Hang on.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars on the Super ****in' Nintendo sold 2 million copies in 1996? Is that worldwide? I can find the 1.47 million figure in Japan, which for the time is massive all on its own. Don't forget that the Nintendo 64 was coming out (and in reality should have already been out) in a few months in Japan when Super Mario RPG released in both regions. End of console life games typically don't do very well because they end up overshadowed by the much hyped release of the new console.
I'm sure you haven't bothered to read the whole thread, but only a handful of pages ago I mentioned that there was a time when a video game wasn't expected to push several million copies on launch day, and from what I can see, Nintendo expected the game to only make 500,000 sales in the first year, yet there's an implication that it did much better than that, possibly making 1 million in the first year in the United States? If it really managed 2 million in the US then that puts its global sales at about the same level of Star Fox, which one can argue is "bad for a Mario title", but that's treating Mario in 1996 like Mario in 2020 - a lot needs to be considered when you start digging up sales numbers from the past.
Now that you brought this up, let me back you up.
Like you said, Super Mario RPG did really good in the United States, it was pretty much the summer game of 1996 in the United States, releasing May 13, which a lot of people were getting ready to finish their school years and start their summer vacations around that time. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people got their paychecks right before SMRPG's release and picked up the game from their local Blockbuster. From August 24, 1996, SMRPG was the most rented video game for 14 weeks straight. That's over 3 months, very impressive; it became the most rented game all the way up to November 9.
This pretty much. Once again I brought this up in another post but I feel like people keep shifting the goal posts when it comes to fan favorite characters
"Ridley can't get in because Sakurai said he's too big"
"Okay, yes Ridley got in, but that doesn't mean King K Rool is coming. King K Rool is a dead character and hasn't appeared in a game in a decade. Not the same scenario with Ridley"
"Okay yes, Ridley and King K Rool got in, but that doesn't mean Banjo is coming. Both Ridley and King K Rool are owned by Nintendo. Banjo is owned by Microsoft a western competitor. He's dead. They would pick Steve instead. Not the same scenario with Ridley and King K"
Now we're seeing:
"Okay yes, Ridley, King K Rool, and Banjo got in, but that doesn't mean Geno is coming. Ridley and King K Rool are the main villains of big Nintendo franchise and Banjo was the star of his own game. Geno is a side character from one game, they wouldn't pick him. Not the same scenario as Ridley, King K, and Banjo"
And then if Geno does get in, we'll start seeing:
"Okay yes, Ridley, King K Rool, Banjo, and Geno got in, but that doesn't mean (insert fan favorite character) is coming. Ridley, K Rool were villains of major Nintendo IPs, Banjo was the star of his own game, and Geno is related to Mario. X character is different because of y and z. They wouldn't pick him. Not the same scenario as Ridley, King K, Banjo, and Geno"
Like I don't mean to insult anyone with this. I just don't get why people keep making reasons like this to discredit characters, even though Nintendo keeps pushing the boundaries on what we think is possible time and time again
This is literally accurate. I can't remember how many times I've seen people make excuses when it comes to people ****ting on highly requested characters and saying why they can't be included, but when that character gets in, all of a sudden they have a "change of heart" and start backing the character(s) up. I was supporting King K. Rool for Smash during the Brawl-SSB3DS/Wii U era and did see a few people insult him, and one of K. Rool's insults had me laughing in tears; I saw one person **** on a K. Rool supporter in an article comment section and said something like, "Nobody wants your fat, googly-eyed Bowser in Smash." LOL. Ever since King K. Rool got in as a playable character, I never saw hate against the K. Rool support ever again. Coincidence?
One of Geno's common excuses is "because he's a side-character". That's like calling Thor a side-character character in The Avengers. Only SMRPG players know Geno's the second-most important character in the game, if not, the most important; it's almost like he would've been the main character if it wasn't a Mario game. Without Geno, Mario and the others wouldn't know what's going on; Geno was the only one who knew what was truly going on, nobody knew what was happening because nobody knew the giant sword Exor crashed through Star Road except Geno and the "Higher Authority", most people only witnessed the earthquake or Exor falling out of the sky without knowing what it truly did. Mario and Mallow found the first Star Piece, yes, but they had no clue WHAT it was for, nor did they even know what the Smithy Gang was. Geno told Mario the news and why they needed to collect all the Star Pieces and stop the Smithy Gang.
Someone on here said Gaz was comparable for a side-character, that is true. Let me even pull up the definiton of a side-character:
"A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo appearance."
Mario, Mallow, Geno, Bowser, and Peach are the main focus of the storyline, and each and everyone of them had a primary goal that went with the storyline:
- Mario's goal was to find Peach, he succeeded but aided the others along the way.
- Mallow's goal was to find his parents, he succeeded and aided the others along the way.
- Geno's goal was to retrieve the Star Pieces to repair Star Road and stop the Smithy Gang (even tried to do it alone by fighting Bowyer and his arrows), and his goals are literally the main focus of the storyline... For goodness sake, it's indirectly even in the game's title: Legend of the Seven Stars.
- Bowser's goal was to take back his Keep, he did and was going to call it quits once the gang beat Exor and got his castle back, but Geno encouraged Bowser to keep going and Bowser decided to stick around and aid the rest... how nice of Bowser.
- Peach's goal was to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom, but she decided to aid the rest with their journeys.
Gaz only appears multiple times in the story, one is even just a cameo:
- The first time you (as Mario) meets and plays with him.
- The optional filler in the story of returning to Gaz's house where Geno meets Gaz.
- The Nimbus Land inn dream where Gaz appears.
So, which one sounds more side-character material? Mario and the team, any one of Mario's party members, or Gaz?
However, if they said it was a Mario RPG character, there would be no way it wouldn't be Geno, he's the most demanded character from that game to be in smash.
Plot Twist:
MALLOW JOINS THE BATTLE!