Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and that is evident from Nintendo’s latest Financial Results Briefing. According to Nintendo’s fiscal report, the Virtual Console releases of Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow for the 3DS have sold over 1.5 million copies.
It’s no surprise that the titles have sold well, but 1.5 million copies in just two months is a staggering number. A good portion of the sales came from Japanese players, but an even larger number, over 50% of the games’ sales in total, came from the American market. The financial briefing states:
“Since the start of the calendar year, Pokémon has been the subject of much attention in America, and sales are showing a favorable trend. Although these are downloadable software titles, download codes sold through retail stores have been a high proportion of sales in Japan. We believe that we have successfully created a chance to appeal to the nostalgia of consumers who played these titles when they first came out.”
The decision to re-release these classic Game Boy games twenty years after they first hit store shelves has clearly been a fiscal stroke of genius for the struggling company. Given the recent backlash that Nintendo has received for delaying both their new NX console and the upcoming Legend of Zelda game, Nintendo would be wise to pay attention to the overwhelmingly positive response they receive when fans’ desires are met.
Nintendo had a recent hit with another Pokémon title, Pokkén Tournament for the Wii U.
If you have yet to pick up the original Pokémon titles, they are available for all 3DS handheld consoles via the Nintendo eShop.
