ASCII Media Works tracks Japan's top selling games of 2009 (so far)

by Griffin McElroy on Dec 28th 2009 4:00PM

Yes, the year technically isn't over yet -- but let's be honest: Nobody's going to be buying any new games over the next four days. As such, Dengeki publisher ASCII Media Works thought it appropriate to track the 30 best-selling games in Japan for 2009. Or, rather, 99 percent of 2009.

There aren't too many big surprises; Dragon Quest IX took top honors with 4,089,136 units sold, and Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver came in second with 3,301,873 in sales. Despite having only been out for a little over a week, Final Fantasy XIII actually managed a sixth place finish with 1,455,505 units sold. Check out the full list of top-selling games after the jump.

[Via Kotaku]

Dragon Quest IX - 4,089,136
Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver - 3,301,873
Tomodachi Collection - 2,059,236
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 1,897,089
Wii Sports Resort - 1,499,058
Final Fantasy XIII - 1,455,505
Wii Fit Plus - 1,205,424
Monster Hunter 3 - 949,095
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G [PSP the Best] - 878,880
Inazuma Eleven 2 - 851,175
Mario & Luigi RPG 3 - 708,311
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - 571,981
Biohazard 5 (Resident Evil 5) - 552,553
Ryu ga Gotoku 3 - 525,826
Wii Fit - 499,251
Layton Kyoujyu to Majin no Fue - 481,311
Phantasy Star Portable 2 - 415,522
Mario Kart Wii - 404,751
Shin Sangoku Musou MULTI RAID - 397,080
Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon - 383,226
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii - 375,895
World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2010 - 370,831
Rhythm Heaven Gold - 361,292
Tales of Vesperia (PS3) - 352,961
Tales of The World: Radiant Mythology 2 - 339,523
Pokémon Platinum - 325,911
Gundam VS. Gundam NEXT PLUS - 323,531
Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode - 314,832
Gyakuten Kenji - 313,891
SD Gundam G Generation Wars - 306,985

Source

Reader Comments (64)

Well of COURSE DQIX is gonna be #1. It is japan.

Japan bought some good games.

Sarcasm? I hope so.

Tmac, I don't recall you ever talking about a game you do like. Care to share?

Why am I not surprised by that reply?

The only game he likes is Mass Effect. It's science.

Because it's just Tmac being his pessimist-self.

Out of that list the only game I like is nsmb wii. Everything else is more or less generic japanese crap.

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are the only games I hear he likes

ME2 aint out yet but hes sure to like it or everything is wrong with the world

tmac also hates grandmas and applesauce, at least that's what I heard

Come on guys, be fair... He enjoyed The Maw.

Dragon Quest has built an empire from the now-generic JRPG design they pioneered, I wouldn't have it any other way. Can't wait for IX to hit the US, and I am officially stoked for FFXIII - Final Fantasy XII was anything but generic as far as JRPGs go, it was a breath of fresh air. So glad S-E didn't listen to the whiners and drop all of the amazing advancements XII made!

I'm sure the Japanese would look at our charts and think the same thing, but I'm with tmac on this one. There are maybe 3 games in that list that I would consider purchasing (two of which I already have... MKW and NSMBW). I couldn't care less about the rest of the list.

Ahhhhh c'mon, everybody is just being shy of their love for Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode, but I understand...

tmac is like some kinda video game racist.

He also hates teddy bears and choo choo trains.

Monster Hunter, Yakuza, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Tales of & Phantasy Star are all games I have or intend to purchase.

I don't know how accurate it is but this is what VGchartz says are the top selling games in the "Americas"
http://www.vgchartz.com/ayearly.php

This sums up what Tmac thinks of himself. Not saying anything bad about him, but he can be very self-righteous at times:

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=imbest

NOTE: The author who wrote that is actually right. He is the center of the universe. Maddox is fucking kickass.

Now that you mention it I am pretty excellent.

he also hates excellence

Now, how did I know Tmac would post something like that? ;)

maddox fucking kicks ass if you're eight years old

Maddox kicks ass always. He makes Nolan North look like a goddamn clown. I'm dead serious.

I actually agree with tmac. Of that entire list of games, I'd consider about 5 to be good or decent. Never got into Monster Hunter, or manga, or anything else that looked like Hello Kitty was being raped by a Pokemon.

yeah all of the titles are from japan.

"So glad S-E didn't listen to the whiners and drop all of the amazing advancements XII made!"

Wait, what? Am I missing some sarcasm? Because FFXIII is -nothing- like FFXII.

