Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Whoa :0
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Youkai Watch 2 sold over 1.2 million units during first 4 days in Japan (Famitsu)
- Thread starter L~A
- Start date
Big congrats to Level 5. Hopefully they don't overmilk it and take down another of their new IPs. Game doesn't appeal to me in the slightest though. Couldn't care less if this series was never picked up for localization. But with this level of success, Level 5 really should go for it.
SwiftDeath
Member
Damn impressive. Good for Level 5
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
Kinda sad how we know how the story ends of almost everything Level 5.
But for now, CONGRATS, that's an INSANE number.
But for now, CONGRATS, that's an INSANE number.
Smiles and Cries
Member
they need to find a way to refresh like Pokemon without killing the IP to start a new one
Akira Tago's Yokai Watch
manipulate
Member
So uh, just read the wiki article - how is this game not exactly Pokemon?
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
As far as I know, the core gameplay mechanic, the fighting system, is way dumbed down.
StreetsAhead
Member
The battle system, story progression, capture system, and evolution system are completely different to Pokemon. It's a monster collection RPG so there are of course similarities.
EDIT: Ok, maybe not the evolution system.
Cave Johnson
Member
You forgot about poor old Youkai Watch Snap
Yokai Watch Pinball
Call of Yokai Watch
Nobunaga's Yokai Watch
Yokai Watch: Brain Training
Yokai Watch Online
Me & My Yokai
Yokai Watch: The Flamethrower
Youkai Watch music is amazing. Absolutely love the opening songs for both versions of Youkai Watch 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6YDrbxUwIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6qDK9GDeAU
manipulate
Member
Bruno MB
Member
List of titles in Japan that have debut selling over 1 million units.
(There is no available data prior to 1996)
Source: Famitsu
(There is no available data prior to 1996)
Source: Famitsu
Code:
01. [NDS] Pokémon Black / White (Pokémon Co.) {2010.09.18} - 2.637.285
02. [PS1] Final Fantasy VIII (Square) {1999.02.11} - 2.504.044
03. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Square Enix) {2009.07.11} - 2.343.440
04. [PS2] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Square Enix) {2004.11.27} - 2.236.881
05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom) {2010.12.01} - 2.146.467
06. [3DS] Pokémon X / Y (Pokémon Co.) {2013.10.12} - 2.096.050
07. [PS1] Final Fantasy VII (Square) {1997.01.31} - 2.034.879
08. [PS1] Final Fantasy IX (Square) {2000.07.07} - 1.954.421
09. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom) {2013.09.14} - 1.875.115
10. [PS1] Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi (Enix) {2000.08.26} - 1.862.065
11. [PS2] Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix) {2006.03.16} - 1.840.397
12. [PS2] Final Fantasy X (Square) {2001.07.19} - 1.749.737
13. [NDS] Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 (Pokémon Co.) {2012.06.23} - 1.618.621
14. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond / Pearl (Pokémon Co.) {2006.09.28} - 1.586.360
15. [PS3] Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix) {2009.12.17} - 1.516.532
16. [PS2] Final Fantasy X-2 (Square Enix) {2003.03.13} - 1.472.914
17. [NGB] Pokémon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) {1999.11.21} - 1.425.768
18. [NDS] Pokémon HeartGold / SoulSilver (Pokémon Co.) {2009.09.12} - 1.408.980
19. [PS1] Resident Evil 2 (Capcom) {1998.01.29} - 1.389.733
20. [B][3DS] Youkai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke (Level 5) {2014.07.10} - 1.281.096 [/B]
21. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire (Pokémon Co.) {2002.11.21} - 1.245.003
22. [NGB] Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters IV (Konami) {2000.12.07} - 1.228.599
23. [PS2] Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Square Enix) {2004.03.25} - 1.048.925
24. [PS1] Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (Capcom) {1999.09.22} - 1.005.020
Pokémon - 7
Final Fantasy - 7
Dragon Quest - 4
Monster Hunter - 2
Resident Evil - 2
Youkai Watch - 1
Yu-Gi-Oh! - 1slaughterking
Member
This is spectacular. Wow.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
So it's only the 3rd 3DS title god damn what a beast.
Earthpainting
Member
Not entirely unexpected, but still great numbers. Not the biggest fan of Level 5's home console output, but they seem to know their way around an impressive handheld game.
got your medals yet
Magicpaint
Member
o_0 That ish cray.
Congrats to Level-5
I'm veeeery interested in this too. The world exploration looked awesome in that dedicated Direct.
