Besides just game and DLC sales, I imagine Splatoon is probably responsible for a massive amount of Nintendo Online subscriptions. There's no way I would have ever paid that fee if it weren't for this franchise.
@@Glitzburg Mario Kart is good, but I imagine the large majority of players (aka families) just play against bots and with local coop. That's how I've always done it. Multi-player can be really intimidating there.
@@birdflox1337You phrased that correctly, because you are indeed imagining things. Mario Kart is *THE* Nintendo online game. It has been since the Wii. Yes, even for casuals.
@@blau6832 are there any numbers for this? Because I've never even considered touching online, it sounds painful. My biggest point here is that in order to access even half of Splatoon's content, you NEED internet. You can't even buy customization otherwise. Mario Kart gives you all the content you need no matter what.
please, me and my sister loved it as a child, just collecting and cleaning up fossils for hours maybe if switch 2 actually got a mic to do the dust blowing or other controller gimmicks for the fossil minigame?
You touched on it for a moment but I think Kirby's bigger momentum for sales/money for Nintendo is it's merchandise. While he sells well for games and is loved, his aesthetic lends itself to merchandising significantly moreso than even Mario. He's an adorable ball whose lore is that he likes to eat and sleep. He lends himself to any mood via his copy ability and that translates to whatever style of merchandise people may want. He is a "comfort character" that people love for his style even moreso than his games. I honestly think that the marketing of Kirby is a contributing reason (though far from the only reason) that his Switch outings have been so successful.
Kirby's more recent success can also be attributed to the loosening of gender norms as well. I remember Kirby being regarded as a "Sissy" game in the 90's and 2000's. This was despite the fact that Kirby even then engaged in more types of violence than any other video game character and the commercials for the games at that time emphasized that aspect of the character. People in "The West" at least could not get over the color pink and Kirby's decidedly soft design. Those seem to be less of an issue in the last ten years or so.
I think Xenoblade above FE is a bit odd, even with your explanation. FE Three Houses sold more than both Xenoblade DE & Xenoblade 3 combined. Xenoblade 2 was the exception, selling 2.7 million, but the series is a pretty low seller, even less so than FE.
Exactly. The shares nintendo has in monolith I don't think are as important to nintendo as forecast thinks they are. Ultimately if intelligent systems left nintendo, nintendo would still have the fire emblem ip and it is a lot more profitable than xenoblade chronicles. Nintendo could also always hire a different studio to make the games like koie tecmo, who made 90% of the development for three houses.
I am a massive fan of Xenoblade Chronicles but I think that although Monolith soft are much more important to Nintendo the franchise of Xenoblade Chronicles isn't as big as Fire Emblem. Monolith soft have credits on pretty much all of Nintendo's first party games like zelda, animal crossing, splatoon and many more. I feel like he lost the point of his own video here as it was about franchises not companies under Nintendo's banner and Fire Emblem easily beats Xenoblade even if that may not last that is for now the way of things and it would be hard to convince me otherwise for now.
@@NuiYabuko I know I just felt like there wasn't a need to mention it as it doesn't really change my point but I guess that's good for future people reading this to know.
One point towards Fire Emblem is the Fire Emblem Heroes mobile game. It is Nintendo's most sucesful mobile game, not counting Pokemon Go, grossing $656 million as of early 2020. It is true that the revenue is split issue is still there, but its something to consider.
I never saw the revenue split as a fault for a Nintendo franchise. If anything it's a sign for other studios to work with Nintendo as the rewards for a big success are far greater than what they would get if they didn't share some kind of ownership.
I dont play currently, but that game gave me two years of free content that I never felt needed to spend money. I several years behind on content now, making the potential to jump in very interesting.
If they ever make a Pikmin movie, and it has to have celebrity voice actors, this is who I'd cast: Jim Parsons as Olimar John Mulaney as Louie John Goodman as The President
Im gonna side with others here i think Xeno above FE is definitely misplaced. Ignoring how huge FEH is is a pretty big oversight considering it does better than mobile AC and Mario games. Its a safe bet FEH will probably be making good money even by its 10 year anniversary. I love both series BTW
I reject the premise that DK is under the Mario umbrella, Donkey Kong Country has a very distinct style and cast of characters and I think it's very disrespectful to just brand it as "Mario spin-off #3"
I agree. Yoshi and DK ARE Mario characters in origin, but they've grown to be their own franchises. Same for Wario. Characters from all three are in separate categories to Mario in Smash.
Yes. Since Rare put their fingers into the franchise, DK has been another thing. It's so important, it pretty much was THE title in the later years of the SNES. I would argue that Mario and DK are more like separate series in the same universe
Yea, I think Yoshi, DK, and Wario are their own franchises in totality at this point and I would liken their inclusion in spinoffs to something like Link and inklings in Mario Kart. They're essentially cameos.
Worth saying that Mario is estimated to be the second highest grossing media franchise behind Pokemon (I believe the number is 65 billion), not many people know that since Wikipedias number (which a lot of other sites use) is so incredibly out of date.
This is why I think Nintendo is in a win-win scenario when it comes to the movie division. If they decide to create a Mario Cinematic Universe, and play it safe, there's so many ideas that one franchise has to offer. I genuinely think that's the plan. Charlie Day and Seth Rogan have said, on separate occasions, that they want movies for Luigi and Donkey Kong respectively. Every actor who was cast signed a document stipulating that they were obliged to star in a series of sequels and spin-offs. Day and Rogan know they'll be in the main spotlight, but talk about these movies hypothetically to avoid violating their contracts. I can see a Mario trilogy, a Luigi’s Mansion movie, a Donkey Kong Country movie and a Peach movie happening.
I've heard Nintendo also owns at least some of Creatures, Inc (Yamauchi was involved in their founding), so their ownership in Pokemon is really somewhat more than 32%
What if there could be a crossover show of video games by Nintendo Switch Sega Rovio Mojang of Mario Zelda Splatoon Kirby Pokémon Sonic Angry Birds Minecraft Animal Crossing
First I must applaude you for NOT putting Metroid at 4 or even 3 on this list like most people would. It’s perfect at 7 hell there’s good argument for it to be at 8. While understand why you put Kirby at 6, I’d swap it around with Animal Crossing cause of the sheer number of games and merch and like you said AC NH was severely helped out by circumstances. Also while going over Fire Emblem, you neglected to mention it’s mobile game which is like the biggest of the Nintendo mobile games outside Pokemon Go, I’d put Fire Emblem 8 but like I mentioned earlier the argument to put it over Metroid is there. Also wanna commend you for not putting Zelda at 1 for debatably having the best quality(very subjective) out of the series on the list.
@@ExzaktVid You must be young because back in the in the early 2000s and especially in the 90s before Pokemon came out and took over, Metroid was seen in the same light as Zelda and Mario and some older fans still try to argue that Metroid is in Nintendo’s Big 3/4.
ACNL sold like 13 million on the 3DS. While ACNH caused a big boom, it has been a big franchise before that. Kirby might have a lot of games and merchandise, which AC also has, but when it comes to sales of single games AC is bigger.
The video fails to point this out but while Kirby as a lot of merch potential, Animal Crossing surpasses it by a lot (in my limited and obviously not representative experience though). I remember all these articles about random Animal Crossing merch like make-up being sold out on release day around the globe but also, as someone living in Japan, Nintendo just releases a plethora of new Animal Crossing merch every two seasons or so I would say. Obviously, as others have pointed out, even before ACNH the franchise was already very big too and far outsold every game that is not Pokemon or Mario on the 3DS.
I mean, there was someone in this comment section think MP4 could break 5 mil. Theoretically possible, but that would be quite a break out success for the franchise which historically struggles to break a million.
You know, Kyle Bosmon has a series called Franchise Score and he did one for Kirby, it was very entertaining and brought up some great points. You should check it out sometime.
