Is Paper Mario: Color Splash the worst selling game in the Mario franchise?

Hero of Legend said:

I wonder if experience points and a leveling system alone would've made a huge difference in reception if it was actually as legit good as people are saying above.

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You do gain exp points by being able to carry more paint, every time you win battles you can collect paint brushes from defeated enemies, and once you fill the bar your paint increases permanently. It's not level based experience, but it's more or less the same concept since you need paint to do attacks.

I really liked the characters and dialogue but it had the same problem as Sticker Star, you don't gain experience so most battles feel pointless outside of bosses. This should've been a budget release because I don't think it was worth full price.

It debuted out 20k in Japan, giving it one of the worst launches for any Mario in recent memory.

I think it had better legs than some other things in the west though.

It's a shame, Color Splash is my favorite in the series by far. It's got to best music, best art, funniest script, and by far the best level and scenario design. Most of the complaints about the battle system seem to fundamentally misunderstand it. I found them to be good puzzles that encouraged experimentation

FulgoreX said:

You do gain exp points by being able to carry more paint, every time you win battles you can collect paint brushes from defeated enemies, and once you fill the bar your paint increases permanently. It's not level based experience, but it's more or less the same concept since you need paint to do attacks.

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Hmm... curious.

I wouldn't mind seeing this come to Switch, even better if they change some things to make it more classic-style if they can.

RaySpencer said:

They fucked me so hard with Sticker Star, that there was no chance I woulda got this game.

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Yup

But I think there are a few obscure Mario games that beat it for this title.

What actually bothers me most of all is this may have killed off the Paper Mario series for good. If a game bombs this badly Nintendo usually "puts the franchise to sleep" and then doesn't bother revisiting it for a good number of years. Just look at how long it took for a new Starfox game, Wario Land, Wario Ware, Punchout, Kid Icarus, F-zero, etc.

I mean I'm sure we'll get another Paper Mario game eventually, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not for a long time.

I enjoyed the game very much, far more than the Portable ones. I even say it was my surprise of 2016 after DQBuilders. Being on wii-I is the likely answer.

Not the worst selling and not the huge bomb the main post makes it sound... :p ...all things considered.

The writing was what stood out to me for this game, as well as the neatly designed levels. But they lacked the imagination of its predecessors with regards to its overall design and story, like similarly looking Toads and crap like that is certainly a big bummer. But games with great humor like this game, and Tales from the Borderlands, are very therepeutic with a lot of replay-value all the same.

It was a decent game, but it really lacked the vision of the original, TYD, and even Super. Perhaps it's for the best this puts the series down.

Sticker Star was legit one of the worst games I've ever played (not hyperbole, it's offensively dull to me), so when they revealed Color Splash was doubling down the same formula, I nope'd so hard, as I imagine most Paper Mario fans did.

It sold like ass in Japan, but if I remember correctly it ironically did much better in the west.

Cloud-Hidden said:

I'd be interested to know, OP, because from what I heard it was actually a really charming game.

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It was. Best writing in a Paper Mario game.

Unfortunately they're committed to destroying the combat of the Paper Mario series because they insist that it's not an RPG.

Cloud-Hidden said:

I'd be interested to know, OP, because from what I heard it was actually a really charming game.

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It indeed is. I hope it can find a larger audience someday. I had a wonderful time playing it.

In general, I think it's actually a fairly good adventure game with tons of small scenarios, arguably more than any Paper Mario. The script is also brimming with wit and earnestness.

I'd all but forgotten about Color Splash. The Wii U is just full of beautiful, charming games that deserve a second life (I'm looking at you, Pikmin 3!).

I wanted to try out Color Splash, but it reminded me too much of Sticker Star, which I couldn't even bring myself to complete. Was the combat as inconsequential as SS with a story just as disconnected?

Paper Mario was good on n64 and GameCube why did they mess it up go back to the old formular

Neoleo2143 said:

In general, I think it's actually a fairly good adventure game with tons of small scenarios, arguably more than any Paper Mario. The script is also brimming with wit and earnestness.

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It truly is; the game just oozes charm and absolutely evokes memories of TTYD at points. Plus it has, bar none, the best script of the series. Color Splash deserved better.

And I hated Sticker Star, FTR.

The thing is, it improved a lot over Sticker Star, it was sort of like TTYD for Sticker Star, and it had a lot of brilliant moments... Which were mostly outside of battle. Basically everything was perfect except for the battle system. They had no reason to do that with the reception Sticker Star got, but they did anyway and that was really dumb.

That would be an absolute shame. It's easily the second best PM game, and the second best Mario game on Wii U.

Gartooth said:

Didn't Mario Party Advance hold that title at one point?

Edit: I might've mixed that up with worst reviewed Mario game, not sure.

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Mario Party Advance reviewed fine compared to some other mario titles...

FulgoreX said:

What actually bothers me most of all is this may have killed off the Paper Mario series for good. If a game bombs this badly Nintendo usually "puts the franchise to sleep" and then doesn't bother revisiting it for a good number of years. Just look at how long it took for a new Starfox game, Wario Land, Wario Ware, Punchout, Kid Icarus, F-zero, etc.

I mean I'm sure we'll get another Paper Mario game eventually, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not for a long time.

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Well, in this case there's how it's not actually internally developed, or given to random studios (like most of the examples you mention there), but associated with a specific development team within IS. So, unless it just gets dissolved or we see the team doing something else, it's still fairly likely we'll see another game. Then again, that did happen to Wario Ware anyway (and it wasn't even due to sales in that case, it just happened out of nowhere). So, I guess it could happen here too.

I'd still prefer a break and then an attempt at a classic Paper Mario years later to continuing the recent direction though, and the new direction crashing was the only way that had a chance of happening.