Congrats to Level-5
while it lasts ;_;
Sylverstone14
Member
Exclusive footage from Level-5 offices:
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
YW3 will be a success
YW4 wil show decline
YW5 will be a massive decline
YW6 will be released but the series will already be dead by then.
I wonder how high YW2 can go. 3 million+?
Anyway L5 need to find a way to stop killing their franchises especially with a hit like this in Japan.
YW4 wil show decline
YW5 will be a massive decline
YW6 will be released but the series will already be dead by then.
I wonder how high YW2 can go. 3 million+?
Anyway L5 need to find a way to stop killing their franchises especially with a hit like this in Japan.
Hours Left
Member
You guys, let's give them a chance to kill it first before admonishing them.
So, here we witness a birth of another beastly franchise? And it's on 3DS too. Between this, MonHun and Pokemon 3DS is an absolute beast.
I had no idea Resident Evil used to be that huge in Japan, RE2 was the second biggest opening at it's release? Woah.
I had no idea Resident Evil used to be that huge in Japan, RE2 was the second biggest opening at it's release? Woah.
GAF is gonna GAF again over L5, despite them being one of the most successfull companies in the recent history of Japanese videogame market (should we compare their "killing & milking" treatment with other Japanese companies? really? because I think it would be ingenerous...for other comanies), despite them being constant in proposing new IPs, despite them being able to find good/strong/huge commercial results with a good amount of their projects, despite them being able to not fail (so far) any of their multimedia projects
For the sake of discussion, let's post this once again, just to see it ignore, once again
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others...
It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.
They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.
There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.
If we look at their recent series we have:
Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably )
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.
Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.
Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.
Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.
A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).
Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.
They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)
In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)
So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma until the ones I've been allowed to try)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace
At least, those are my two cents
For the sake of discussion, let's post this once again, just to see it ignore, once again
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others...
It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.
They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.
There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.
If we look at their recent series we have:
Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably
)The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.
Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.
Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.
Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.
A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).
Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.
They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)
In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)
So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma until the ones I've been allowed to try)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace
At least, those are my two cents
CadetMahoney
Member
Why does Japan like portables so much but the west not so much?
also, don't forget about the overhyped yokai watch dogs
ShogunDarius
Member
expect it, but best not to expect it until all the Inazuma games are localised first.
Because japanese people have tiny living spaces and don't want to clog them up with huge tv's and the like. Also, public transportation is way more common.
I agree. Great post Aostia.
Nightengale
Member
There's a lot of cultural nuances that influence that, but it can be said that it's a natural entertainment evolution of a society who's constantly on the move, has the train as their primary method of work-life transport with very small living spaces.
Hours Left
Member
Now the trick is, do they start with the first one in North America, or skip right to 2?
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
RIP in peace PS4.
I think they'll definitely start with the first. NA is just now getting Fantasy Life, Layton x Wright and the first Inazuma Eleven.
I can't imagine they'd skip the first, especially as 3DS doesn't have a massive overabundance of titles in 2015 announced yet.
Of course they won't, that's why it's a drive-by
But yeah, really happy about those sales. It's really great news for both Level-5 and Nintendo. Having a Youkai Watch game available at launch for the 4DS will be crucial.
I really can't wait for the Western releases (unlike Capcom, they're not gonna sit on a multi-million series for years, even though Level-5 is quite slow with localisation). I have no idea whether they can have as much success in the West, but you won't know until you try.
And why would they skip the first game? That wouldn't make any sense. Better start with the beginning (and what's more, why give up on a full game? It's not like YW1 is crappy... not at all).
Hours Left
Member
They need to get that out quick then. If they want this to be a thing in the West, it's best to catch up as soon as possible.
Can you imagine if Pokémon games were still staggered months apart? X_X
Nightengale
Member
For the sake of discussion, let's post this on
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others...
I'm a Gundam fan though...
IMO, part of the L5 hate is really in the same veins as SE hate, in that their focus as a company, as in their core multimedia IP bread-and-butter, caters to a different audience than the atypical GAF make-up.
Family-friendly, regionally focused IPs that's mobile/3DS first, as well as a multimedia push that's unappreciated by most of GAF, even AnimeGAF. AGE was arguably the only multimedia L5 stuff that we were excited for, and it's no secret how badly Hino fucked that up.
I feel that the Level-5 hate is undeserved, but also somewhat justified, because the reality is that GAF sees only a small portion of what Level-5 is doing, because of their focus on mobile/3DS/Japan that only very sporadically reaches the western audience.
Brutalitops
Banned
This isn't port begging, because I'm genuinely curious. Is there a reason this is exclusive to 3DS? It's so massive that they could sell insane amounts on all platforms
Nightengale
Member
The children audience is on the 3DS.