Oh this should be fun! We all know financially what the top ones are but there are also other factors to consider for the company as a whole. Nintendo needs to maintain an ecosystem for their consoles so they require variety and acclaim from various audience to ensure the market is healthy. I look forward to the discussions this will bring.
i wish for a miitopia sequel more than anything. that game was absolutely fantastic, light-hearted and charming but with enough depth to keep you hooked
I really think people underestimate Metroid. It isn't the biggest seller, but everyone knows about it. How many times you heard someone saying that a Metroid game was the best they played in any given Nintendo console? How many times have you seen people who don't even play Nintendo games talking about it? How many times you have seen Nintendo use it to create hype and win awards? For that alone I think it's bigger than FE and Xenoblade. The 7th position was perfect. And there's enough material for a live action kovie there...
If we talking Potential for extra material stuff like movies, I think FE and Xenoblade could work as animes (well FE already had an OVA but you know what I mean). I agree with Pikmin being perfect for an Illumination movie and many other forums of Merchandise for that matter. The top 5 is all correct. As for my favorite of the runners up, I would love to be in a world where I could see Star Fox as one of Nintendo's big series again with the possibilities of have new comics, an animated show or a whole movie but like you said with how much the sells have gone down, Critical reception being on the lower end for a while now, almost back to back Series hypernation with releases, no Dedicated dev team like to it like XB or FE and no big awards to its name. I fear the worst for the series and with it possible missing the switch like with the wii which could be a huge blow to it's Potential popularity boost. It's not look good for the series. Still overall good video and you did great on the research.
I've always had a vision in my mind that the first Xenoblade game could make for a great Movie Series much like LotR or Harry Potter. Xenoblade 2 however fits better for a show.
@@NoxideActive yeah I could see that for Xenoblade one. As for two it's perfect for a TV show or anime, helps that (this goes for the whole Xenoblade series btw) ot has very interesting locations and Plenty of enemies to use on the Regular for each episode.
@@orangeslash1667 I don't remember him ever saying this, got any proof. It's more likely he's just working on movies and Pikmin to even be thinking about the series right now. Also even if that was true, it wouldn't be the first time, since this happened during the Wii as well. it's why we didn't get a Star Fox game for it.
@@rossruss6901 He said (I wasn’t particularly interested in just making another Star Fox game with better graphics and better sound). Meaning that he doesn't make another unless he can come up with a new idea for it. This is the reason SF zero has motion controls. See Miyamoto take innovation a little too seriously. The reason why SF was made is because Miyamoto needed to experiment with 3d, since it was new at the time. However now days SF's selling point of 3d isn't special anymore. Even if Miyamoto wanted to make another one, he would have to find a third party company to make it, since Assault, Zero, and 64 3ds were all handed by third party teams.
Hey, how about we discuss the subject of Nintendo recently utilizing old forgotten I.P more and more? Famicon Detective Club, Endless Ocean, Another Code, F-Zero 99 etc.
That could be neat, though you might just end up looking at which IPs are to fill the holds between AAA releases like Zelda and Mario (as said they do for why they releasing more AA games) or which ones are they going to try and give a bit push (I feel like this could be the case for F-Zero)
True true... I always saw the utilization of old IP like those you gave as something like a "buffer" stock since their major EPD teams are working on their games for the new system.
Love your work and happy to be apart of your community. Not going to argue the rankings here as you have a lot of metrics in consideration, HOWEVER, I find it really surprising in a video talking about merchandising outside of games. Brings up fire emblem, and NOT heroes. Granted I don't know if nintendo directly profits from the mobile game but it cannot be emphasized ebough how much of a break out hit heroes was, and still is in the mobile space. so successful that not only clones and even outright games ripping assets out of heroes in hopes of stealing its thunder. It destroys all other of nintendo mobile outtings(Aside pokemon go) and the mobile game has a massive array of tie in physical merchandise on its own. It's so big I wouldn't be surprise if the games start coming out on heroes schedule and not the other way around. (Kind of like pokemon needs new entries for the tie in merchandise) Aside the typical anime fair of statues and such things, it's also worth mentioning they have a mildly popular card trading game that's japan only(Xipher I believe it's called.) edit: Turns out it's called cipher and they stopped making that. Wrong about that, oops. lmao, not editing that part out for authenticity lol.
That's crazy, I actually predicted the whole Top 10, order included lmao (of course only after the first section of the video which excludes a top 5 franchise like Smash Bros which makes sense)
Once Smash was out and Kirby was put at #6, my only question was how much Pokémon not being fully owned by Nintendo would hold it back lol. Reasonable list overall tho. I wouldn't have thought to put Splatoon where it went but your explanation made sense.
You clearly mixing up Xenoblade series with its developer Monolith Soft. Xenoblade as a franchise could easily be replaced by another new franchise from Monolith Soft. While your video title is most important "franchise".
While that is totally fair, the Xenoblade franchise is something of a dowry for Monolith Soft, and I don't believe it's importance to Nintendo as a creative outlet for one of their most consistent contributors to the Nintendo Switch's tentpole release schedule can be legitimately separated from the success of the franchise itself. While any direction for the greater "Xeno" project will have equal value to the company, the importance of Monolith's work in other titles providing artificial value and buoying up the games will still be considered when Nintendo green-lights projects, and so I don't think conflating the two is inaccurate.
I see the point. I figure it that the franchise is important to Monolithsoft and therefore important to Nintendo. If they move on to something different, it will signal that it's less important to MS and therefore less important to Nintendo but there's currently no sign (concept art of an original adult-themed game notwithstanding) that this is happening.
Disagree with some positions here and there but overall the top 10 is this as far as franchises. Great video. As for pokemon, i think you didn't go too much into the ownership. Nintendo established TPC with gf and creatures which is why each part owns 32% of it but Nintendo co owns copyright and trademark along gf and cts while solely owning trademark outside of jp. So even if someone bought gf and cts they still would be under control. Speaking of this a video about Nintendo, gf, creatures and tpc relationship what each does and the ownership would be great
Folks in the comments have aleady brought up fire emblem heroes, but it's truly wild how, despite how old it is, it continues to pull in as much revenue as it does. Other big gacha games have come and gone during its lifespan, as well as other nintendo mobile games. Like I think only pokemon go out competes it when it comes to nintendo on mobile.
I would love to see Pikmin take off even further. Considering the potential, it feels to me like Pikmin should actually be above Metroid and persistently above Fire Emblem. Speaking of, Fire Emblem still does feel underestimated to me in this list, though only really by one step. I do feel more can be done with it than Metroid. I must thank other commenters for the mention of Fire Emblem Heroes though.
While I can kind of buy your reasoning for not including the Wii series, I think you did a disservice by combining distinctly different game series together a la the Mario franchise and excluding Super Smash Bros because it is a crossover series. Fire Emblem wouldn't even exist anymore if it wasn't for Super Smash Bros. It was Marth and Roy's inclusion into Melee that initially revitalized the series by drawing the Western eye to it.
Agreed. Even Nintendo makes distinctions. I can only suppose it was to get some of what were effectively in the bottom 5 franchises in Nintendo's stable in terms of sales until more recently into the bottom slots of the list. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense.
I can see more of a future for Kid Icarus than Punch Out somehow because of the Sakurai link. I may cover these in more detail in future. Thanks for watching!
@@birdbig6852 the best selling Fire Emblem game has sold better than the best Pikmin, Metroid, and Xenoblade game. Not only that but the series has constant releases. Also it is the best selling franchise of its genre.
@@alecamp5369 Engage is only 1.7M and Three Houses a little over 4M. Pikmin 4 will probably surpass 5M in the next fiscal year and though Metroid Dread is only at 3M, MP4 can easily go above 5M in total sales. I believe Three Houses sales is an exception alongside fates. I'm afraid I can't see a 5M+ seller for my favourite franchise soon.
