we should try to get Tecmo to rerelease monster rancher 1 & 2 for playstation 2. they could put in few extra monsters and make the games dvd compatible. Update a classic game. alot of people would love a monster rancher game with the classic monster, so just rereleas the originals with enhancments.

At this point, unless MR EVO doesn't start selling this is probably going to be it for the series, Tecmo won't be willing to lose more money on a MR release.

Lisa, I know you have much experience with Tecmo and all, but...
How can you say that!? lol...
They have yet to release Monster Rancher Jamboree, as well as their Monster Rancher Online game.
Or do you believe they will be cancelling those?
Or is it you just think they aren't going to translate the games anymore?

Jamboree was shown at TGS 2004 and that's it. It was not shown at TGS 2005, and now all of the leads who were working on it are no longer with the company. It's been dropped long ago.

The Online game is being made by an outside company for Japan. It it does as poorly as MF4 and MF5 did in Japan, and MR4 and MRE sales in the US don't pick up soon, there won't be an English translation because no one will want to waste their money on it.

Look, MF5 sold so badly in Japan that the president of Tecmo's US division resigned because the company lost millions of dollars on it. The company almost had to declare bankruptcy last year. They don't have money to throw around on any sort of speculative projects, and the projects they know (MR games) have been steadily losing more and more money. Word right now is that if EVO sales don't pick up, retailers are going to pull the remaining copies from store shelves and return them for refunds next month.

MR4? The game was released in late 2003. Are you sure sales for a game that age would be significant?

If so, this will make things easier for me.

Sales of MR/F4 now won't help the series. However, analysts look at those sales (lower than MRF3) and then look at sales of EVO and they see a property that is less and less worth investing in.

Honestly, if sales of the MRA games had been better, there would be some hope. But "fans" didn't even rally around these two excellent ranching games. MR/F3 broke even and that's been about the end of it. They've been trying new things to boost sales, and it hasn't worked. (and yes, MRE was made in response to all of the people who begged for an RPG -too bad most of those people haven't bothered to buy the game)

Right now, sales of EVO need to improve or that's it for North America. Japan will get the online game, which at this point is not expected to do very well, and that's it for them.

The more you talk about this, the more hopeless the whole thing seems. This is terrible.

I'm doing what I can on my end.

I think someone should take over a national radio station and tell people to buy Monster Rancher games. this series is so great that even pokemon can't hold a candle to it.

Well, what we could use help with is going to message boards about gaming, and posting about MRE encouraging people to buy it. And, I don't mean GameFAQs'/IGN's/Neoseeker's MRE board, I mean general gaming boards like their system discussion boards. And, boards on other sites, like Nickelodoen's boards, Gamespy, etc.

Lisa, sorry for the late entry, but for my duties as a new MR street team member, I will try to talk my neighborhood game stop manager and employies to recommend MRE to all of it's customers (large ammount of customers) to try to boost sales.

Thanks!

How very... depressing. I cant say Im the biggest fan of EVO.. But i wtill try to help spread the word, if it isnt too late >.<

What about that gaming channel G4? People will listen to T.V. before they listen to anything else. Couldn't somebody contact them and mabye convince them to make a Game Makers episode of the series or something.

I think, for them to make another tv series, as you say, they would need to release new games to the series. So they can get new material.

No I dont think you understand. Game Makers/Icons is a T.V. show that shows the history of certian games and game series. For example they have an episode about the 1980s gameing crash. They have an episode about the birth of Atari, Nintendo, Playstation,ect. They have an episode about the Mario games, the Zelda games, the Pokemon games. All we have to do is ask if they could do one on the MR games.

Oh... I'm sorry I didn't understand. That would be a good idea. But what channel is this show on, and if it is cable, then I don't have it. I have DISH NETWORK satallite. Unless it's something practical, like nickelodeon, cartoonetwork, disney, or MTV, I don't have it. This would really stink, if I couldn't see a MR program

I have Dish Network, too. On mine it's channel 191. The channel's called G4.

If you go to g4tv.com you can find out the channel by entering your zip code

Thanks Swezlon, I found it, but alas, that channel is not in my package, and I don't have it. Oh well...

So what do you think Lisa?

