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Japan game charts: May 8-14

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted May 22, 2006 5:30 pm PT

PS2 sports sims, DS brain-teasers, and portable critters rule the Japanese top 10 ... again.

One thing that can be said for the Japanese sales charts--they are consistent. Week after week, the same genres are represented on the same platforms, often by way of the same titles.

This trend is especially true of the DS brain-training oeuvre, as Nintendo's strategy of targeting traditional non-gamers with non-traditional games continues to pay dividends in Japan. During the week of May 8 to 14, three brain-training titles--Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training (2nd), Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (5th), and Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (7th)--again turned up in the top 10, where they have stayed almost every week since their respective releases. This situation looks to continue--the DS debut of the original brain game, Tetris DS, landed in number two.

The Japanese also are notoriously fond of portable games involving pint-size creatures and protagonists. Their enthusiasm was evident on the best-seller list, which had Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance at number 10 and Pokemon Ranger: The Road to Diamond and Pearl for the DS at number eight. At number six was Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS, which has remained a top title in Japan since its release last November.

But while Japanese gamers like portables, they still prefer to play sports games on consoles. The number one title of the week was Jikkyou Powerful Major League, the latest entrant in Konami's baseball sim series for the PlayStation 2. Three slots below at number four was another PS2 Konami sports game, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007. The only other console game on the charts was the non-sports title Square Enix's Dragon Quest: Shounen Yangus no Fushigi na Daibouken, also for the PS2.

22 Comments

  • Wakasenshi

    Posted May 29, 2006 3:10 am PT

    no xbox360 games in there... no surprise

    And the one at number 3 OMG thats a long name title.

  • stubby_01

    Posted May 28, 2006 8:36 pm PT

    yay for ps2

  • hiccup

    Posted May 28, 2006 6:19 am PT

    I would want tetris that is it.

  • bobreturns

    Posted May 27, 2006 2:22 pm PT

    i am a bigger fan of nintendo but it seems that after the slightly embarrasing gamecube nintendo has started fresh and is starting to hit back it has knocked microsoft off the top 10 and there are more nintendo titles there than there was about 2 years ago

    come on nintendo

  • comthitnuong

    Posted May 27, 2006 8:03 am PT

    wow tetris

  • Princecake

    Posted May 27, 2006 3:23 am PT

    japanese sure loves to improve their brain

  • mhder

    Posted May 27, 2006 1:20 am PT

    kingdude74:
    They dont even have american cars over there. Microsoft should just stop trying to wow the japs into buying a xbox. If they want one let them order it online. They only like games that have millions of flashing colors and pandas and cute little fury animales in them

    Well they tried to sell american cars but 1) most american cars are too big for Japanese streets, 2) Many guzzle gas and Japan's gas prices have been high for decades. Even now, gas prices in the US have not caught up to prices seen in Japan in the 90's, 3) Some american car makers didn't even bother to switch steering wheels to the right side for Japan, 4) when you compare with the reliability of Japanese cars, they can't compete - heck americans don't even buy american cars anymore.
    MS shot themselves in the foot with the original Xbox with the disc scratching etc. They gave it a chance at first but not enough games, bad customer service and a lack of understanding of the Japanese gaming market killed the image of MS. And don't tell me it's because it's american. American movies, music, fashion, food etc are very popular, but when it comes to machinery/electronics - they've learned western products are unreliable and not regionalized.

  • kingdude74

    Posted May 27, 2006 12:55 am PT

    Thing is that tose japs will never like the xbox no matter what kind of game there is for it. They I say 80% of them will never buy a american console. They dont even have american cars over there. Microsoft should just stop trying to wow the japs into buying a xbox. If they want one let them order it online. They only like games that have millions of flashing colors and pandas and cute little fury animales in them

  • Tranceplant

    Posted May 26, 2006 11:38 am PT

    Yeah! DS is still owning the charts! It's cool that Japan loves Tetris!

  • Reetesh

    Posted May 26, 2006 7:09 am PT

    VERY BIG names for games in their Nintendo is very happy at Home

  • mhder

    Posted May 26, 2006 5:52 am PT

    Nintendo was able to bring in a new audience with the brain training type games. But will they be able to keep them months/years down the road? I suppose some people will be introduced or re-introduced into gaming, while others like middle aged men and women might need to be fed more games like brain training. In the top 50, there are quite a few psp games, but the DS/GBA and PS2 lead the way with a sprinkling of GC games. Don't even mention the Xbox360. Their big name games barely crack the Dengeki top 50 on their release and dissapear by the next week. The 360 outsold the GC finally, by 90 consoles... 1496 to 1406. But the DS lite itself sold almost 120 000. Last time I was in Japan, I saw something rare: someone buying the 360. Yes it's true, it does happen. But he wasn't Japanese. So even if the 360 sells 1496 units, I'm sure half are to Non natives so MS is making even less of an impact in Japan.

  • follis12

    Posted May 25, 2006 8:22 am PT

    I'm not a fan of one system over another necessary, but, from a business perspective, it's pretty cool to see the great job Nintendo is doing. They see the trends and the problems and appear to be stepping up to the challenge.

    At the end of the day, the console gaming industry will have to innovate to keep the current market. MS and Sony are doing the same things in a different package - gambling that more powerful stats is what people want. They're approaching the tipping point where the cost of these systems will simply not make sense over a PC. Frankly, I buy consoles so I can just turn it on and go without worrying about my video card. I think most console gamers have a similar attitude.

    Nintendo is getting the jump on the future. Currently, DS has the top two spots in the US chart, and is all over the Japanese chart. This is a hand held beating consoles. If the Wii delivers what's promised, it will change the landscape. They may never win over the hard core gamer, but these folks are a fraction of the market.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted May 25, 2006 5:29 am PT

    Big surprise. Sony has a top-selling game in Japan.

    Here in the USA (the largest market), The DS and Xbox360 are leading in sales!

  • TryMe01

    Posted May 25, 2006 12:40 am PT

    lol, no psp titles!

  • Imavnas

    Posted May 24, 2006 10:30 pm PT

    is there any psp title on top 50, we need more information so we can laugh at sony fanboys.

    theres a PS2 title in 1st, 4th, and 9th and you can say that with a straight face? -_-

  • faridmon

    Posted May 24, 2006 10:00 pm PT

    is there any psp title on top 50, we need more information so we can laugh at sony fanboys.

  • canada2000

    Posted May 24, 2006 9:05 pm PT

    Go nintendo! The DS is really taking off with these brian games isn't it?

  • Platyphyllum

    Posted May 24, 2006 6:55 pm PT

    Wow, they sure are lucky to get games like Dragon Quest: Yangus and Mother 3. Well, I'm happy to see that DS is reigning supree in Japan!

  • m0zart Site moderator

    Posted May 24, 2006 6:53 pm PT

    "Brain Age" is certainly one of my favorites. I wish we would get more of those kinds of games here.

  • squallff8_fan

    Posted May 24, 2006 5:22 pm PT

    MAn nintendo ds is kicking major a$$, I am also happy to see ps2 games still doing real well aswell, both nintendo and sony got japan on lockdown. Not one MS game up there, wow, u would think with N9 and a few other games that MS has they would be up there but guess MS just needs alot more titles that japanese gamers like to play, but I dont see them coughing up $400 for a machine based mostly on shooter games.

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