I was looking at some numbers today, and something came to my notice, that was worrying and yet at the same time had me thinking.

Have a look at these for a second.

As the data shows, Pokemon was and still is still currently a very male-heavy franchise.  But I think this time around Nintendo is trying to change that. I mean the evidence is there.

1st let's take a look at what the past Pokemon games focused on. I'll start by analyzing the boxarts. Get me some actual art people in here that can really analyze the boxarts back then so my theory of boxart being focus more towards boys at the start isn't totally bogus.

1st gen boxarts, showing fangs, claws out. T-rex style pose. Aiming for that menacing look, the cool factor.

2nd gen- 2 giant birds, swooping into view. Mouth open, fangs/beak beared. 

3rd gen- Going for the bulky look. Groudon badass spikes. Kyogre less bulky, but still has the menacing staring upwards.

4th-gen. 2 badass dragons with bulky limbs. Mouth open, teeth visible once more. You'd think that Pearl version would have a more elegant monster. 

5th gen-Black has the more elegant monster, but still holds the menacing stare and frown. White is still bulky Dragon monster look with claws out, pointing outside box. But the more elegant look of black gives it the bigger female audience (look at the charts)

And then...

Bam. These two boxes are hugely different in conveyance for the 1st time in a mainline Pokemon entry. Pokemon X (Hey! X for Girl!) box with Xerneas has a serene look. Elegant, but with none of the frown, menace look going on here. Yveltal (Y for boy? lol) is looking like to engulf something. This one's the one with the cool factor. The boxes/legendaries don't share a similar style for once. Xerneas also uses really bright colors and it's a deer for goodness sake. Clearly, they are trying to reach different chord.

But wait there's more! 

Let's take a look at some of the features in the previous Pokemon games. In the 3rd gen, the main "extra feature" was about building secret bases. In trees. Seems more like a guy thing to me. Yes there were cute plushies and room arrangement, but the very core is about making a man cave.

4th gen. Digging. Mining. Going underground. Looking for treasure. Indiana Jones style. Girls like and do this yes, but it's still more of a guy thing.

But in the 6th gen, well what do we have here? You can take pictures? You can share them over social media? You can customize your character with cute accessories? YOU CAN PET PIKACHU!!!!!! 

Nintendogs: Pokemon edition. What got the little 7-13 year old girls drawn to Nintendogs in the 1st place? The novel concept of being able to pet and care for a virtual pet. This concept is still appealing. Maybe not as a couple years ago, but pet/dress up simulators have been popular for ages in the girl crowd (StyleSavvy anyone?) . Apply that to something like Pokemon? It's a wonder why Nintendo didn't come up with this sooner. Simulators like Farmvile work getting females on board. 

The game's theme is beauty. They be trying to expand the Pokemon franchise from something predominatly male into something more. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

But if they are really trying to set out and achieve this, the 3DS needs needs to get a $40 or so price cut. Going back to the Club Nintendo charts, the 19-24 base in 2010 were likely the ones that experienced the great Pokemon boom of the 90s when they were little. But compared to that, there's not enough new people to fill in the gaps, especially when you look at Pokemon Black and White. What happens, when the genwunners start families and start spending more time with their jobs than Pokemon? They need to bring in a 2nd wave of Pokemon kids in order to sustain the franchise (and Nintendo handhelds as a result). For that however, the entry price is still a bit too high. It is worth sacrificing short-term profits on the 3DS for long-term value. Take a look at this comic.

True to a degree. Look back at the graphs again. Why is that we see a sudden surge in 19-24 players of Black and White when the Junior high/High school demographics weren't very large for Diamond and Pearl? When D&P released, those people were Middle School/High School students. For some reason it's not cool to play Pokemon then I assume. But when they reach the College years, they return because of the solid gameplay concepts.

Come for the gimmicks, stay for the gameplay. Pokemon has endured because of solid gameplay that Nintendogs did not have and as a result was regarded as a fad and the sequel's sales had no hopes of match the originals. If Nintendo can grab the same audience that Nintendogs did back in the day, but be supported by the backbone of gameplay that keeps players returning later in life, then $$ in the long-term. And a healthy handheld too, and those people that buy Pokemon will buy other software titles. The 3DS is currently missing that female base (evidenced by sales of software) and X/Y came at a perfect time. However, let me go back to the thing where I was saying that the entry price was too high.