Asking couldn't hurt, but I doubt they'd do it. Every series they have covered has individual games that have sold over a million copies, and, at the time of the show's production, had ever increasing sales.

No MR game has ever come close to selling a million copies. MR2 didn't even sell enough copies to be considered for 'Greatest Hits' status (300,000 units in the US, minimum). What the MR series looks like to an outside is a small, cult title with an ever decreasing fanbase. Every release since MR2 has had lower sales figures than the game before it. Doesn't really look like a winner. Especially with only about 30,000 people buying MR EVO. You hgave to remember that TV producers want to make money too. They are producing shows that people want to watch, because they are about popular games. In comparison with other game series' (like the ones mentioned above) MR games aren't all that popular -by about a hundred times less.

Oh yeah, it takes 6-8 months for a show to be produced and get on the air, too. That's forever in terms of game sales charts.

Really, the best way to promote the series is old-fashioned word of mouth. We've got to stay focused on selling copies.

Lisa, would it be possible for Tecmo to try to join with a big company to try to make new games?

If Tecmo merged with a more successful company I would explode with joy, but I don't think it's very likely. Like, what successful game company would take such a large risk?

In all fairness, TECMO has the Ninja Gaiden series and DOA to represent for them, not to mention Fatal Frame. It seems to me that TECMO has some good titles under its belt, just that the MR series doesn't sell as well (which we all agree is saddening and mostly due to lack of exposure). TECMO is one of the few companies left that really does try to do things right, and they've always had my respect, as well as my dollar, for that. I can't imagine there wouldn't be a company willing to pick them up at some point in the future. Still, even more hoping they wouldn't have to be. I mean, if I know anything about business, once a company merges, they have to change their entire outlook and staff to correspond with the ideology of those they merged with. The last thing I want to see is TECMO losing itself to a heartless conglomerate like Square-Enix (yes, I said that). I just don't feel anything from their games anymore, and that's because any spirit they used to infuse into their games is gone. I used to consider them as a sort of goal-rival, but Square-Enix has lost my respect. Games are communication of heart and imagination, and TECMO seems to be one of the handful out there that still understand it isn't all level design and gadgets.

Just to note, it isn't much, but I've been practically browbeating all my friends to buy the MR series. I think I got on the nerves of a few of them, as I have a tendency to ramble when trying to fit info into a conversation out of left-field ^_^; Sadly, I can't guarantee any sales from any of my word of mouth, but I've developed quite a few connections in my years away, so here's to hoping.

I was thinking, what if Tecmo dropped MR for a little while, then, with the money from succesful games, like the Fatal Frame series, then rerelease MR1 (a very succesful game) with some extra goodies, it could sell even more than the original MR1.

In Response to Lisa's Post June 10th. OMG Lisa please tell me they have not pulled EVO from shelves yet? It's supposed to be my Birthday present but the person buying it for me doesn't get paid until the 3rd. My birthday is the 30th and this would be a really sucky birthday If no one has the game anymore. It's bad enough Advent Children was supposed to be my present last year and didn't come out until what MAY this year. Before anyone gets crazy yeah I'm pretty mad at Square for lots of stuff to but Sephiroth is to much of a hottie for me to pass up. GOD please don't let them pull EVO from the shelves please. Lisa is there any site I can go to to find info on this or is it something you heard from TECMO on a personal level?

You'd have to check your retailer. I know that gamestop.com has an item locator function that tells you if an item is in stock. They will also hold items for 24 hours if you call them.

Lisa, can you give me some names of message boards that I can spread the word to? Like others have said before, this is one of the answers to TECMO's problems. If some of you guys could help me once we get some names of boards from Lisa or somebody else. We could really spread the word if some of us could go to different boards at a time. Anybody? I feel kind of judgemental, being so young as an MRM member, and already ordering people around. But please help me guys. Those of you that are members of the MR street team.

They have one in my local EB Scorpio and it was new so I dont think theyve pulled it off yet. Of course Im not sure.

The big boards are at 1up.com, IGN.com, gamefaqs.com, gamespy.com, gameshark.com, neoseeker.com and a few others, I'll add to the list. The trick is, don't go to the Monster Rancher boards, those people already play the games. You have to go to the sites' boards that are general boards for the PS2, or RPGs, etc.