I thought Sticker Star was mediocre, but didn't hate it as much as most people do, but Color Splash has the worst combat system ever and I still didn't complete the game because of how much I dislike it. I don't want to do like 5 different actions just to "jump" in a battle.

About the OP's question. It's for sure not the worst selling, people already pointed out the Virtual Boy game for example. Also, https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/game-search has Color Splash with over 60K sales in Japan.

I went out of my way to track down a store that offered Wii U game rentals, just so I wasn't supporting the game with a sale >.<

Got about ~10 hours in before giving up. Better than Sticker Star, but almost everything about the actual game part sucks, and it's still Toad overload (though not as bad as recent M&L and SS in that regard).

As I've said before, a Switch port is one of the worst things Nintendo could announce for me. Either the game bombs a second time, or it sells enough for them to blame its failure entirely on the Wii U, and they continue with this formula.

Really hope they're going to publish it again on Switch. Just warming up for TTYD HD remake <3

It's actually a very fun game. I only played it a bit but my wife loved it and 100%ed it.

VGSales wiki has Color Splash with 63k in Japan and 100k from NA (their source for the NA value was from a NPD leaker on Twitter, but their account has since been suspended so you can't see the original post so take it with a grain of salt).

Annubis said:

How well did this one sell?

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I suckered myself into renting that as a kid. Was like ohhhhh shit new Mario game!

Annubis said:

How well did this one sell?

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I remember seeing it in a magazine as a kid (just the cover, not actual gameplay) and wanting it real bad. Now I'm thankful I didn't have to suffer through the disappointment.

It's a shame, because it's a fantastic game.

It seems other people already posted possible other title holders.

It's a shame it sold so poorly. It was visually stunning and really charming. A lot of creative energy was put into that game. I really enjoyed my time with it.

That reminds me: can they hurry the fuck up with a new Paper Mario? Also please be a real RPG with EXP given after battle thank u

Please port this. I really wanted to play this but like everyone else did not plug my Wii u in in 2016.

Cloud-Hidden said:

I'd be interested to know, OP, because from what I heard it was actually a really charming game.

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It's charming in terms of character and levels but the battle systems is a bit of a hit or miss. It was a miss with me.

Lagamorph said:

It was criminal how much people shit on the combat system in this game. The card system was incredibly fun.

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I disagree, it was clear that the game battle system was not designed with the cards in mind as you had to have at least a jump card or deal with enemies that only take damages from jumping and a hammer card to deal with enemies that have spikes and will hurt Mario as that's the battle system that existed from the first Paper Mario game.

The card system just feels tacked on in an attempt to difference the Paper Mario series from the Mario and Luigi series as that series battle systems has remained unchanged.

AndreGX said:

And I hated Sticker Star, FTR.

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I wonder if Derrick hates it more considering what you did during the final battle, I have seen him get so mad.

Mr-Joker said:

I wonder if Derrick hates it more considering what you did during the final battle, I have seen him get so mad.

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That was but a small taste of the rage I felt during the entire game :P

Plinko said:

If it is, it's a shame, because it has one of the funniest scripts out there. The writing is fantastic, and I really hate the "Sticker Star 2.0" moniker, because it just isn't true.

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The writing was so good. Music was just as good. If it gets the port treatment I'm buying it.

Thales Targaryen said:

The thing is, it improved a lot over Sticker Star, it was sort of like TTYD for Sticker Star, and it had a lot of brilliant moments... Which were mostly outside of battle. Basically everything was perfect except for the battle system. They had no reason to do that with the reception Sticker Star got, but they did anyway and that was really dumb.

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being the TTYD to a game that was almost unanimously hated brings to at most a very meh level though. TTYD was the the next step to a game already considered great and loved.

I'll be fine if paper mario is done for good, or for a long time at least.

I really hope Color Splash is brought over to the Switch... regardless of living in Sticker Star's shadow. I remember seeing those images and trailers for the first time. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Nintendo Puzzle collection, sold poorly in Japan and was cancelled for the rest of the world

nah.

bombed in Japan, but Opened at ~100k in NPD first month.
https://www./threads/npd-sales-results-for-october-2016.1316580/post-225224771
there's obviously been worse.

Raijinto said:

I think Mario Tennis Ultra Smash also on Wii U was possibly even worse. I know that Zhuge commented around Aces' launch that in the U.K. at least US's sales were abysmal, even by Wii U standards.

Paper Mario has a decent enough following that I'd imagine it sold somewhat better.

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no, Ultra Smash did decent in Japan so that alone disqualifies it.
Neared 200k there.

Somehow Color Splash is my wife's favorite Mario game.

Yes, even over Odyssey.

From what I viewed of her playing, Color Splash is extremely charming but holy shit there is some major bullshit in that game. The game-show portion and final boss immediately come to mind, but I also remember constantly being flabbergasted at the gameplay and progression decisions that Intelligent Systems made.


So I don't think Color Splash's reputation is simply due to it being on the WiiU, but hey Sticker Star sold great on 3DS so it wouldn't shock me if they brought Color Splash over.

i've no data, but some Mariosports games probably did worse

Mario Sports Superstars (3DS)
Mario Sports Mix (Wii)
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (DS)
Super Mario Basebal (NGC)
Mario Super SLugger (Wii)

It launched on a system predominantly owned by hardcore Nintendo fans and was one of the more casual entries in the franchise.

Had they made it more like the original and TTYD, I'm sure it would have done better.

Raijinto said:

I think Mario Tennis Ultra Smash also on Wii U was possibly even worse. I know that Zhuge commented around Aces' launch that in the U.K. at least US's sales were abysmal, even by Wii U standards.

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Tell that to the morons that insist Mario games sell because they have Mario on the title.