10 Video Games That Sold MILLIONS (Despite Being Terrible)
7. Hey You, Pikachu!
How far can you stretch the definition of "game"?
It's a question Nintendo has often asked itself, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes it leads to greatness, like the beguiling charms of Animal Crossing. Other times...
Other times, it winds up with players yelling futile commands at a yellow rat determined to ignore them.
Hey You, Pikachu! was a voice-recognition game for the N64 that successfully rode the Pokemon hype train to the tune of around 2 million sales. Pretty impressive for an $80 game that contained maybe two hours of content.
HYP tasked players with instructing Pikachu to complete simple puzzles through the microphone that came bundled with the game (and led to its vastly inflated price tag). Unfortunately, Pikachu's limited vocabulary (he could only recognise 200 words) and the mic's limitations meant the yellow mascot was as likely to zap you with a thunderbolt as he was to follow your commands.
Combined with the game's lack of content, Hey You, Pikachu! was an overpriced novelty that signalled the death-knell for Nintendo's foray into voice-recognition gaming.