Japanese sales charts, April 17-23: Hello, Mother

by Jennie Lees { Apr 28th 2006 at 8:54PM }

Several new releases are sitting pretty in the Japanese charts this week, with newcomers holding the top three spots. Mother 3, described by Famitsu as the "Most Wanted" game in Japan back in March, unsurprisingly rocketed to the top with over 200,000 sales; a spinoff from the popular Dragon Quest VIII is in at number two, after selling 127,500 copies.

The ten bestselling games in Japan for the week ending April 23:

1. Mother 3 [GBA]
2. Dragon Quest: Shounen Yangus no Fushigi na Daibouken [PS2]
3. Final Fantasy XI: Aht Urhgan no Hihou [PS2]
4. Brain Age 2 (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS) [DS]
5. Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai [PSP]
6. Okami [PS2]
7. Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training) [DS]
8. Animal Crossing: Wild World [DS]
9. DS English Training [DS]
10. Pokémon Ranger [DS]

The corresponding hardware sales (cumulative sales for 2006 in brackets):

1. DS Lite: 168,809 (996,546)
2. PSP: 32,323 (641,721)
3. PS2: 25,763 (529,979)
4. GBM: 18,390 (81,058)
5. GBA SP: 11,044 (111,858)
6. DS: 8,051 (746,935)
7. Xbox 360: 3,990 (41,278)
8. Gamecube: 1,106 (44,755)
9. GBA: 58 (2,454)
10. Xbox: 16 (1,373)

Tags: animal crossing, AnimalCrossing, brain age, BrainAge, charts, ds, gba, japan, mother 3, Mother3, ps2, psp, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Leto @ Apr 28th 2006 9:04PM

LoL at the 16 Xboxes

striegs @ Apr 28th 2006 9:11PM

Is Aht Urhgan no Hihou an expansion pack for FFXI? I'd like to see where FFXII has fallen to in the meantime.

And, once again, the DS Lite manages to outsell the original Xbox by a ratio of 10,000:1. I can only imagine the kind of pseudo-fame that comes with being able to tell your friends that you were one of the sixteen people throughout an entire country who bought an Xbox this week.

Just think, the next time we see this chart, the DSL will have surpassed a million units in sales. There's no way you're telling me that a MILLION people can fit on those islands. Obviously everyone who bought one last week got one of them "disc read errors" and took it back for a replacement. The conspiracy is upon us!

pooky @ Apr 28th 2006 9:12PM

I was told that the original Playstation is actually outselling the original Xbox.I'd like to see the Playstation sales figures in there just for a laugh.

vidGuy @ Apr 28th 2006 9:13PM

Look at those DSs go! With 1,743,481 being sold so far this year, they are just flying off the shelf. That's over 15,500 a day! I guess that's what you get for redesign. Hey, make fun of Nintendo all you want, they are the ones pulling in the dough.

pooky @ Apr 28th 2006 9:17PM

looking at the sales I'd say The Famicom is outselling the Xbox

striegs @ Apr 28th 2006 9:32PM

Pooky, unfortunately, production of the PS1 was discontinued last month, as was production of the Famicom about three years ago. Even still, I'm certain the online resale markets sell more PS1s and Famicoms daily than Xboxes sold at retail outlets weekly.

Microsoft has ceased production of the original Xbox by now, right? With all the focus on the 360 and considering the abysmal sales of the Duke in Japan, I can't see Microsoft still bothering to send shipments to retailers over there. That could help account for such a mockworthy sales figure.

shinigami_snake @ Apr 28th 2006 10:00PM

I really want to play Okami... after seeing how it is...and well poof goes the xbox...

ChatRobot @ Apr 28th 2006 10:45PM

I%uFFFDm surprised there aren%uFFFDt more Japanese titles on that list.

Ben @ Apr 28th 2006 10:46PM

Damn i want Mother 3/ Earthbound to come to the states...

32_Footsteps @ Apr 28th 2006 10:57PM

I wonder... does that count people who import through Play Asia? I'd like to claim I helped Mother 3 reach the top spot in Japan.

Tom Cruise @ Apr 29th 2006 12:04AM

For a new console Xbox 360 sales suck!!!

Hello developers, stop making 360 games, they're not going to sell... move all your projects to the PlayStation 3 or Nintendo DS!

Donutta @ Apr 29th 2006 12:52AM

"8. I�m surprised there aren�t more Japanese titles on that list."

I'm sorry -- what? I hope that was sarcasm.

jeffx @ Apr 29th 2006 1:28AM

I really, REALLY want both the Yangus spinoff and Mother 3 to come out in the US.

Heh @ Apr 29th 2006 2:22AM

"2. ... There's no way you're telling me that a MILLION people can fit on those islands"

How about - more than 127 million people fit on those islands? =3

striegs @ Apr 29th 2006 4:07AM

"How about - more than 127 million people fit on those islands? =3"

There's no way in fiery hell that I believe this for less than a yoctosecond. They'd all have to be piled up in a giant amorphous blob like some errant katamari gone awry.

Draygon @ Apr 29th 2006 4:43AM

"There's no way in fiery hell that I believe this for less than a yoctosecond. They'd all have to be piled up in a giant amorphous blob like some errant katamari gone awry."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/japan

"Population
- 2005 est. 127,417,244 (10th)
- Density 337/km� (18th)"

Do you still believe Japan has less than one million people?

On a side note, I really want Mother 3.

VoiceofPower @ Apr 29th 2006 6:57AM

15: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan

I think you need to get some facts straight here. Japan isn't Hawaii-sized. :P

Ninja Monkey Lover @ Apr 29th 2006 9:21AM

It's good to see that one of the "flagship" titles for the Xbox 360 (Ninety Nine Nights) is at least having some effect on the number sold. For a long time they didn't break 1500 units sold and were consistently below GameCube numbers. I think they have beaten the GameCube for at least three weeks in a row now.

I seriously hope Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are at least ten times better than Ninety Nine Nights, though, or the Xbox 360 won't ever pass even the PS2 in sales.

It's also nice to see Mother 3 have such an impact on SP and GBM sales. It looks like Micro sales tripled over last week.

nintendo fan @ Apr 30th 2006 5:37PM

Wow it's a fierce battle between the famicom and the xbox now. Who will win?

edwin @ May 1st 2006 10:47AM

Maybe Game & Watch outsold Xbox too? :)

Catprog @ May 6th 2006 12:39AM

The combined sales of GBM and GBA SP almost beat the PSP and they beat the PS2.

God @ May 18th 2006 7:41AM

Why?

I'd like to take a moment to mention that i am an avid Nintendo supporter, and i said from the minute go - innovation and gameplay > graphics and shit battery times + you've also got the shitty ps2 ports coming to flood the PSP and all, so i guess PSP covers all areas, graphic whores, poor battery time and shit gameplay and that is the formular for success folks.. xD