Classic Pokemon 3DS Re-Releases Sell 1.5 Million Copies

As part of Nintendo's celebration of the Pokemon franchise's 20th anniversary this year, the company re-released the first games--Pokemon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow--through the 3DS eShop. Those games were very popular, as Nintendo has now announced they combined to sell 1.5 million copies.

The number was shared as part of Nintendo's latest earnings report, slides for which were published today on the company's website. Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima said more than half of the 1.5 million downloads came from the North America. He also said the buzz around the Pokemon franchise this year (there was also a Super Bowl commercial and other events) has helped the franchise overall see strong sales.

"We believe that we have successfully created a chance to appeal to the nostalgia of consumers who played these titles when they first came out," Kimishima said.

One thing to note here is that Pokemon Green was only released in Japan. Additionally, copies of the game bundled with the limited-edition 3DS hardware units were not counted, meaning the 1.5 million figure is likely on the low end.

The games sell for $10 each, meaning the four of them have generated revenue of around $15 million. Nintendo did not share any details about which of the four games sold the best.

In March, Nintendo announced that, with sales from all of the classic Pokemon 2D re-releases combined, they set a new first-week eShop sales record.

The classic Pokemon re-releases were among Nintendo's best-performing digital games for its latest quarter, behind Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, as well as Mario Kart 8, but ahead of Fire Emblem Fates. All four of the classic Pokemon games are collected for this chart. But still, it's an impressive feat and speaks to the enduring appeal of Pokemon.

Nintendo made a lot of announcements this week related to the NX, The Legend of Zelda, and its next smartphone games. Check out this roundup to see all of the big news.