype, newspaper coverage... it will sell the Gamecube like no other game has and will.
It is then Nintendo's difficult task of keeping this big boost of adrenaline going till September. Perhaps with a Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat release, Geist, Advance Wars: Under Fire, Starfox, the release of this "new peripheral", maybe even the release of the DS could have some knock on effect and of course that all important Revolution unveiling at E3.
If Nintendo can reach September 2005 they can then enter autopilot, games will come flying in for Christmas 2005 and the epic release of the brand new Zelda game in November would be the icing on the cake.
It sounds good in theory, but can Nintendo really build a fan base in time for their next system? With a little help from children and their parents, Capcom and some more E3 triumph we could well see an N64 style turn around.
Can Pikmin pick up where it left off come October?
Here's to the Future.
Dringo.
This one, very minor error caused the fall of the evil Empire.
And it was a small thing that could be the cause for the Gamecube's downfall.
On May 3rd 2002 Nintendo launched the Gamecube in Europe, it was one of the most cunningly planned gaming launches ever. It's original price of £169.99 meant Nintendo's launch into the next generation of gaming was almost half that of Microsoft's, who launched their system just over a month before.
The X-box got a prompt and very hasty price cut to £200 with a promise to make it up to angry X-box fans feeling hard done by. Nintendo smiled, they'd expected this, and took a rather less hasty and well-planned price cut to £129.99 before the system was even released. It was planned, Nintendo knew it may have to happen. But why was it less hasty? Because the price cut was £40, the exact price of a game. So Nintendo fans willing to pay the full £170 now had a spare forty quid to spend on a game. Driving software sales up. It was also enough to distance Nintendo from Microsoft price wise.
Sure enough it worked. The poor sales of the Microsoft X-box continued when the Gamecube was launched. A very well placed launch in fact, the Resident Evil movie was around the corner and hype for the Resident Evil Gamecube title had begun. The World Cup had started and so World Cup 2002 was a brilliant launch title, as was Star Wars: Rouge Leader... just in time for Episode 2: Clone Wars which hit screens around that time. Nintendo had issued no triple A title, there was no big hitter, Super Monkey Ball, Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion are hardly system shifters. But they shifted systems anyway.
As the big Gamecube launch started to die down Nintendo gave the world Smash Brothers... 2 weeks later Pikmin was launched and was rather successful considering it was a new franchise. For over a month at least one Nintendo game was in the top 10 all formats UK charts, something that has never happened since. The summer drought came and went but, surprisingly Nintendo hadn't kept their big lead over Microsoft. The slow building hype of Halo (a game that launched with the X-box and is STILL the only game that truly sells the system) had meant sales crept up, whilst the Gamecube's stayed stationary. The launch of Resident Evil in September was Nintendo's main effort to pull ahead. But surprisingly it failed.
And here is where we reach the critical disaster point, that single moment where everything went wrong for the Gamecube in Europe. The thing is the Gamecube had a steady supply of software, it had a steady income of sales... but Nintendo's desire to stay ahead of the X-box meant their AAA masterpiece of the year, Super Mario Sunshine, was released on October 3rd 2002.
Nintendo cannot give me any bull about how they planned to launch it then, a Christmas game is launched in November or early December, sales in September and October are fine but they tend to be ignored in the Christmas rush when new titles are released. Super Mario Sunshine went head to head with Hitman 2 and despite an initial victory by hitting the all format top spot, it eventually fell. And fell it did, right out of the charts. Sunshine had been forgotten and the worst Christmas the Gamecube will ever have to suffer came about.
Rare Ware's Starfox Adventures and Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness (both companies who are no longer tied to Nintendo) were the biggest releases for the Gamecube's first Christmas. Dear oh dear oh dear. I'm not saying a November release of Sunshine would have crushed the likes of GTA: Vice City, but it would mean the Gamecube's sales were very good. Mario Sunshine would sell the console with the likes of Starfox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Mario Party 4 offering support (someone considering buying a Gamecube for Sunshine would look at the other titles to see what else was on offer).
Imagine what would have happened if Sunshine was delayed a mere month. Christmas sales momentum would take things into march with the release of Resident Evil 0 and Metroid Prime, which would easily last a month for the release of Wind Waker... this continued momentum would have taken it to the Christmas release of games and of course Mario Kart.
