Board 8 > What are some obscure/cult franchises that became 'big' after a long time?

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BlackMageJawa
07/07/21 4:04:52 PM
#1:


At least, in the West.

I'm thinking of things like Yakuza, which was sort of known but not exactly popular for five games and a zombie spinoff before Zero became a huge hit, prompting remakes and remasters of all the preceeding games* to sell much better the second time round.

*Except Dead Souls. Which, despite its reputation, I still want to see remastered, Sega. Throw it in another collection with Kenzan and Ishin, call it something like Yakuza Stories, and my money is yours.
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LeonhartFour
07/07/21 4:05:04 PM
#2:


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swordz9
07/07/21 4:08:28 PM
#3:


Persona was the first thing to come to mind
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Johnbobb
07/07/21 4:11:11 PM
#4:


my first thought was Katamari but I don't know how good of an answer that is

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LeonhartFour
07/07/21 4:13:01 PM
#5:


Johnbobb posted...
my first thought was Katamari but I don't know how good of an answer that is

I don't know that Katamari ever became "big." I guess it would depend on how you define it. Like, would Ace Attorney be considered "big" now?

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Snake5555555555
07/07/21 4:13:17 PM
#6:


Metal Gear counts I think

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Mac Arrowny
07/07/21 4:14:52 PM
#7:


Wasn't Katamari 1 the biggest Katamari game?

Dragon Quest would fit the "At least, in the West." part, since DQ11 was the first one to be a big hit here.

Atelier got a lot more mainstream with Ryza, if that's big enough.
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Mac Arrowny
07/07/21 4:18:00 PM
#8:


Snake5555555555 posted...
Metal Gear counts I think

The first Metal Gear sold over a million copies here, so I dunno if that fits. It was big enough to get an America-only sequel made.

LeonhartFour posted...
I don't know that Katamari ever became "big." I guess it would depend on how you define it. Like, would Ace Attorney be considered "big" now?


AA's an interesting one. I think it actually did get a lot more mainstream when the trilogy came out, since we know from the leak that it sold ~800K, mostly in the West I think, which is more than any of the previous games sold? GAA was advertised as Capcom's big game at E3, too.
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NBIceman
07/07/21 4:21:32 PM
#9:


Fire Emblem, I'd argue.

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LeonhartFour
07/07/21 4:23:19 PM
#10:


Yeah, the original Metal Gear was fairly popular. It just got forgotten about and then introduced to a brand new audience when MGS1 dropped a decade later.

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Snake5555555555
07/07/21 4:23:48 PM
#11:


True, that's fair enough.

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Jakyl25
07/07/21 4:26:52 PM
#12:


Fast and Furious

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Grand Kirby
07/07/21 4:29:53 PM
#13:


Monster Hunter
Grand Theft Auto
Nier
Among Us
Fallout/Elder Scrolls? They were popular with RPG fans in their early installments, but they didn't become major globally well-regarded franchises until later

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MoogleKupo141
07/07/21 4:31:10 PM
#14:


Witcher
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Lightning Strikes
07/07/21 4:40:21 PM
#15:


We have updated official numbers on Ace Attorney Trilogy, 1.2 million now. It definitely counts.

Fire Emblem is another one.

Nier is certainly the most drastic example however if we count it as a franchise at only two games, the original did nothing and the sequel, Automata, has sold nearly six million copies. It is Square Enixs highest selling game since FFXV.

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Xuxon
07/07/21 4:41:09 PM
#16:


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Fiop
07/07/21 4:46:05 PM
#17:


Final Fantasy might qualify. Only 3 of the first 6 games localized, but became big with FF7.

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masterplum
07/07/21 4:46:56 PM
#18:


I think Fire Emblem and Persona are both really good answers.

Stuff like Witcher and Warcraft had singular popular games which isn't really what the question is asking. Fire Emblem and Persona both trucked along for decades slowly gaining popularity over time.

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Mac Arrowny
07/07/21 4:49:25 PM
#19:


Lightning Strikes posted...

