Five Games That Could Have Sold Better on Another Console

There are a lot of good games out there that get passed over for whatever reason. Sometimes though it’s just because it’s marketed wrong and to go even further, it’s sometimes marketed on the wrong system. All three of the console manufacturers are looking to diversify the products available on their systems so everyone will want to buy their system. The reality is though that a few months after their launch, their consoles get branded as to being the home for a certain genre of games. It’s inescapable and these games fell into the black holes left by various consoles over time.

Little Big Planet
Published for the Sony Playstation 3
Should have been made for the Nintendo Wii

Sackboy could have caused a renaissance for 2D gaming on the next-gen systems. The Playstation 3 finally has a game that can compete with Mario and Co. and making people’s teeth rot with cuteness but while it was critically acclaimed (and part of my list for the Top 10 Games of 2008), it sales were low compared to the expectations that the video game media had set out for it.

Considering that the PS3 had been hyped as a giant-all-you-can-eat media centre, it’s just not seen as a family console. The Wii does well because anyone can play it (or maybe it’s just because it plays itself, waggle waggle). The Xbox 360 has a version that is cheaper than a Wii and has plenty of cheap games so it is finding a place in many family homes as well. The Playstation 3 is expensive and does not provide that much of a different experience from the Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 is only selling to a niche demographic of people who have too much money and not enough reason to piss of their girlfriends.

Enter Little Big Planet. It’s kid-friendly so someone the main demographic of bloodthirsty trained assassins that crave the vast amount of shooting games on the PS3 will tend to shy away from Sackboy’s cute antics. It would have sold better on the Wii console because it contains many Nintendo characteristics. The main character makes girls go “awwwwwwwwwwwww it’s so cute”. I still blame girls for Yoshi…and cooties.

Had Little Big Planet been released for the Nintendo console, it would have sold much better. I think under Nintendo’s marketing, the title would have outsold their latest iteration of Animal Crossing which just broke the 2 million units sold barrier.

Eternal Darkness
Published for the Nintendo Gamecube
Should have been made for the Sony PS2 or the Microsoft Xbox

Many people haven’t heard of Eternal Darkness solely because it was a Gamecube title. While the Gamecube had an ok amount of hardcore titles, it’s not a system that catered towards the hardcore gamer. Eternal Darkness was the first game published by Nintendo to receive an M-rating (which is amazing considering that very few Nintendo published titles receive a T-rating). The Gamecube was a system for the family room. Hardcore gamers did not apply for fear of getting diseased by a wild Pokemon.

Eternal Darkness would have been perfect for either one of the more grown-up consoles. It was a highly polished game that did a great job at making you think you were starting to lose your sanity while playing the game. This would have been a great game to put into someone’s collection alongside Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Instead, it goes next to Luigi’s Mansion. Absolutely terrifying.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Published for the Microsoft Xbox 360
Should have been made for the Nintendo Wii

Everything I said about Little Big Planet goes for Banjo Kazooie with an additional piece of back-history. Banjo Kazooie was originally a Nintendo franchise and ever since the Nintendo 64 days, the company has survived mostly due to it’s intensely loyal fanbase. Now that Nintendo isn’t relying solely on those people to sell systems (Wii Fit and Wii Sports is doing that job very well on soccer moms worldwide), Banjo Kazooie 2 would have done extremely well selling beyond it’s current fanbase.

The fact is that now that Microsoft owns Rare (the developer of the Banjo games), it would be very unlikely for Microsoft to allow Rare to develop for a competing platform. The problem is that the Xbox 360 caters more towards adult gamers (you know, the ones that are calling you gay during a match on Xbox Live and quitting in the middle of a game when you’re beating them) and games (i.e., shooting games that send 13-year-old boys into more of a tizzy than actual female breasts). Banjo Kazooie was doomed from the start on the 360.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Published for the Nintendo 64
Should have been made for the Sony PS2 or the Sega Dreamcast

Poor Rare. They always seemed to be owned by a company that does not have their best interest at heart. This time, it’s Nintendo’s fault. Conker’s Bad Fur Day was created out of a cute, adorable Rare mascot that was supposed to be similar to the other Mario-cutesy-type of mascot that Nintendo treasures so much. Originally this title was supposed to follow the same cavity-inducing formula that plagued Nintendo’s aging system at the time but something happened. The final product turned out to be one of the most crass, objectionable, pieces of filth that ever was released for the system. And it was awesome!

It took allot from other Rare properties like Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong (on loan from Nintendo) but this game was not for kids. Conker plays the game suffering from a bad hangover as he deals with insane characters like a singing poo. The game is filled with profanity, sexual innuendo, and anything else you’d expect from an episode of South Park. It was a great game and an interesting experience for someone used to playing kiddie games on the Nintendo 64.

The problem was it wasn’t exactly a match for the system. While the graphics were pretty enough, it was overshadowed by the next-gen (at the time) Playstation 2 and Dreamcast. Also, the Nintendo 64 was pretty much dead by the time this game released as many people had already moved on to the other systems or even had picked up a Playstation 1 for cheap to see what they were missing out on. It didn’t mesh with Nintendo’s demographic either so it sat on store shelves as parents refused to buy their little snowflakes such a disgusting game. Too bad for them, suckers!

LocoRoco
Published for the Playstation Portable
Should have been made for the Nintendo Wii

If you can sense a theme in this article is that Nintendo is home to more kid-friendly games and family fare and the other systems are more for adult tastes. LocoRoco is a kid-friendly game on a system that has very few kids demanding their parents buy it for them. While the idea of a killer app selling a system to sell more games later on, LocoRoco was not that. It was fun but it wasn’t a God of War or a Mario. Playing for the first time was fun but it wasn’t a game that people were rushing in droves to buy.

This game was released in America near the time of the Nintendo Wii launch. This game takes place in a world that is tilted with the PSP’s L and R buttons. It would have been natural for the Wii Remote’s tilt-sensitive accelerometer. Had it been on Wii at launch for around $30-40 (just like the original cost for the PSP version), this game could have easily been a million seller. The interface is cute and family friendly so parents couldn’t say no to this even if the music in the game is annoying enough for even Mario to want to pull a Van Gogh on both his ears.

It’s surprising to see that a sequel is being made for the PSP, especially considering that nobody buys PSP games anymore unfortunately.