Ever since Pikmin the Gamecube has failed to regain momentum, Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker and Mario Kart (even the recent Pokemon Coliseum) gave the Gamecube a short burst of adrenaline, where for a week (although it was longer in Mario Kart's case) sales rose quickly. But then, just as quickly, fell again.
All because they released Super Mario Sunshine too quickly, missing the Christmas boat. Would Christmas 2002 be a disaster if Nintendo had released a Mario platformer, arguably the biggest franchise Nintendo own, during the Christmas months??? Certainly not.
So is it over?
Not just yet. You see there was a sign of hope after Christmas. Although Metroid Prime and Wind Waker had limited success the fact both games were released so close to each other meant, for a whole 2 months, the Gamecube was on peoples lips. Christmas 2003 also saw a price cut, loads of software and Mario Kart: Double Dash... and once again... Nintendo's Gamecube was on everyone’s lips.
The thing is after Wind Waker Nintendo didn't release anything successful until September, the year before proved how damaging the summer break can be. After the Christmas success Nintendo offered nothing exciting at all, which meant the release of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid was relatively quiet (certainly wouldn't have been the case on the PS2).
But not all is lost. You see PS2 sales are down, and will continue to slide, not because people no longer like it but because everyone has one. Nevertheless Christmas will be hard for Nintendo, the X-box will see Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Halo 2 cause a surge in X-box sales with the only title likely to outsell them being the PS2's GTA: San Andreas. So can Nintendo's relatively unknown titles manage to defeat such juggernauts of hype? Of course not but that does not mean Nintendo are just going to give Christmas up. You see there aren't many video games available this Christmas for children, the big hitters, all 4 of them, are adult games. Nintendo therefore will push emphasis on Pikmin 2 (October), Paper Mario 2 (November) and there GBA parent loving titles Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red.
Whilst all our teenage brethren will be arguing which is the best first person shooter or why GTA: SA beats them all, Nintendo will be attracting a fan base that is almost totally ignored this Christmas. Even Ubi-Soft's classic Prince of Persia is getting an adult make over. It's not to say Nintendo aren't providing any adult support for their machine, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes may have a difficult job against Halo 2 but if there was one game that would give Microsoft's king a run for its money then all bets would be on Samus.
It is evidence of Nintendo's smarts. We often criticise Nintendo for side stepping the opposition but with so many massive releases it is perfectly understandable this time. In fact it is the most thoughtful set of game releases since the launch of the console. This brief momentum could well take it into 2005 when what is potentially the Gamecube's savior is released.
Resident Evil 4 will be colossal, it will be on the front cover of all of the multi-format console magazines, it will recieve praise in teenage giants such as FHM and Kerrang, it'll have adverts, a lot of hype, newspaper coverage... it will sell the Gamecube like no other game has and will.
It is then Nintendo's difficult task of keeping this big boost of adrenaline going till September. Perhaps with a Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat release, Geist, Advance Wars: Under Fire, Starfox, the release of this "new peripheral", maybe even the release of the DS could have some knock on effect and of course that all important Revolution unveiling at E3.
If Nintendo can reach September 2005 they can then enter autopilot, games will come flying in for Christmas 2005 and the epic release of the brand new Zelda game in November would be the icing on the cake.
It sounds good in theory, but can Nintendo really build a fan base in time for their next system? With a little help from children and their parents, Capcom and some more E3 triumph we could well see an N64 style turn around.
Can Pikmin pick up where it left off come October?
Here's to the Future.
Dringo.
Rubbish, I'm just promoting hope to the forum.
Did you consider that Nintendo might be able to confront the opposition with a children releass this Christmas?
Did you think the fact Sunshine was brought forward a month damaged the Gamecube beyond repair?
Did you consider that Nintendo might be able to confront the opposition with a children releass this Christmas?
Did you think the fact Sunshine was brought forward a month damaged the Gamecube beyond repair?
It was a sarcastic point made about how badly the Gamecube is doing.
Between May 3rd and June 20th the Gamecube had a game in the top ten...
The best they've done since then is Mario Kart for 3 weeks and then the same with Pokemon Colloseum.
And Rickoss did you know that Resident Evil 4 is set to make 1.8 million in its first few months on sale.
A totally amazing figure for Nintendo if acchieved.
Just found out that Metroid Prime has sold over 2 million, Zelda over 3 million, Mario Sunshine roughly the same, Pikmin just under 2 million, Smash Brothers about 2 million and Mario Kart is forever rising...