Nier is certainly the most drastic example however if we count it as a franchise at only two games, the original did nothing and the sequel, Automata, has sold nearly six million copies. It is Square Enixs highest selling game since FFXV.

DQ11 was over 6 million before S got ported to PS4/XB1/PC, so that's definitely above Automata. FF7R's probably above it too (it hit 5 million early August last year).
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Leonhart4
07/07/21 4:50:30 PM
#20:


Fiop posted...
Final Fantasy might qualify. Only 3 of the first 6 games localized, but became big with FF7.

Eh, it's not like they were obscure games. They were all popular games. Just nothing compared to what VII did.

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Xuxon
07/07/21 5:13:59 PM
#21:


masterplum posted...
Stuff like Witcher and Warcraft had singular popular games which isn't really what the question is asking. Fire Emblem and Persona both trucked along for decades slowly gaining popularity over time.
Warcraft and Persona have basically followed the same trajectory. Starting to become recognized with Warcraft 2/Persona 3, "big" at Warcraft 3/Persona 4, and even bigger with WoW/Persona 5. And WoW itself is essentially multiple games in one. If anything, the argument against Warcraft is it was already big with Warcraft 2, which sold more than I had realized.

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Uglyface2
07/07/21 5:16:06 PM
#22:


You could say Far Cry. The first game was considered a visual showpiece, and opinions were split on the second one, but Ubisoft marketed the hell out of the third game (and Vaas did a lot to help things), so it sold gang busters and became an Ubisoft installment series.
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Lightning Strikes
07/07/21 5:37:21 PM
#23:


Hmm I guess I was looking at single version sales for Dragon Quest, fair enough.

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masterplum
07/07/21 5:48:54 PM
#24:


Xuxon posted...
Warcraft and Persona have basically followed the same trajectory. Starting to become recognized with Warcraft 2/Persona 3, "big" at Warcraft 3/Persona 4, and even bigger with WoW/Persona 5. And WoW itself is essentially multiple games in one. If anything, the argument against Warcraft is it was already big with Warcraft 2, which sold more than I had realized.

Warcraft 2 was big, and WoW peaked in 2010

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azuarc
07/07/21 6:09:05 PM
#25:


All my friends and I played Warcraft 1. Try again.

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Mega Mana
07/07/21 6:33:32 PM
#26:


Jakyl25 posted...
Fast and Furious

Great answer.

First thought was Phoenix Wright, even though that's not really 'big'. Persona's an amazing answer, and Fire Emblem is... that's tough because we never got a release before Melee; that's the first most westerners even heard of the series.

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Grand Kirby
07/07/21 6:39:58 PM
#27:


In Fire Emblem's defense, Awakening was still a MASSIVE boost in popularity compared to the previous titles that were released in English

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Seginustemple
07/07/21 8:30:04 PM
#28:


Fast and the Furious was never obscure, they've been box office hits since the first one
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_PandaMaster_
07/07/21 8:48:25 PM
#29:


Fire Emblem is so big, we now get official(as in created by IS) videos like this:
https://youtu.be/vXvjrMdMRhk

Ties to one of the earlier plot points in the mobile game. Also, sung by one of the more popular VA of Japan. That's how you know you've reached the next level.

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MZero
07/07/21 8:59:00 PM
#30:


Guilty Gear? I feel like it's gotten fairly big with Strive

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ChaosTonyV4
07/07/21 9:10:53 PM
#31:


Phantom Dust



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LOLIAmAnAlt
07/07/21 9:15:56 PM
#32:


Fiop posted...
Final Fantasy might qualify. Only 3 of the first 6 games localized, but became big with FF7.
The first one was a big enough hit that it saved a company.

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Toxtricity
07/07/21 9:19:32 PM
#33:


drakengard/nier maybe counts here
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LOLIAmAnAlt
07/07/21 9:20:45 PM
#34:


Elder Scrolls

Fairly versed in video games growing up, never heard of Arena until the mid 2000s or so.

Feel like this was a PC nerd franchise turned more every release of the every mans game with Skyrim.

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pjbasis
07/07/21 9:21:09 PM
#35:


Symphonia put Tales on the map even though we had some releases already.