@@birdbig6852 Pikmin 4 has sold 3.48 million copies as of March 31, and it's sales have been stalling. We'll have to see MP4 as it hasn't even come out yet, and we don't know where it fits in Nintendo's plans. Engage sold as it did because it was already controversial before it even released + it didn't have a long marketing cycle. Awakening sold 2.3 million units. Also, contrary to Metroid and Pikmin, fire emblem games have little to no long droughts between games.
Fire Emblem fulfills an important market that most other Nintendo franchises don't that market is however still a bit niche compared to others like Pikmin. Pikmins games might be niche in some respect but their appeal can go beyond the games, in fact the the commercial song for the first game sold more in Japan than the actual game. Metroid has prestige and a longer history with lots of room for growth, both in games and extended media. I always wanted a series of pulp stories featuring Samus and her adventures, I will say that the Metroid franchise is not at it's full potential because they don't have dedicated teams working on it like Fire Emblem so you might be right in that FE beats Metroid in value currently.
I think depending on how deep Nintendo is diving into their bag of franchises tells you how good they are doing in the present. But if the quality degrades in those lower to mid tier IP's, you know they're going to have a dry season ahead. Look at their offerings on Wii/DS for Fire Emblem and Metroid. Some might say they weren't well received, commercially or critically, and then Nintendo had bad spells on 3DS and Wii U, even though the former had a rebound sooner than the latter.
At the halfway point I was thinking wow Donkey Kong is too high. But then you forgot it?! Definitely deserved more of a comment than fzero and starfox (which I love but are dormant). I would put it above Pikmin with potential to go above Metroid with the rumoured movie and the planned theme parks, especially coinciding with a new game.
@@NuiYabuko The Wii U game was 8 years ago and it bombed hard on it (to be expected, it's a Wii U game with controls most people didn't like), The 3ds game is even older than that (it was also just a full-on remake of 64), and Starlink crossover also was 6 years ago and from what I know it didn't sell to well. So nah that's pretty dormant compared to all some of the other IPs Nintendo has up and running and the back-to-back low sells of the series isn't helping.
@@NuiYabuko I'll give you the last gen but this gen It's only present in the same vein as it was in the Wii days. As of today, there is no new Star Fox game (the longest Hituas the series has seen yet) on Switch, it's last game wasn't even ported like so many other Wii U games (Though that's more of the fault for needing the gamepad so much), and to top it all off it's older games haven't even gotten remasters like Metroid and Pikmin have. All Star Fox has to its name this gen is a failed crossover and NSO release of the classic games. Not exactly the look of someone who is "present" now, is it and it's only going to get worse if no Switch game which would suck since that means Star Fox is going to have an even harder time climbing that hill out of has-been status.
Runners up: 12. F-Zero. 11. Star Fox. (Yes and yes.) Your list: 10. Fire Emblem. (Yep.) 9. Xenoblade Chronicles. (YES. GAME. OF. THE. YEAR. NOMINEE. This is a Grower. Might easily overtake #8, which is...) 8. Pikmin (I doubt it can, really. Importance doesn't just mean sales or category nominations/wins, it also means FULL GOTY nominations. I don't think it places in the top 10 for my standards.) 7. Metroid 6. Kirby. 5. Splatoon 4. Animal Crossing 3. The Legend of Zelda 2. Pokemon 1. Super Mario MY list of "Most Important?" 1. Sales can HELP determine placement, but they aren't the only, or even most telling, thing. It's a judge of "Importance" not JUST "Mainstream Popularity". If you did this question of importance for film in 2010 and put Michael Bay over Martin Scorsese? You're nuts. 2. GOTY Wins are more important than GOTY Nominations are more important than Category Wins are more important than Category Nominations are more important than Non Nominees in their genre. 10. Fire Emblem (It's less "mascot-y", but Olimar just can't be the Gru style big personality that ties even a medium form narrative like a movie together. Pikmin's limit is just as adaptable as Fire Emblem, but the limit for Pikmin is 5-7 minute shorts. The limit for Fire Emblem is movie trilogies or long form TV shows adapting acclaimed instalments. Imagine Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Silver Snow as a TV show.) 9. Splatoon 8. Kirby 7. Pokemon 6. (Co-owned, essentially, but yes) The GOTY nominated and two-time Action Game winner...Bayonetta! 5. Xenoblade 4. Metroid 3. Animal Crossing 2. Super Mario 1. The Legend of Zelda (Extremely popular, fully owned by Nintendo and their ONLY franchise to date to WIN GOTY.)
The placement order for the list was horrible. 10 - Xenoblade 09 - Pikmin 08 - Fire Emblem 07 - Metroid 06 - Splatoon 05 - Animal Crossing 04 - Kirby 03 - Pokémon 02 - The Legend of Zelda 01 - Mario
@Nintendo Forecast I’m curious as to your thoughts about Astral Chain. I’m thinking a sequel is coming. I’m just wondering if it is an IP created to continue working with Platinum Games just in case licensing issues arise with Bayonetta. What do you think about their intentions with it?
Since it was developed (or at least finished) concurrently with Bayonetta I'm not sure if it was a replacement but it's an interesting point. I'll look into it at some point.
Hmm, from top to bottom and without listening to your video first... Mario. A massive franchise with toes in many, many genres. While some of the "lesser" (they're all great) franchise might appeal to this group or that, Mario can appeal to everyone. No matter your demographic, there's a Mario title for you. Pokemon Has similar broad appeal to Mario, but Nintendo is only part owner and cannot live on monsters alone. Mario Kart. While "Mario" as a franchise covers all of the games including Mario Kart, I feel it important to point out that Mario Kart just on its own is bigger and more important that franchises like Zelda and Kirby, much like California alone has a bigger GDP than most countries, despite just being a part of America. Zelda. While Zelda titles sales might, and it many cases always are, lower than some of the below franchises, the series as a whole is important for selling Nintendo products to the so-called "core audience." So just as something like Pokemon might skew young or AC might skew female, Zelda skews core and you really want those people showing up because they buy titles, build hype, etc, etc. Animal Crossing Oh yeah, speaking of AC skewing female, AC skews female. While covid might have boosted the last title's popularity, it was going to be massive on its own anyway, as every AC release has surpassed the ones that came before. Smash Bros. It sells a lot of copies, appeals to a certain type of audience (I won't say core or casual, there's people from both halves that like it) and does a great job of advertising and brand building for the company as awhole. Fire Emblem. Another audience expander, RPG fans, the female audience, Japan-ophiles, etc. Donkey Kong. Ehh, a hidden choice, and one that Nintendo hasn't done a great job building after Rare left but DK retains huge cultural appeal in the west, among 90s kids and their parents. But its use it or lose it for DK, wait another decade and DK wouldn't be on this list, replaced with Splatoon or something new. ____ Sports. Its debatable whether this is even a franchise at all, as Nintendo has Switched out the titling, the characters, the sports, everything. Or alternately you can trace it all the way back to NES/Famicom Golf and Baseball, but no these games are massively popular, they bring a unique audience in and Nintendo cares enough to continue to fill their controllers with gizmos that only these games like these fully make use of. Kirby. Yeah, I dunno, Kirby does a lot of stuff, and while Nintendo might be doing fine now, there will come a time when a game drought is present and there's no-one quite like Kirby to break through that. Not making the list: Splatoon. Really, its only relevant in Japan, and its mired in the general lack of success that Nintendo's online systems have had. Also, though super timely in 2014, I wonder how well the aesthetic will age going into the future. Will it look forever young, retrocool or just plain dated in another five to fifteen years? NCL itself puts huge important on this franchise but really its totally ancillary to the company's future in the two largest markets. In fairness, I understand why you will have inevitably put this one on your list ahead of DK/Kirby/Sports, etc. I've seen Nintendo's list, I know they do. Yoshi. Its dime store Kirby. Xenoblade. It would be right up there with Mario if it were up to me, but its not and the series is mired in 1 to 3 million sales hell. Metroid. Same as Xenoblade, maybe it will be more relevant going forward but there's equal odds that Prime 4 is a dud and kills the series dead. Mario Party. Oh look, its Mario Kart but four times less effective.