Not overly bad.
Also Nintendo have managed to hit the all format top spot 3 times whilst the X-box has only done it once.
Between May 3rd and June 20th the Gamecube had a game in the top ten...
The best they've done since then is Mario Kart for 3 weeks and then the same with Pokemon Colloseum.
And Rickoss did you know that Resident Evil 4 is set to make 1.8 million in its first few months on sale.
A totally amazing figure for Nintendo if acchieved.
Just found out that Metroid Prime has sold over 2 million, Zelda over 3 million, Mario Sunshine roughly the same, Pikmin just under 2 million, Smash Brothers about 2 million and Mario Kart is forever rising...
Not overly bad.
Also Nintendo have managed to hit the all format top spot 3 times whilst the X-box has only done it once.
"For over a month at least one Nintendo game was in the top 10 all formats UK charts, something that has never happened since."
WTF ?
Is there some massive typo / mistake in that, because if not it's a pretty crap record!
Jeez, if they really consider that a record worth bragging about they're doing worse than I thought!
WTF ?
Is there some massive typo / mistake in that, because if not it's a pretty crap record!
Jeez, if they really consider that a record worth bragging about they're doing worse than I thought!
I think for it to be a 'Goldeneye', so to speak, it has to be a more accessible genre. Anyone could love Goldeneye, but the horror genre is to an aquired taste and the obvious lack of multiplayer will mean it won't have that lasting appeal that Goldeneye did. Goldeneye was so popular because people would play it at their mates house and then buy it, Resi sin't exactly the first title you reach for when some friends come around.
Darwock wrote:
> I can't believe ANYBODY cares this much about sales figures and market
> trends.
I have a lot of time on my hands.
And Rickoss, Resident Evil 4 is the Goldeneye.
> I can't believe ANYBODY cares this much about sales figures and market
> trends.
I have a lot of time on my hands.
And Rickoss, Resident Evil 4 is the Goldeneye.
As great as titles like Zelda and Resi 4 may be, the GameCube needs a Goldeneye, then titles liek Metroid, Zelda etc. will get some recognition. At the moment I don't see a Goldeneye in the works from Nintendo.
Nice post.
Nice post.
I can't believe ANYBODY cares this much about sales figures and market trends.
You've got to question though, do Nintendo care enough about Europe to grant us a release at a similar time to the US/Japan? I don't think they do, much, and this ends up with us possibly getting delays that, if you want them to be placed in the right spots for selling, are going to increase, and are going to result in myself and many other avid Ninty fans wanting to import.
If the DS makes it to America and Japan this year, like many rumours do tell, then I think its safe to say that we'll be getting it in 2005, unless some minor miracle occurs. So, hang on, you'd want the DS released in November 2005 instead of pehaps April/May/June 2005 like the original GBA was? I know which I'd go for. But that's the problem, there is always going to be this clash between fanatics and casual gamers.
Good post, thanks.
If the DS makes it to America and Japan this year, like many rumours do tell, then I think its safe to say that we'll be getting it in 2005, unless some minor miracle occurs. So, hang on, you'd want the DS released in November 2005 instead of pehaps April/May/June 2005 like the original GBA was? I know which I'd go for. But that's the problem, there is always going to be this clash between fanatics and casual gamers.
Good post, thanks.
Lets hope so.
*celebrates*
*celebrates*
A Storm trooper let an escape pod with two droids, C3PO and R2D2 escape... choosing not to shoot it down.
This one, very minor error caused the fall of the evil Empire.
And it was a small thing that could be the cause for the Gamecube's downfall.
On May 3rd 2002 Nintendo launched the Gamecube in Europe, it was one of the most cunningly planned gaming launches ever. It's original price of £169.99 meant Nintendo's launch into the next generation of gaming was almost half that of Microsoft's, who launched their system just over a month before.
The X-box got a prompt and very hasty price cut to £200 with a promise to make it up to angry X-box fans feeling hard done by. Nintendo smiled, they'd expected this, and took a rather less hasty and well-planned price cut to £129.99 before the system was even released. It was planned, Nintendo knew it may have to happen. But why was it less hasty? Because the price cut was £40, the exact price of a game. So Nintendo fans willing to pay the full £170 now had a spare forty quid to spend on a game. Driving software sales up. It was also enough to distance Nintendo from Microsoft price wise.
