Mario Party 1, 2, 4 and 5 all shipped over 2 million units according to vgchartz.com. Those are the first two games in the series on each N64 and GC. And the first Mario Party on each console has been the best selling one, hitting 2.7 and 2.4 million on N64 and GC, respectively.
Given the new Wiimote controls and the popularity of Wii compared to N64 and GC, and given the fact that the overloaded lineup of mini-game games hasn't hurt major franchise titles like Rayman Raving Rabbids or WarioWare, I think the outlook on this game should be in the 2.1-2.4 million range.
Also realize there are trolls who downbid everything and fanbois who will downgrade your comments if it is on a game or system (especially system) and is critical (regardless of your reasoning).
If past performance are any indication, this is going to be a successful game. This is the first Mario Party Title being released for the Wii and the Wii is the most successful console Nintendo has had out for a while.
Most gamecube fans will know that this is an almost guaranteed success and is certainly a good investment.
For those who have never played a Mario Party game before, think of it as a Board Game on your Wii, with little mini-competitions that rely on various types of skills to win. It is extremely fun to play with your friends and is easy to pick up and learn. In combination with the Wii Controller you can expect this to be an awesome game that will easily be as good as Wario Ware, likely better.
i was thinking that the wii is 4 casual gamers, like myself. I own one. I do not like to play alone and most casual gamers are also social gamers who dont want to spend a lot to have fun, since there are so many options.
My wife and I regularly have friends over for dinner and a board game, cards and now...wii.
This that in mind, i would imagine that 1 in 4 wii owners would like party games like wii sports, wario ware and mario party 8. In fact, the hardest thing to get over with mario party is the cartoony-ness (word?) and if you own a wii and have designed a mii, then you are already over it.
Another side note: I would hope that you could use your Mii's in mario party 8. There arent a lot of games that incorporate the Mii. I would also like to have some online play with some friends on this game, since i have friends from burbank to san diego and they have wii's too. Save a few hours drive time.
Honestly I think the game will suffer slight sale issues simply because of its name. An eighth sequal to any game tends to frighten off new franchise buyers. Especially as Mario Party has been known to never change dramatically. Now I'm sure everyone here knows that the control scheme is different and that could potentially make for a fundamentally different game but your average Joe Consumer will see that eight and hesitate to buy into an ongoing franchise that he doesn't know too much about. Obviously I'm excluding rpgs from my sequal theorem as they feature new casts and stories per each title. Anyway I see little reason they couldn't have just titled it Mario Party Wii edition like how early DS games just titled everything with something that could be turned into an acronym for DS like Dual Strike, and Dawn of Sorrow and whatnot. Still it's a Mario game and Mario always sells big though I think it would have been made more accessible with a simple name change.
Just thought I'd like to point out, that as a potential buyer of Mario Party 8 (disappointed on news that it's been delayed to give WarioWare: Smooth Moves more of a chance), the new control scheme is very important to why I'd like this game.
Being familiar with the franchise of "Mario Party" itself helps (come on, it's a board game with mini-games built in... who won't have fun with that?), as well as the innovative and very interactive Wii remote is an integral part of why MP8 will probably succeed. At this point in the time, the best selling Wii titles in Japan are Wii Sports and Wii Play. Splash in a character that everyone already pays big bucks for overseas (re: New Super Mario Bros), and it's very bound for success, regardless of the number '8' added to the title.
The "too many mini-game games" argument is also a bit tainted, because not everyone is going to go out and buy every one of those titles just to play a ridiculous amount of mini-games. Like zukaus says, everyone sees a branding they recognize and buy the new one.
Electronic Arts exists today solely for making money on the premise of "New year equal new game", folks. :D
I think a brand new control scheme is a very big change for the series, as simulazn mention.
Will Halo 3 not sell as well as it's predecessors simply because Halo 1 & 2 are available and cheap? No it will sell because it's the best game of it's genre, the console FPS. Same with Mario Party, it for all purposes invented the party/minigame genre and I believe it will sell well because it's the best period.
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Mario Party 1, 2, 4 and 5 all shipped over 2 million units according to vgchartz.com. Those are the first two games in the series on each N64 and GC. And the first Mario Party on each console has been the best selling one, hitting 2.7 and 2.4 million on N64 and GC, respectively.
Given the new Wiimote controls and the popularity of Wii compared to N64 and GC, and given the fact that the overloaded lineup of mini-game games hasn't hurt major franchise titles like Rayman Raving Rabbids or WarioWare, I think the outlook on this game should be in the 2.1-2.4 million range.