While to an extent i understand your reasoning for placing them there, i just can't help but disagree with the placements of fire emblem and xenoblade. I would have placed fe right after kirby at 7 and xenoblade at 8, adhead of pikimi and metroid. They both have multiple games and are both successful and highly regarded with very bright futures ahead at them Xenoblade while yes are huge and technically impressive games but the series doesn't have the same level of history and success of fire emblem but it's close Also they both have great potential as anime series with merch as well
Honestly, even from a sales perspective, Metroid and Pikmin are bigger than Xenoblade. Plus, recognition. Everyone knows who Samus is. She has been there since the NES with Mario and Link. Who even is the main lead of Xenoblade? People don't know.
@@NuiYabuko everyone does know who she is, even if they don't know their name. They know about Metroid and that cool Nintendo character with an amor suit. That's already way better than Xenoblade, which most people in the gaming space don't even know what it is
It is funny how often I see Kirby in graffiti art someone made illegally on a wall. Splatoon would really win if Nintendo starts using central server systems instead of p2p. Pokemon is in trouble because the mainline games are so badly developed, it is quite embarrassing. It is a really bad sign when a business stops outdoing its previous games with the newest entry.
@@NuiYabuko well mario and dk are same universe and alot of their games have both in then so I count it as one and animal crossing isn't that important of a franchise literally nobody I know ever played animal crossing till covid and honestly looks like the most boring game ever to me and metroid has been around forever and has great games and can be system sellers splatoon is that game you pick up later on when you need something to play over and over again to help kill time it's basically cod just fun for pvp
Punch out being forgotten while we got an animal crossing version of Hello kitty and hundred of RPG with farms. That's not dissapointing at all 😂 Joke aside, i really hope we'll get a Punch out 2 for the Switch 2. It's time this fun franchise returns!
11:58 I don't think Nintendo's shares of Monolith Soft are important enough to outdo the importance fire emblem has over xenoblade chronicles. While both franchises are important to Nintendo for capturing core audiences, fire emblem clearly sells better on average. I doubt (well, more like hope to god) Intelligent Systems never makes a fire emblem game like engage again. JRPGs NEED good stories, at least if you're going to still have hours upon hours upon hours of cutscenes and support conversations.
Being honest, the first five minutes spent excluding and disqualifying stuff tempered my interest. How hard would it be to let DK's own games and the Sports series have their own shot
It might have a new name but remain in the same franchise universe. It should work because the fandom behind Xenoblade is well informed of Monolith soft.
Why does the Kirby entry use so much Super Smash Bros. Ultimate footage? It's not a Kirby game. I would instead use footage from Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Kirby Air Ride, and Kirby & the Forgotten Land. Seeing almost nothing but Smash is boring.
As of the modern day and including spinoffs with their main series, I would say: 1. Mario 2. Pokemon 3. Animal Crossing 4. Zelda 5. Splatoon 6. Fire Emblem 7. Kirby 8. Metroid 9. Xenoblade 10. Pikmin This is me being as non bias as possible, the fact some of my favorite franchises are at the bottom hurts😭
@@PixelPikmin Yeah the pandemic REALLY overrated Animal Crossing just a bit. It’s that’s the ONLY reason New Horrizons sold as well as it did. Also Kirby has too many spinoffs and games released yearly to be below 5(should be 4).
I love Fire Emblem, but let's be real here, FEH is probably carrying the majority of it being a profitable franchise. It's console games, while large in the tactical rpg space, is still limited to that space itself. However, Intelligent Systems and Nintendo could use it for other things like collaborating with Koei to create the FE Warriors games, but still a niche. I would argue that 6 should at least be Kirby. Just swap those two then maybe I'm good. Also, I do think that you are overestimating the popularity of Animal Crossing since ACNH did benefit a lot from the pandemic lockdown. I would argue that it is quite a close 3rd.
I will always count all things Wario as separate and SUPERIOR to all things Mario. WarioWare Snapped is leagues better than any MarioKart/Party/or Sports game ever. The Sportlings and Spocco exist on the same planet as WooHoo, and even Nintendo calls Switch Sports Wii Sports 4, but I do see Ring Fit as a full on replacement for Wii Fit; having completely different lore and art design from anything else in the greater Mii Expanded universe. Miitopia is Tomodachi Life 4, and I will die covered in blood, screaming on this hill. 10 is like the number 3 grossing series now thanks to EPD11. That's about right for Jesus, Mechs, Tits, and the Meaning of Human suffering 8 is a rising star, yes, but I wouldn't say it's bigger than 9 yet. If only because 9 has a much higher merch ROI 7 is about right 6 is number 2 grossing. Never understimate the pink That's about right. That's about right... but I'd probably switch it to 6 depending on how what you have as 5 is doing merch wise. I'd put that at 5 because of the two grossing exceptions I've pointed out. And I just straight up do not count 2 as part of the discussion. It's so freaking massive they had to set up an entirely separate company just to manage it. A company that makes more money in any given year than NINTENDO AND SEVERAL REAL WORLD RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS COMBINED! So this is where I would put the Miis.
I think Fire Emblem got massively undersold here. Like it's a franchise that is growing year by year with massive history and has had multiple spin offs with a card game that was successful, it only shut down because IS wanted to focus on FEH which makes millions on millions a year in revenue. I think there wasn't enough consideration on those factors here for it's placement.
Anything else but Mario and I would’ve been shocked, appalled, disgusted, flabbergasted, and gobsmacked.
Discombobulated?
@TheAccountification as a non native english speaker, i'm almost sure these are words
Honestly, I expected Pokémon at no. 1
Or Zelda
Besides just game and DLC sales, I imagine Splatoon is probably responsible for a massive amount of Nintendo Online subscriptions. There's no way I would have ever paid that fee if it weren't for this franchise.
Don't forget Mario Kart
@@Glitzburg Mario Kart is good, but I imagine the large majority of players (aka families) just play against bots and with local coop. That's how I've always done it. Multi-player can be really intimidating there.
Splatoon and Mario maker 2. Plus Mario kart
@@birdflox1337You phrased that correctly, because you are indeed imagining things.
Mario Kart is *THE* Nintendo online game. It has been since the Wii. Yes, even for casuals.
@@blau6832 are there any numbers for this? Because I've never even considered touching online, it sounds painful. My biggest point here is that in order to access even half of Splatoon's content, you NEED internet. You can't even buy customization otherwise. Mario Kart gives you all the content you need no matter what.
*Fossil Fighters being buried in a rock until Nintendo decides to revive it again*
please, me and my sister loved it as a child, just collecting and cleaning up fossils for hours
maybe if switch 2 actually got a mic to do the dust blowing or other controller gimmicks for the fossil minigame?
You touched on it for a moment but I think Kirby's bigger momentum for sales/money for Nintendo is it's merchandise. While he sells well for games and is loved, his aesthetic lends itself to merchandising significantly moreso than even Mario. He's an adorable ball whose lore is that he likes to eat and sleep. He lends himself to any mood via his copy ability and that translates to whatever style of merchandise people may want. He is a "comfort character" that people love for his style even moreso than his games.
I honestly think that the marketing of Kirby is a contributing reason (though far from the only reason) that his Switch outings have been so successful.
Kirby's more recent success can also be attributed to the loosening of gender norms as well. I remember Kirby being regarded as a "Sissy" game in the 90's and 2000's. This was despite the fact that Kirby even then engaged in more types of violence than any other video game character and the commercials for the games at that time emphasized that aspect of the character. People in "The West" at least could not get over the color pink and Kirby's decidedly soft design. Those seem to be less of an issue in the last ten years or so.
@Shinjiduo That's probably part of where Kirby looking angry on the covers of its releases outside Japan/Asia comes from.
I think Xenoblade above FE is a bit odd, even with your explanation.