Sure enough it worked. The poor sales of the Microsoft X-box continued when the Gamecube was launched. A very well placed launch in fact, the Resident Evil movie was around the corner and hype for the Resident Evil Gamecube title had begun. The World Cup had started and so World Cup 2002 was a brilliant launch title, as was Star Wars: Rouge Leader... just in time for Episode 2: Clone Wars which hit screens around that time. Nintendo had issued no triple A title, there was no big hitter, Super Monkey Ball, Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion are hardly system shifters. But they shifted systems anyway.
As the big Gamecube launch started to die down Nintendo gave the world Smash Brothers... 2 weeks later Pikmin was launched and was rather successful considering it was a new franchise. For over a month at least one Nintendo game was in the top 10 all formats UK charts, something that has never happened since. The summer drought came and went but, surprisingly Nintendo hadn't kept their big lead over Microsoft. The slow building hype of Halo (a game that launched with the X-box and is STILL the only game that truly sells the system) had meant sales crept up, whilst the Gamecube's stayed stationary. The launch of Resident Evil in September was Nintendo's main effort to pull ahead. But surprisingly it failed.
And here is where we reach the critical disaster point, that single moment where everything went wrong for the Gamecube in Europe. The thing is the Gamecube had a steady supply of software, it had a steady income of sales... but Nintendo's desire to stay ahead of the X-box meant their AAA masterpiece of the year, Super Mario Sunshine, was released on October 3rd 2002.
Nintendo cannot give me any bull about how they planned to launch it then, a Christmas game is launched in November or early December, sales in September and October are fine but they tend to be ignored in the Christmas rush when new titles are released. Super Mario Sunshine went head to head with Hitman 2 and despite an initial victory by hitting the all format top spot, it eventually fell. And fell it did, right out of the charts. Sunshine had been forgotten and the worst Christmas the Gamecube will ever have to suffer came about.
Rare Ware's Starfox Adventures and Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness (both companies who are no longer tied to Nintendo) were the biggest releases for the Gamecube's first Christmas. Dear oh dear oh dear. I'm not saying a November release of Sunshine would have crushed the likes of GTA: Vice City, but it would mean the Gamecube's sales were very good. Mario Sunshine would sell the console with the likes of Starfox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Mario Party 4 offering support (someone considering buying a Gamecube for Sunshine would look at the other titles to see what else was on offer).
Imagine what would have happened if Sunshine was delayed a mere month. Christmas sales momentum would take things into march with the release of Resident Evil 0 and Metroid Prime, which would easily last a month for the release of Wind Waker... this continued momentum would have taken it to the Christmas release of games and of course Mario Kart.
Ever since Pikmin the Gamecube has failed to regain momentum, Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker and Mario Kart (even the recent Pokemon Coliseum) gave the Gamecube a short burst of adrenaline, where for a week (although it was longer in Mario Kart's case) sales rose quickly. But then, just as quickly, fell again.
All because they released Super Mario Sunshine too quickly, missing the Christmas boat. Would Christmas 2002 be a disaster if Nintendo had released a Mario platformer, arguably the biggest franchise Nintendo own, during the Christmas months??? Certainly not.
So is it over?
Not just yet. You see there was a sign of hope after Christmas. Although Metroid Prime and Wind Waker had limited success the fact both games were released so close to each other meant, for a whole 2 months, the Gamecube was on peoples lips. Christmas 2003 also saw a price cut, loads of software and Mario Kart: Double Dash... and once again... Nintendo's Gamecube was on everyone’s lips.
The thing is after Wind Waker Nintendo didn't release anything successful until September, the year before proved how damaging the summer break can be. After the Christmas success Nintendo offered nothing exciting at all, which meant the release of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid was relatively quiet (certainly wouldn't have been the case on the PS2).
But not all is lost. You see PS2 sales are down, and will continue to slide, not because people no longer like it but because everyone has one. Nevertheless Christmas will be hard for Nintendo, the X-box will see Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Halo 2 cause a surge in X-box sales with the only title likely to outsell them being the PS2's GTA: San Andreas. So can Nintendo's relatively unknown titles manage to defeat such juggernauts of hype? Of course not but that does not mean Nintendo are just going to give Christmas up. You see there aren't many video games available this Christmas for children, the big hitters, all 4 of them, are adult games. Nintendo therefore will push emphasis on Pikmin 2 (October), Paper Mario 2 (November) and there GBA parent loving titles Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red.
