We learned quite a lot in Nintendo’s latest financial report; whether it’s the fact that Switch 2 sold nearly 20m units in its first year on sale, or the revelation that – in order to hit its projections – Nintendo needs to increase the price of its hardware, we’re in fairly unprecedented territory for the company. But one thing remains as reliable as ever, however, and that is that Pokémon is a bankable asset for Nintendo.
In the financial report, Nintendo notes that FireRed and LeafGreen have now sold over 4m copies globally within the first six weeks after launch; that’s a combined figure, and takes all territories into account. If you want some context, that means the re-releases of the Game Boy Advance games have sold roughly a third of the number the original titles did; official figures peg the GBA titles at 12m. That’s not a bad number for a pair of 22-year-old games, now, is it?
“Why is this notable, though,” I hear you ask, “Pokémon games always sell well!” That may be true, but at launch, FireRed and LeafGreen had a fair amount of controversy attached to them. Nintendo released the GBA games (minus bells and whistles you’d get in other remasters or remakes) for £16.99/$19.99, outside of its Nintendo Switch Online classic games library. Many suggest that the ports, a mere 33.4MB in size, didn’t really necessitate the price tag. Four million people would beg to differ, it seems.
Some players also complained of censorship, citing the game’s profanity filter that has been added because of the capability to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Home and the newly-launched Champions, and so on. I think it’s a fair implementation, personally, but then I never was one to call my rival juvenile names as a kid. I also am willing to take the hit on a profanity filter in exchange for some of the miniscule but impactful bug fixes Nintendo made to the games for the re-release.
Elsewhere in the report, it seems Pokémon Pokopia is enjoying distinct success, too: the new game – something of an experimental departure for the brand – has also sold over 4m copies on Switch 2, and within just five weeks, too. You can see how it managed to single-handedly raise Nintendo stock, right?
I hope this isn’t the end of Nintendo dipping its hand into the grab bag of Pokémon nostalgia. If we’re not going to get Black & White remakes, we can at least get playable versions on the Switch, right, Nintendo? Right?