FE Three Houses sold more than both Xenoblade DE & Xenoblade 3 combined. Xenoblade 2 was the exception, selling 2.7 million, but the series is a pretty low seller, even less so than FE.
Also, brand recognition must be higher for FE, since it also has a mobile game.
Exactly. The shares nintendo has in monolith I don't think are as important to nintendo as forecast thinks they are. Ultimately if intelligent systems left nintendo, nintendo would still have the fire emblem ip and it is a lot more profitable than xenoblade chronicles. Nintendo could also always hire a different studio to make the games like koie tecmo, who made 90% of the development for three houses.
I am a massive fan of Xenoblade Chronicles but I think that although Monolith soft are much more important to Nintendo the franchise of Xenoblade Chronicles isn't as big as Fire Emblem. Monolith soft have credits on pretty much all of Nintendo's first party games like zelda, animal crossing, splatoon and many more. I feel like he lost the point of his own video here as it was about franchises not companies under Nintendo's banner and Fire Emblem easily beats Xenoblade even if that may not last that is for now the way of things and it would be hard to convince me otherwise for now.
@@magicanimalboy1 I feel people ignore that Monolith has two studios, and the XC one didn't work on AC or Splatoon.
@@NuiYabuko I know I just felt like there wasn't a need to mention it as it doesn't really change my point but I guess that's good for future people reading this to know.
One point towards Fire Emblem is the Fire Emblem Heroes mobile game. It is Nintendo's most sucesful mobile game, not counting Pokemon Go, grossing $656 million as of early 2020. It is true that the revenue is split issue is still there, but its something to consider.
I never saw the revenue split as a fault for a Nintendo franchise. If anything it's a sign for other studios to work with Nintendo as the rewards for a big success are far greater than what they would get if they didn't share some kind of ownership.
Fire Emblem Heroes grossed more than a billion dollars in revenue.
And it shows that having a variety of characters instead of mascots is not necessarily a weakness of the franchise, its just different to the others
Massive oversight.
I dont play currently, but that game gave me two years of free content that I never felt needed to spend money. I several years behind on content now, making the potential to jump in very interesting.
If they ever make a Pikmin movie, and it has to have celebrity voice actors, this is who I'd cast:
Jim Parsons as Olimar
John Mulaney as Louie
John Goodman as The President
Im gonna side with others here i think Xeno above FE is definitely misplaced. Ignoring how huge FEH is is a pretty big oversight considering it does better than mobile AC and Mario games. Its a safe bet FEH will probably be making good money even by its 10 year anniversary. I love both series BTW
I reject the premise that DK is under the Mario umbrella, Donkey Kong Country has a very distinct style and cast of characters and I think it's very disrespectful to just brand it as "Mario spin-off #3"
I agree. Yoshi and DK ARE Mario characters in origin, but they've grown to be their own franchises. Same for Wario. Characters from all three are in separate categories to Mario in Smash.
Yes. Since Rare put their fingers into the franchise, DK has been another thing. It's so important, it pretty much was THE title in the later years of the SNES. I would argue that Mario and DK are more like separate series in the same universe
Yea, I think Yoshi, DK, and Wario are their own franchises in totality at this point and I would liken their inclusion in spinoffs to something like Link and inklings in Mario Kart. They're essentially cameos.
I can buy Yoshi being under the Mario umbrella but I think that Donkey Kong Country and Wariorware does not really belong there.
Worth saying that Mario is estimated to be the second highest grossing media franchise behind Pokemon (I believe the number is 65 billion), not many people know that since Wikipedias number (which a lot of other sites use) is so incredibly out of date.
Used to be star wars 😅
I thought it was hello kitty
This is why I think Nintendo is in a win-win scenario when it comes to the movie division. If they decide to create a Mario Cinematic Universe, and play it safe, there's so many ideas that one franchise has to offer.
I genuinely think that's the plan. Charlie Day and Seth Rogan have said, on separate occasions, that they want movies for Luigi and Donkey Kong respectively.
Every actor who was cast signed a document stipulating that they were obliged to star in a series of sequels and spin-offs. Day and Rogan know they'll be in the main spotlight, but talk about these movies hypothetically to avoid violating their contracts.
I can see a Mario trilogy, a Luigi’s Mansion movie, a Donkey Kong Country movie and a Peach movie happening.
I've heard Nintendo also owns at least some of Creatures, Inc (Yamauchi was involved in their founding), so their ownership in Pokemon is really somewhat more than 32%
To my understanding, Nintendo sold off a majority of their shares of Creatures Inc.
We currently do not know just how much Nintendo has of.
What if there could be a crossover show of video games by Nintendo Switch Sega Rovio Mojang of Mario Zelda Splatoon Kirby Pokémon Sonic Angry Birds Minecraft Animal Crossing
First I must applaude you for NOT putting Metroid at 4 or even 3 on this list like most people would. It’s perfect at 7 hell there’s good argument for it to be at 8. While understand why you put Kirby at 6, I’d swap it around with Animal Crossing cause of the sheer number of games and merch and like you said AC NH was severely helped out by circumstances. Also while going over Fire Emblem, you neglected to mention it’s mobile game which is like the biggest of the Nintendo mobile games outside Pokemon Go, I’d put Fire Emblem 8 but like I mentioned earlier the argument to put it over Metroid is there. Also wanna commend you for not putting Zelda at 1 for debatably having the best quality(very subjective) out of the series on the list.
Who would possibly put metroid at 3 you are creating people who don’t exist
@@ExzaktVid You must be young because back in the in the early 2000s and especially in the 90s before Pokemon came out and took over, Metroid was seen in the same light as Zelda and Mario and some older fans still try to argue that Metroid is in Nintendo’s Big 3/4.
ACNL sold like 13 million on the 3DS. While ACNH caused a big boom, it has been a big franchise before that. Kirby might have a lot of games and merchandise, which AC also has, but when it comes to sales of single games AC is bigger.
The video fails to point this out but while Kirby as a lot of merch potential, Animal Crossing surpasses it by a lot (in my limited and obviously not representative experience though). I remember all these articles about random Animal Crossing merch like make-up being sold out on release day around the globe but also, as someone living in Japan, Nintendo just releases a plethora of new Animal Crossing merch every two seasons or so I would say.
Obviously, as others have pointed out, even before ACNH the franchise was already very big too and far outsold every game that is not Pokemon or Mario on the 3DS.
I mean, there was someone in this comment section think MP4 could break 5 mil. Theoretically possible, but that would be quite a break out success for the franchise which historically struggles to break a million.
Can't go wrong with a top ten list to get the masses to click, hope your channel continues to grow
You know, Kyle Bosmon has a series called Franchise Score and he did one for Kirby, it was very entertaining and brought up some great points. You should check it out sometime.
you have quickly become one of my favorite youtubers. been watching some of your vids twice over! thanks for the great content Mr. Forecast
Oh this should be fun! We all know financially what the top ones are but there are also other factors to consider for the company as a whole. Nintendo needs to maintain an ecosystem for their consoles so they require variety and acclaim from various audience to ensure the market is healthy. I look forward to the discussions this will bring.
Official concept art for a Pikmin dark ride was released a few days ago. I beg you. Nintendo, Universal, it NEEDS to happen.
i wish for a miitopia sequel more than anything. that game was absolutely fantastic, light-hearted and charming but with enough depth to keep you hooked
I want to see more classes.
The fact that you are this smart to be able to build all of this is impressive!
I feel like it's a really underappreciated channel
These are my Top 5 favorite Nintendo franchises:
1. Mario
2. Pokemon
3. Fire Emblem
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. Xenoblade Chronicles
I really think people underestimate Metroid. It isn't the biggest seller, but everyone knows about it. How many times you heard someone saying that a Metroid game was the best they played in any given Nintendo console? How many times have you seen people who don't even play Nintendo games talking about it? How many times you have seen Nintendo use it to create hype and win awards? For that alone I think it's bigger than FE and Xenoblade. The 7th position was perfect.