Whilst all our teenage brethren will be arguing which is the best first person shooter or why GTA: SA beats them all, Nintendo will be attracting a fan base that is almost totally ignored this Christmas. Even Ubi-Soft's classic Prince of Persia is getting an adult make over. It's not to say Nintendo aren't providing any adult support for their machine, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes may have a difficult job against Halo 2 but if there was one game that would give Microsoft's king a run for its money then all bets would be on Samus.
It is evidence of Nintendo's smarts. We often criticise Nintendo for side stepping the opposition but with so many massive releases it is perfectly understandable this time. In fact it is the most thoughtful set of game releases since the launch of the console. This brief momentum could well take it into 2005 when what is potentially the Gamecube's savior is released.
Resident Evil 4 will be colossal, it will be on the front cover of all of the multi-format console magazines, it will recieve praise in teenage giants such as FHM and Kerrang, it'll have adverts, a lot of hype, newspaper coverage... it will sell the Gamecube like no other game has and will.
It is then Nintendo's difficult task of keeping this big boost of adrenaline going till September. Perhaps with a Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat release, Geist, Advance Wars: Under Fire, Starfox, the release of this "new peripheral", maybe even the release of the DS could have some knock on effect and of course that all important Revolution unveiling at E3.
If Nintendo can reach September 2005 they can then enter autopilot, games will come flying in for Christmas 2005 and the epic release of the brand new Zelda game in November would be the icing on the cake.
It sounds good in theory, but can Nintendo really build a fan base in time for their next system? With a little help from children and their parents, Capcom and some more E3 triumph we could well see an N64 style turn around.
Can Pikmin pick up where it left off come October?
Here's to the Future.
Dringo.
This one, very minor error caused the fall of the evil Empire.
And it was a small thing that could be the cause for the Gamecube's downfall.
On May 3rd 2002 Nintendo launched the Gamecube in Europe, it was one of the most cunningly planned gaming launches ever. It's original price of £169.99 meant Nintendo's launch into the next generation of gaming was almost half that of Microsoft's, who launched their system just over a month before.
The X-box got a prompt and very hasty price cut to £200 with a promise to make it up to angry X-box fans feeling hard done by. Nintendo smiled, they'd expected this, and took a rather less hasty and well-planned price cut to £129.99 before the system was even released. It was planned, Nintendo knew it may have to happen. But why was it less hasty? Because the price cut was £40, the exact price of a game. So Nintendo fans willing to pay the full £170 now had a spare forty quid to spend on a game. Driving software sales up. It was also enough to distance Nintendo from Microsoft price wise.
Sure enough it worked. The poor sales of the Microsoft X-box continued when the Gamecube was launched. A very well placed launch in fact, the Resident Evil movie was around the corner and hype for the Resident Evil Gamecube title had begun. The World Cup had started and so World Cup 2002 was a brilliant launch title, as was Star Wars: Rouge Leader... just in time for Episode 2: Clone Wars which hit screens around that time. Nintendo had issued no triple A title, there was no big hitter, Super Monkey Ball, Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion are hardly system shifters. But they shifted systems anyway.
As the big Gamecube launch started to die down Nintendo gave the world Smash Brothers... 2 weeks later Pikmin was launched and was rather successful considering it was a new franchise. For over a month at least one Nintendo game was in the top 10 all formats UK charts, something that has never happened since. The summer drought came and went but, surprisingly Nintendo hadn't kept their big lead over Microsoft. The slow building hype of Halo (a game that launched with the X-box and is STILL the only game that truly sells the system) had meant sales crept up, whilst the Gamecube's stayed stationary. The launch of Resident Evil in September was Nintendo's main effort to pull ahead. But surprisingly it failed.
And here is where we reach the critical disaster point, that single moment where everything went wrong for the Gamecube in Europe. The thing is the Gamecube had a steady supply of software, it had a steady income of sales... but Nintendo's desire to stay ahead of the X-box meant their AAA masterpiece of the year, Super Mario Sunshine, was released on October 3rd 2002.
Nintendo cannot give me any bull about how they planned to launch it then, a Christmas game is launched in November or early December, sales in September and October are fine but they tend to be ignored in the Christmas rush when new titles are released. Super Mario Sunshine went head to head with Hitman 2 and despite an initial victory by hitting the all format top spot, it eventually fell. And fell it did, right out of the charts. Sunshine had been forgotten and the worst Christmas the Gamecube will ever have to suffer came about.