Right now, the 3DS is priced at a $169 even more for Nintendo's "preferred you buy model", the XL. Pokemon will cost $40. Added, they cost more than $200. A hefty price if you're trying to bring in a new generation of kids that don't have much spending money. Their parents would rather buy them an Iphone. The 3DS doesn't quite have the price point that it needs for kids to either save up their own $$ or parents to impulse gift them one.

Let's look at DS sales for a second here.

DS didn't really hit the mark either until the DS Lite, launching at $129. I mean just look at the thing.

Perfect Handheld revision. At $129 too with NSMB on the way. 

Once the 3DS hits this price, it becomes an impulse buy. Bundle it with a pre-installed copy of Pokemon X/Y  for $30 more. (Because as Club Nintendo has shown, people that already have gotten Digital copies are far more likely to purchase another digital game and this generation of kids are used to buying stuff digitally off the app store. Heck, they might buy an extra retail game too, as who likes the 3DS cart slot to be empty?)

Nintendo (By who I mean Iwata) should forgo profit on the hardware and focus on getting Pokemon into as many little children of the new generation as possible. They need to attack with aggressive holiday bundles. The release of 2 consoles and well as other large games will bring attention. They have to take advantage of that attention. The new consoles will be supply constrained, people might get back into gaming with the other big fall releases and see what else is good. Pokemon will have a worldwide launch. Mainstream media coverage will cover this.

Critical mass people. Critical mass. Snowball effect. Barrier to entry. Other buzzworlds that I don't know the heck they mean.

Lower the price far enough so that people don't settle for a smartphone upgrade for $50 more. Santa Iwata, you might be on the verge of tapping into some the audience that the DS once had that the 3DS doesn't. Bring back ze Nintendogs audience this time around, and they still stay because it's Pokemon. WiiU is also in trouble, but don't miss out on this chance. If long-term is truly what your aim is, you bite the bullet here and price drop both of them even if it means missing targets by a huge margin.

We might be on the edge of Pokeboom 2.0 if this plays out. And later, these people will return.

Ow.

Thanks for skimming down to the bottom of the post. It helps that you at least tried.

No

I only skimmed through the article, but what I can tell you from my personal experience, is that it's not there to capture the female audience, because the audience is already there - it can consolidate its hold.
My girlfriend bought a DSL for Pokémon, and she has two friends with whom she regularly played Pokémon, no idea of their purchase motives, but it's there with the female audience - I know anecdote is not data, but nevertheless, I had to give this example.

Article??

What I meant is that it's aiming for the female children more clearly than ever in effort to try to bring them in as a new audience. 2nd generation of Pokekids. Like what Nintendogs did back in the day with a novel concept but failed to establish the audience because of the shortcomings in gameplay. But this time around, they be coupling the attraction with a game that already has tried and true gameplay core and try to keep that audience and have them return.

Evidenced by sales data that Nintendo complied, Pokemon was and still kind of is a more male franchise. They simply didn't have the need in order to establish a more universal? audience on Pokemon because they already had the Nintendogs. But they failed bring them back, so this time they are making Pokemon more equal and universally appealing because Pokemon keeps audiences.

girls think pikachu's are cute, so why not :P

Not saying that Pokemon will lose appeal the male crowd here. Just that they seem to be trying to reach a wider audience this time around. New generation of Pokekids for a new generation with 3D Pokemon for the 1st time ever.

Wish I could post this on GAF and hear their opinions on the matter. Is anyone willing to just post it for me?

While your analysis is respectable as always, the DS Lite actually launched at $129. The OG DS Phat launched at $150.

But still, I will take note.

i wish we had another pokeboom
also not sure if bond just called me a girl

Then what made Nintendogs so successful when you could've already give a normal dog normal dog stuff to do on other platforms?

I remember helping my sister play a Barbie game (actually I think I played it more) on the computer with my sister when she was 4 way back before Nintendogs.

You could already pet dogs/horses and others with a mouse hand and bathe em. That's like saying that if the Kinect and the PS Move were never made the Wii would be still selling like a lot.

I find it hard to believe that Kinectimals and the like would kill Nintendogs. All of the other CoD clones out there aren't killing CoD. Nintendogs failed to create a fanbase like CoD did, and a fanbase is born when there's solid gameplay that comes with the game. People weren't buying +cats because they didn't have much fun with the original.