And there's enough material for a live action kovie there...
Agreed. I think Metroid has a lot of prestige and deserves respect but I couldn't reasonably argue for it to go any higher than #7 on this list.
Pokémon, Metroid, and Splatoon fans stand up and represent 🗿
Funny to see “roguelike” described as “aggressively modern” when Rogue came out five years before Super Mario :P
Ha! Fair point. Everything old is new again!
If we talking Potential for extra material stuff like movies, I think FE and Xenoblade could work as animes (well FE already had an OVA but you know what I mean). I agree with Pikmin being perfect for an Illumination movie and many other forums of Merchandise for that matter. The top 5 is all correct. As for my favorite of the runners up, I would love to be in a world where I could see Star Fox as one of Nintendo's big series again with the possibilities of have new comics, an animated show or a whole movie but like you said with how much the sells have gone down, Critical reception being on the lower end for a while now, almost back to back Series hypernation with releases, no Dedicated dev team like to it like XB or FE and no big awards to its name. I fear the worst for the series and with it possible missing the switch like with the wii which could be a huge blow to it's Potential popularity boost. It's not look good for the series. Still overall good video and you did great on the research.
I've always had a vision in my mind that the first Xenoblade game could make for a great Movie Series much like LotR or Harry Potter.
Xenoblade 2 however fits better for a show.
@@NoxideActive yeah I could see that for Xenoblade one. As for two it's perfect for a TV show or anime, helps that (this goes for the whole Xenoblade series btw) ot has very interesting locations and Plenty of enemies to use on the Regular for each episode.
@@rossruss6901 Miyamoto said he runout of ideas for Starfox.
@@orangeslash1667 I don't remember him ever saying this, got any proof. It's more likely he's just working on movies and Pikmin to even be thinking about the series right now. Also even if that was true, it wouldn't be the first time, since this happened during the Wii as well. it's why we didn't get a Star Fox game for it.
@@rossruss6901 He said (I wasn’t particularly interested in just making another Star Fox game with better graphics and better sound). Meaning that he doesn't make another unless he can come up with a new idea for it. This is the reason SF zero has motion controls.
See Miyamoto take innovation a little too seriously.
The reason why SF was made is because Miyamoto needed to experiment with 3d, since it was new at the time. However now days SF's selling point of 3d isn't special anymore.
Even if Miyamoto wanted to make another one, he would have to find a third party company to make it, since Assault, Zero, and 64 3ds were all handed by third party teams.
Hey, how about we discuss the subject of Nintendo recently utilizing old forgotten I.P more and more? Famicon Detective Club, Endless Ocean, Another Code, F-Zero 99 etc.
That could be neat, though you might just end up looking at which IPs are to fill the holds between AAA releases like Zelda and Mario (as said they do for why they releasing more AA games) or which ones are they going to try and give a bit push (I feel like this could be the case for F-Zero)
True true... I always saw the utilization of old IP like those you gave as something like a "buffer" stock since their major EPD teams are working on their games for the new system.
Kid Icarus should be in the honorable mentions too, despite having only 2 games.
Love your work and happy to be apart of your community.
Not going to argue the rankings here as you have a lot of metrics in consideration, HOWEVER, I find it really surprising in a video talking about merchandising outside of games. Brings up fire emblem, and NOT heroes. Granted I don't know if nintendo directly profits from the mobile game but it cannot be emphasized ebough how much of a break out hit heroes was, and still is in the mobile space. so successful that not only clones and even outright games ripping assets out of heroes in hopes of stealing its thunder. It destroys all other of nintendo mobile outtings(Aside pokemon go) and the mobile game has a massive array of tie in physical merchandise on its own. It's so big I wouldn't be surprise if the games start coming out on heroes schedule and not the other way around. (Kind of like pokemon needs new entries for the tie in merchandise)
Aside the typical anime fair of statues and such things, it's also worth mentioning they have a mildly popular card trading game that's japan only(Xipher I believe it's called.)
edit: Turns out it's called cipher and they stopped making that. Wrong about that, oops. lmao, not editing that part out for authenticity lol.
That's crazy, I actually predicted the whole Top 10, order included lmao (of course only after the first section of the video which excludes a top 5 franchise like Smash Bros which makes sense)
Once Smash was out and Kirby was put at #6, my only question was how much Pokémon not being fully owned by Nintendo would hold it back lol. Reasonable list overall tho. I wouldn't have thought to put Splatoon where it went but your explanation made sense.
You clearly mixing up Xenoblade series with its developer Monolith Soft. Xenoblade as a franchise could easily be replaced by another new franchise from Monolith Soft. While your video title is most important "franchise".
While that is totally fair, the Xenoblade franchise is something of a dowry for Monolith Soft, and I don't believe it's importance to Nintendo as a creative outlet for one of their most consistent contributors to the Nintendo Switch's tentpole release schedule can be legitimately separated from the success of the franchise itself. While any direction for the greater "Xeno" project will have equal value to the company, the importance of Monolith's work in other titles providing artificial value and buoying up the games will still be considered when Nintendo green-lights projects, and so I don't think conflating the two is inaccurate.
@@PolitiClank He's ranking franchises, though.
I see the point. I figure it that the franchise is important to Monolithsoft and therefore important to Nintendo. If they move on to something different, it will signal that it's less important to MS and therefore less important to Nintendo but there's currently no sign (concept art of an original adult-themed game notwithstanding) that this is happening.
Disagree with some positions here and there but overall the top 10 is this as far as franchises. Great video.
As for pokemon, i think you didn't go too much into the ownership. Nintendo established TPC with gf and creatures which is why each part owns 32% of it but Nintendo co owns copyright and trademark along gf and cts while solely owning trademark outside of jp. So even if someone bought gf and cts they still would be under control. Speaking of this a video about Nintendo, gf, creatures and tpc relationship what each does and the ownership would be great
Folks in the comments have aleady brought up fire emblem heroes, but it's truly wild how, despite how old it is, it continues to pull in as much revenue as it does. Other big gacha games have come and gone during its lifespan, as well as other nintendo mobile games. Like I think only pokemon go out competes it when it comes to nintendo on mobile.
I would love to see Pikmin take off even further. Considering the potential, it feels to me like Pikmin should actually be above Metroid and persistently above Fire Emblem.
Speaking of, Fire Emblem still does feel underestimated to me in this list, though only really by one step. I do feel more can be done with it than Metroid. I must thank other commenters for the mention of Fire Emblem Heroes though.
Yeah I don't see pikimi being over fire emblem
While I can kind of buy your reasoning for not including the Wii series, I think you did a disservice by combining distinctly different game series together a la the Mario franchise and excluding Super Smash Bros because it is a crossover series. Fire Emblem wouldn't even exist anymore if it wasn't for Super Smash Bros. It was Marth and Roy's inclusion into Melee that initially revitalized the series by drawing the Western eye to it.
Agreed. Even Nintendo makes distinctions. I can only suppose it was to get some of what were effectively in the bottom 5 franchises in Nintendo's stable in terms of sales until more recently into the bottom slots of the list. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense.
9:95 Que Jim Carry gif:
so your saying there’s a chance…😮for XCX on Switch 2 within the first year?!?!?
Great work as usual, really loving your videos!
Do you think it would be worth it for Nintendo to invest more in Kid Icarus and Punch Out?
I can see more of a future for Kid Icarus than Punch Out somehow because of the Sakurai link. I may cover these in more detail in future. Thanks for watching!
You're underrating Fire Emblem, should be higher than Xenobalde, Pikmin and Metroid. Don't forget the cash cow that is Fire Emblem Heroes.
Fire Emblem is beating Mario Kart on mobile.
However the sales on consoles are lackluster unfortunately...
@@birdbig6852 the best selling Fire Emblem game has sold better than the best Pikmin, Metroid, and Xenoblade game. Not only that but the series has constant releases. Also it is the best selling franchise of its genre.