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SovietOmega
07/07/21 9:32:08 PM
#36:


A Song of Ice and Fire kind of fits. I mean, literary nerds knew of it and liked it, but once Game of Thrones happened pretty much the entire world took notice.

Dungeons and Dragons is kinda this too. The relative simplicity of 5e coupled with high profile games like Critical Role dramatically escalated the number of people willing to give it a shot.

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InsaneGamer137
07/07/21 9:57:12 PM
#37:


GTA was niche when it was 2D, then it took off with III. A game that popularized an entire genre.

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azuarc
07/08/21 8:48:47 AM
#38:


SovietOmega posted...
Dungeons and Dragons is kinda this too. The relative simplicity of 5e coupled with high profile games like Critical Role dramatically escalated the number of people willing to give it a shot.

This is funny for me to hear because I've been less exposed to D&D since 3rd Edition was current. I don't think D&D was ever really flying under the radar so long as I've been aware enough to know what it was (at maybe age 7 or 8.)

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Mr Crispy
07/08/21 10:17:45 AM
#39:


Probably broader than the tc intended, but Fromsoft games.

Also the general concept of roguelikes.

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Dedf1sh
07/08/21 10:30:04 AM
#40:


Johnbobb posted...
my first thought was Katamari but I don't know how good of an answer that is
This is like the opposite of the intended answer.

I think Fallout is a good one, and maybe Elder Scrolls to a lesser extent (though it was already moderately popular since Morrowind).
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Zachnorn
07/08/21 10:50:28 AM
#41:


LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
Elder Scrolls

Fairly versed in video games growing up, never heard of Arena until the mid 2000s or so.

Feel like this was a PC nerd franchise turned more every release of the every mans game with Skyrim.
I feel like the same could be said of Fallout with Fallout 3 being the big release.

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Lightning Strikes
07/08/21 10:54:05 AM
#42:


InsaneGamer137 posted...
GTA was niche when it was 2D, then it took off with III. A game that popularized an entire genre.

GTA was never niche. The original sold 3 million copies, it was a big hit. That falls into the same trap as Final Fantasy and Warcraft. If you count those surely you should count Zelda because of how it blew up with Breath of the Wild.

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Alanna82
07/08/21 11:37:15 AM
#43:


Earthbound/Mother?

Funny someone mentioned D and D 5th edition. I feel like lately they have been doing things to alienate long time players. (like changing drow history)

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SSBM_Guy
07/08/21 11:44:20 AM
#44:


Fire Emblem, even though the first English version is 7. Even though they were popular games, they're definitely nowhere near the basically A-level Nintendo franchise that it is since Awakening.

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HeroDelTiempo17
07/08/21 12:14:01 PM
#45:


Mr Crispy posted...
Probably broader than the tc intended, but Fromsoft games.

Yeah surprised this wasn't an immediate answer, maybe because if you're only counting Soulslikes as Demon's/Dark Souls then it's not a hugely long period of time. It only really blew up once the PC release of Dark Souls which was a 3 year gap. But you could definitely argue it as a successor to King's Field which had been going for some time.

But at the very least it probably had the biggest delta going from "cult hit" to "one of the most defining games of the decade, if not THE most" in that 3 years.

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-hotdogturtle--
07/08/21 12:15:37 PM
#46:


Alanna82 posted...
Earthbound/Mother?
lol, I feel like this might apply in the literal sense, but not the "spirit" of the question (which was most likely referring to popularity through successive game releases).

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Grand Kirby
07/08/21 12:32:15 PM
#47:


Oh, and Animal Crossing.

New Leaf really blew up the popularity, and then New Horizons eclipsed even that

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Leonhart4
07/08/21 12:37:48 PM
#48:


But the original Animal Crossing was popular! This is not "which popular series became more popular after its first game." It's specifically asking about obscure/cult games.

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linkhatesganon
07/08/21 12:38:23 PM
#49:


Danganronpa in a way too

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NeatoAnAccount
07/08/21 12:45:45 PM
#50:


Street Fighter

Also probably Magic the Gathering

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