Rare Ware's Starfox Adventures and Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness (both companies who are no longer tied to Nintendo) were the biggest releases for the Gamecube's first Christmas. Dear oh dear oh dear. I'm not saying a November release of Sunshine would have crushed the likes of GTA: Vice City, but it would mean the Gamecube's sales were very good. Mario Sunshine would sell the console with the likes of Starfox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Mario Party 4 offering support (someone considering buying a Gamecube for Sunshine would look at the other titles to see what else was on offer).
Imagine what would have happened if Sunshine was delayed a mere month. Christmas sales momentum would take things into march with the release of Resident Evil 0 and Metroid Prime, which would easily last a month for the release of Wind Waker... this continued momentum would have taken it to the Christmas release of games and of course Mario Kart.
Ever since Pikmin the Gamecube has failed to regain momentum, Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker and Mario Kart (even the recent Pokemon Coliseum) gave the Gamecube a short burst of adrenaline, where for a week (although it was longer in Mario Kart's case) sales rose quickly. But then, just as quickly, fell again.
All because they released Super Mario Sunshine too quickly, missing the Christmas boat. Would Christmas 2002 be a disaster if Nintendo had released a Mario platformer, arguably the biggest franchise Nintendo own, during the Christmas months??? Certainly not.
So is it over?
Not just yet. You see there was a sign of hope after Christmas. Although Metroid Prime and Wind Waker had limited success the fact both games were released so close to each other meant, for a whole 2 months, the Gamecube was on peoples lips. Christmas 2003 also saw a price cut, loads of software and Mario Kart: Double Dash... and once again... Nintendo's Gamecube was on everyone’s lips.
The thing is after Wind Waker Nintendo didn't release anything successful until September, the year before proved how damaging the summer break can be. After the Christmas success Nintendo offered nothing exciting at all, which meant the release of Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid was relatively quiet (certainly wouldn't have been the case on the PS2).
But not all is lost. You see PS2 sales are down, and will continue to slide, not because people no longer like it but because everyone has one. Nevertheless Christmas will be hard for Nintendo, the X-box will see Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Halo 2 cause a surge in X-box sales with the only title likely to outsell them being the PS2's GTA: San Andreas. So can Nintendo's relatively unknown titles manage to defeat such juggernauts of hype? Of course not but that does not mean Nintendo are just going to give Christmas up. You see there aren't many video games available this Christmas for children, the big hitters, all 4 of them, are adult games. Nintendo therefore will push emphasis on Pikmin 2 (October), Paper Mario 2 (November) and there GBA parent loving titles Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red.
Whilst all our teenage brethren will be arguing which is the best first person shooter or why GTA: SA beats them all, Nintendo will be attracting a fan base that is almost totally ignored this Christmas. Even Ubi-Soft's classic Prince of Persia is getting an adult make over. It's not to say Nintendo aren't providing any adult support for their machine, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes may have a difficult job against Halo 2 but if there was one game that would give Microsoft's king a run for its money then all bets would be on Samus.
It is evidence of Nintendo's smarts. We often criticise Nintendo for side stepping the opposition but with so many massive releases it is perfectly understandable this time. In fact it is the most thoughtful set of game releases since the launch of the console. This brief momentum could well take it into 2005 when what is potentially the Gamecube's savior is released.
Resident Evil 4 will be colossal, it will be on the front cover of all of the multi-format console magazines, it will recieve praise in teenage giants such as FHM and Kerrang, it'll have adverts, a lot of hype, newspaper coverage... it will sell the Gamecube like no other game has and will.
It is then Nintendo's difficult task of keeping this big boost of adrenaline going till September. Perhaps with a Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat release, Geist, Advance Wars: Under Fire, Starfox, the release of this "new peripheral", maybe even the release of the DS could have some knock on effect and of course that all important Revolution unveiling at E3.
If Nintendo can reach September 2005 they can then enter autopilot, games will come flying in for Christmas 2005 and the epic release of the brand new Zelda game in November would be the icing on the cake.
It sounds good in theory, but can Nintendo really build a fan base in time for their next system? With a little help from children and their parents, Capcom and some more E3 triumph we could well see an N64 style turn around.
Can Pikmin pick up where it left off come October?
Here's to the Future.
Dringo.