@@alecamp5369 Engage is only 1.7M and Three Houses a little over 4M.
Pikmin 4 will probably surpass 5M in the next fiscal year and though Metroid Dread is only at 3M, MP4 can easily go above 5M in total sales.
I believe Three Houses sales is an exception alongside fates. I'm afraid I can't see a 5M+ seller for my favourite franchise soon.
@@birdbig6852 Pikmin 4 has sold 3.48 million copies as of March 31, and it's sales have been stalling. We'll have to see MP4 as it hasn't even come out yet, and we don't know where it fits in Nintendo's plans. Engage sold as it did because it was already controversial before it even released + it didn't have a long marketing cycle. Awakening sold 2.3 million units. Also, contrary to Metroid and Pikmin, fire emblem games have little to no long droughts between games.
Fire Emblem fulfills an important market that most other Nintendo franchises don't that market is however still a bit niche compared to others like Pikmin. Pikmins games might be niche in some respect but their appeal can go beyond the games, in fact the the commercial song for the first game sold more in Japan than the actual game. Metroid has prestige and a longer history with lots of room for growth, both in games and extended media. I always wanted a series of pulp stories featuring Samus and her adventures, I will say that the Metroid franchise is not at it's full potential because they don't have dedicated teams working on it like Fire Emblem so you might be right in that FE beats Metroid in value currently.
I think depending on how deep Nintendo is diving into their bag of franchises tells you how good they are doing in the present. But if the quality degrades in those lower to mid tier IP's, you know they're going to have a dry season ahead. Look at their offerings on Wii/DS for Fire Emblem and Metroid. Some might say they weren't well received, commercially or critically, and then Nintendo had bad spells on 3DS and Wii U, even though the former had a rebound sooner than the latter.
At the halfway point I was thinking wow Donkey Kong is too high. But then you forgot it?!
Definitely deserved more of a comment than fzero and starfox (which I love but are dormant).
I would put it above Pikmin with potential to go above Metroid with the rumoured movie and the planned theme parks, especially coinciding with a new game.
He specifically said that Donkey Kong would be under the Mario umbrella earlier in the video
F-Zero has F-Zero 99 and SF had games on Wii U and 3DS plus a crossover with another franchise on Switch, so neither could be considered dormant.
@@NuiYabuko The Wii U game was 8 years ago and it bombed hard on it (to be expected, it's a Wii U game with controls most people didn't like), The 3ds game is even older than that (it was also just a full-on remake of 64), and Starlink crossover also was 6 years ago and from what I know it didn't sell to well. So nah that's pretty dormant compared to all some of the other IPs Nintendo has up and running and the back-to-back low sells of the series isn't helping.
@@rossruss6901 Nah, it was present last gen and this gen, too, of sorts.
@@NuiYabuko I'll give you the last gen but this gen It's only present in the same vein as it was in the Wii days. As of today, there is no new Star Fox game (the longest Hituas the series has seen yet) on Switch, it's last game wasn't even ported like so many other Wii U games (Though that's more of the fault for needing the gamepad so much), and to top it all off it's older games haven't even gotten remasters like Metroid and Pikmin have. All Star Fox has to its name this gen is a failed crossover and NSO release of the classic games. Not exactly the look of someone who is "present" now, is it and it's only going to get worse if no Switch game which would suck since that means Star Fox is going to have an even harder time climbing that hill out of has-been status.
I think DK has enough of his own solo titles to warrant him as a separate franchise but its your video not mine
Runners up:
12. F-Zero.
11. Star Fox. (Yes and yes.)
Your list:
10. Fire Emblem. (Yep.)
9. Xenoblade Chronicles. (YES. GAME. OF. THE. YEAR. NOMINEE. This is a Grower. Might easily overtake #8, which is...)
8. Pikmin (I doubt it can, really. Importance doesn't just mean sales or category nominations/wins, it also means FULL GOTY nominations. I don't think it places in the top 10 for my standards.)
7. Metroid
6. Kirby.
5. Splatoon
4. Animal Crossing
3. The Legend of Zelda
2. Pokemon
1. Super Mario
MY list of "Most Important?"
1. Sales can HELP determine placement, but they aren't the only, or even most telling, thing. It's a judge of "Importance" not JUST "Mainstream Popularity". If you did this question of importance for film in 2010 and put Michael Bay over Martin Scorsese? You're nuts.
2. GOTY Wins are more important than GOTY Nominations are more important than Category Wins are more important than Category Nominations are more important than Non Nominees in their genre.
10. Fire Emblem (It's less "mascot-y", but Olimar just can't be the Gru style big personality that ties even a medium form narrative like a movie together. Pikmin's limit is just as adaptable as Fire Emblem, but the limit for Pikmin is 5-7 minute shorts. The limit for Fire Emblem is movie trilogies or long form TV shows adapting acclaimed instalments. Imagine Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Silver Snow as a TV show.)
9. Splatoon
8. Kirby
7. Pokemon
6. (Co-owned, essentially, but yes) The GOTY nominated and two-time Action Game winner...Bayonetta!
5. Xenoblade
4. Metroid
3. Animal Crossing
2. Super Mario
1. The Legend of Zelda (Extremely popular, fully owned by Nintendo and their ONLY franchise to date to WIN GOTY.)
Interesting placement of Bayonetta!
I hope we geg HD Remasters of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes and Corruption.
The placement order for the list was horrible.
10 - Xenoblade
09 - Pikmin
08 - Fire Emblem
07 - Metroid
06 - Splatoon
05 - Animal Crossing
04 - Kirby
03 - Pokémon
02 - The Legend of Zelda
01 - Mario
@Nintendo Forecast I’m curious as to your thoughts about Astral Chain. I’m thinking a sequel is coming. I’m just wondering if it is an IP created to continue working with Platinum Games just in case licensing issues arise with Bayonetta. What do you think about their intentions with it?
Since it was developed (or at least finished) concurrently with Bayonetta I'm not sure if it was a replacement but it's an interesting point. I'll look into it at some point.
Hmm, from top to bottom and without listening to your video first...
Mario. A massive franchise with toes in many, many genres. While some of the "lesser" (they're all great) franchise might appeal to this group or that, Mario can appeal to everyone. No matter your demographic, there's a Mario title for you.
Pokemon Has similar broad appeal to Mario, but Nintendo is only part owner and cannot live on monsters alone.
Mario Kart. While "Mario" as a franchise covers all of the games including Mario Kart, I feel it important to point out that Mario Kart just on its own is bigger and more important that franchises like Zelda and Kirby, much like California alone has a bigger GDP than most countries, despite just being a part of America.
Zelda. While Zelda titles sales might, and it many cases always are, lower than some of the below franchises, the series as a whole is important for selling Nintendo products to the so-called "core audience." So just as something like Pokemon might skew young or AC might skew female, Zelda skews core and you really want those people showing up because they buy titles, build hype, etc, etc.
Animal Crossing Oh yeah, speaking of AC skewing female, AC skews female. While covid might have boosted the last title's popularity, it was going to be massive on its own anyway, as every AC release has surpassed the ones that came before.
Smash Bros. It sells a lot of copies, appeals to a certain type of audience (I won't say core or casual, there's people from both halves that like it) and does a great job of advertising and brand building for the company as awhole.
Fire Emblem. Another audience expander, RPG fans, the female audience, Japan-ophiles, etc.
Donkey Kong. Ehh, a hidden choice, and one that Nintendo hasn't done a great job building after Rare left but DK retains huge cultural appeal in the west, among 90s kids and their parents. But its use it or lose it for DK, wait another decade and DK wouldn't be on this list, replaced with Splatoon or something new.
____ Sports. Its debatable whether this is even a franchise at all, as Nintendo has Switched out the titling, the characters, the sports, everything. Or alternately you can trace it all the way back to NES/Famicom Golf and Baseball, but no these games are massively popular, they bring a unique audience in and Nintendo cares enough to continue to fill their controllers with gizmos that only these games like these fully make use of.
Kirby. Yeah, I dunno, Kirby does a lot of stuff, and while Nintendo might be doing fine now, there will come a time when a game drought is present and there's no-one quite like Kirby to break through that.
Not making the list:
Splatoon. Really, its only relevant in Japan, and its mired in the general lack of success that Nintendo's online systems have had. Also, though super timely in 2014, I wonder how well the aesthetic will age going into the future. Will it look forever young, retrocool or just plain dated in another five to fifteen years? NCL itself puts huge important on this franchise but really its totally ancillary to the company's future in the two largest markets. In fairness, I understand why you will have inevitably put this one on your list ahead of DK/Kirby/Sports, etc. I've seen Nintendo's list, I know they do.
Yoshi. Its dime store Kirby.
Xenoblade. It would be right up there with Mario if it were up to me, but its not and the series is mired in 1 to 3 million sales hell.
Metroid. Same as Xenoblade, maybe it will be more relevant going forward but there's equal odds that Prime 4 is a dud and kills the series dead.
Mario Party. Oh look, its Mario Kart but four times less effective.
While to an extent i understand your reasoning for placing them there, i just can't help but disagree with the placements of fire emblem and xenoblade. I would have placed fe right after kirby at 7 and xenoblade at 8, adhead of pikimi and metroid.
They both have multiple games and are both successful and highly regarded with very bright futures ahead at them
Xenoblade while yes are huge and technically impressive games but the series doesn't have the same level of history and success of fire emblem but it's close
Also they both have great potential as anime series with merch as well
I'd put Xenoblade behind Pikmin and Metroid.
Honestly, even from a sales perspective, Metroid and Pikmin are bigger than Xenoblade. Plus, recognition. Everyone knows who Samus is. She has been there since the NES with Mario and Link. Who even is the main lead of Xenoblade? People don't know.
@@lonecom685 Everyone definitely doesn't know who Samus is. XC doesn't have a main lead, since every game has a distinct main cast, even the DLC.
@@NuiYabuko everyone does know who she is, even if they don't know their name. They know about Metroid and that cool Nintendo character with an amor suit. That's already way better than Xenoblade, which most people in the gaming space don't even know what it is
It is funny how often I see Kirby in graffiti art someone made illegally on a wall.
Splatoon would really win if Nintendo starts using central server systems instead of p2p.
Pokemon is in trouble because the mainline games are so badly developed, it is quite embarrassing. It is a really bad sign when a business stops outdoing its previous games with the newest entry.
He says Top 10, like there are many more to really choose from 😅
I'll fix your list
1mario/dk
2pokemon
3zelda
4kirby
5metroid
6splatoon
7fire emblem
8 pikmin
9starfox
10animal crossing
Mario and DK aren't the same series, though.
Also, Metroid above AC and Splatoon?!
@@NuiYabuko well mario and dk are same universe and alot of their games have both in then so I count it as one and animal crossing isn't that important of a franchise literally nobody I know ever played animal crossing till covid and honestly looks like the most boring game ever to me and metroid has been around forever and has great games and can be system sellers splatoon is that game you pick up later on when you need something to play over and over again to help kill time it's basically cod just fun for pvp
@@silentbilly7971 placing AC at 10 just proves that you have no idea what you are talking about
How is star fox even in the top 10 , it doesn’t have a single new game on switch and it’s almost been a decade since the last one
Metroid needs to be lower, Animal Crossing needs to be much higher and Star Fox shouldn’t be there at all
Punch out being forgotten while we got an animal crossing version of Hello kitty and hundred of RPG with farms. That's not dissapointing at all 😂
Joke aside, i really hope we'll get a Punch out 2 for the Switch 2. It's time this fun franchise returns!
I wonder what the least important Nintendo franchise is. Sparkle Snapshots?
11:58 I don't think Nintendo's shares of Monolith Soft are important enough to outdo the importance fire emblem has over xenoblade chronicles. While both franchises are important to Nintendo for capturing core audiences, fire emblem clearly sells better on average. I doubt (well, more like hope to god) Intelligent Systems never makes a fire emblem game like engage again. JRPGs NEED good stories, at least if you're going to still have hours upon hours upon hours of cutscenes and support conversations.
Being honest, the first five minutes spent excluding and disqualifying stuff tempered my interest. How hard would it be to let DK's own games and the Sports series have their own shot
Kirby >>>
Let’s be real we all nintendos big three
Haven't monolith soft stated that they are moving on from xenoblade and would make something new or something?
Monolithsoft said they finished the Klaus Trilogy, not the Xenoblade franchise itself.
It might have a new name but remain in the same franchise universe. It should work because the fandom behind Xenoblade is well informed of Monolith soft.
@@NoxideActivethey won't change the title of xenoblade, it's too valuable for them
Why does the Kirby entry use so much Super Smash Bros. Ultimate footage? It's not a Kirby game. I would instead use footage from Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Kirby Air Ride, and Kirby & the Forgotten Land. Seeing almost nothing but Smash is boring.
Feels good to see xenoblade above fire emblem
Which is like a major blunder.
As of the modern day and including spinoffs with their main series, I would say:
1. Mario
2. Pokemon
3. Animal Crossing
4. Zelda
5. Splatoon
6. Fire Emblem
7. Kirby
8. Metroid
9. Xenoblade
10. Pikmin
This is me being as non bias as possible, the fact some of my favorite franchises are at the bottom hurts😭
@@PixelPikmin Yeah the pandemic REALLY overrated Animal Crossing just a bit. It’s that’s the ONLY reason New Horrizons sold as well as it did. Also Kirby has too many spinoffs and games released yearly to be below 5(should be 4).
I love Fire Emblem, but let's be real here, FEH is probably carrying the majority of it being a profitable franchise. It's console games, while large in the tactical rpg space, is still limited to that space itself. However, Intelligent Systems and Nintendo could use it for other things like collaborating with Koei to create the FE Warriors games, but still a niche.
I would argue that 6 should at least be Kirby. Just swap those two then maybe I'm good.
Also, I do think that you are overestimating the popularity of Animal Crossing since ACNH did benefit a lot from the pandemic lockdown. I would argue that it is quite a close 3rd.
@@DDKoD Again, it sold 13 million on 3DS. There hasn't been an AC released since to even come to any conclusion yet.
I will always count all things Wario as separate and SUPERIOR to all things Mario. WarioWare Snapped is leagues better than any MarioKart/Party/or Sports game ever.
The Sportlings and Spocco exist on the same planet as WooHoo, and even Nintendo calls Switch Sports Wii Sports 4, but I do see Ring Fit as a full on replacement for Wii Fit; having completely different lore and art design from anything else in the greater Mii Expanded universe.
Miitopia is Tomodachi Life 4, and I will die covered in blood, screaming on this hill.
10 is like the number 3 grossing series now thanks to EPD11.
That's about right for Jesus, Mechs, Tits, and the Meaning of Human suffering
8 is a rising star, yes, but I wouldn't say it's bigger than 9 yet. If only because 9 has a much higher merch ROI
7 is about right
6 is number 2 grossing. Never understimate the pink
That's about right.
That's about right... but I'd probably switch it to 6 depending on how what you have as 5 is doing merch wise.
I'd put that at 5 because of the two grossing exceptions I've pointed out.
And I just straight up do not count 2 as part of the discussion. It's so freaking massive they had to set up an entirely separate company just to manage it. A company that makes more money in any given year than NINTENDO AND SEVERAL REAL WORLD RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS COMBINED! So this is where I would put the Miis.
After the intro, place 1 and 2 was clear to me and place 3 was clear with place 4 announcement. 😁
I think Fire Emblem got massively undersold here. Like it's a franchise that is growing year by year with massive history and has had multiple spin offs with a card game that was successful, it only shut down because IS wanted to focus on FEH which makes millions on millions a year in revenue. I think there wasn't enough consideration on those factors here for it's placement.