"Out of that list the only game I like is nsmb wii. Everything else is more or less generic japanese crap."

Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver is on that list and it's fantastic. It's the best handheld game I've ever played and I've been playing handheld games since 1990.

@ BM - Holy crap, you're right... Where have you been the last few years? I've been under the impression that the battle system was based on XII's new system, I'm officially not stoked for Final Fantasy XIII now. Thanks for the correction though, as unfortunate as the information was =(

I swear I feel as if I'm the only one who actually loved XII's changes, I guess I'll just have to find time to play it again this year.

Tmac likes NSMB:Wii that alone is worth voting up even IF he hates every other game on that list.

TAKE THAT WII FIT PLUS!

Damn, the world makes a little more sense with FFXIII kicking some of those ridiculous games off the top spots.

Yeah but Resort is still above XIII! WTF?!

It's only been a week. By the end of january it will certainly be above wii sports resort

I wonder what Gundam VS. Gundam is all about?

I think the fact that its name has NEXT PLUS in it is more interesting than anything. Given the goofy naming conventions, I almost wish it was called Gundam vs. Gundam NEXT PLUS ALSO.

Gundam vs. Gundam NEXT PLUS ALSO: Gundam+

2v2 Giant Fighting Robots of an extremely popular franchise.

Gundam vs Gundam plays like every other Gundam game (Think Federation vs. ZAFT) but it has almost all the main Gundams, up to Double 0, the latest one.

It's sorta like Madden in a way, because the gameplay rarely changes but the roster of Gundams varies.

Can someone explain to me the popularity of RPGs in Japan?

Well, it all has to do with the popularity of FPS's in the U.S.

Can you explain the popularity of shooters in the US?

Anyone who wear's they're hat sideways loves shooters. We're talking about 80% of the US population here!

It is in the name: Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG)

I think I have some ideas on why FPS games are not popular in Japan, while popular in the USA.

1. Household gun ownership in Japan is very low (0.6%), in the US it is very high (41%)
http://www.conservapedia.com/Gun_Control_in_Japan

2. For every 100 people in the US, there are 90 guns. In Japan, for every 100 people, there is less than 1 gun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_gun_ownership

2.a. Gun crime (see link 1) , homicide, and incarceration rates are vastly different in Japan and the USA. In the US, death by gun and murders in general are much more likely. Homicide is 13.5 times higher in the US than in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

3. "Militarism" is not popular in Japan ever since WW2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7704729.stm

No idea why anyone likes RPGs though. I can't stand 'em!

I mentioned this before in another article, The Japanese are also a very group oriented society. They live and die by the concept that only by being in a group, and extracting its best qualities, can you succeed. It's why the Voltrons and Power Rangers have been so popular--and why JRPGs follow that formula of picking and choosing your "party" to make the ultimate combo attack. You can't really do that with the average shooter. Even with games like Metal Gear, you still have a whole team helping snake through CODEC.

The second main part is that the real world is far too rigid in Japanese society. In the real world the Japanese have their roles: boring, often predetermined, and hierarchical. The Japanese do not touch that real world. They often have to go into some dark, secret, temporary, world in order to be themselves and do all that they dream to do. It's why so much manga keeps having the same themes.

In a way, RPGs are more "real life" to the Japanese than stuff from the West. Hence, why western games aren't always popular.

@JRM,

While your theories may have some validity, I think you may be forgetting some key things. “Group and class based RPG” mechanics in “JRPGs” are actually all inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, which originated in America and popularized those concepts in the 1970s, perhaps a decade before “JRPG” video games really began their rise to fame. Every D&D game is about party-based and class-based play.

D&D itself was at least partially inspired by the fame of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, which is a book of “party-based” characters, each of whom have rigid roles to fill in terms of racial abilities, skills, and combat preferences (Legolas the dexterous elf archer, Gimli the strong dwarven axe user, Gandalf the intelligent magic wielder). LOTR came out in the 1950s.

#28. Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode - 314,832 WHOO YEAH REPRESENT!

BUT WHERE'S DDR?

Tomodachi collection is the surprising one off of there. That game's been popping on and off the weekly top 10 pretty much all year, and its a game that has gotten little praise or attention otherwise

I really don't see what's holding Nintendo back from localizing it. It's basically their version of The Sims. Should do well worldwide.

What stops Nintendo from localizing half of the cool shit they release in Japan? It's just a policy of theirs to only release the commercial stuff. Same goes for some of Sony's stuff ... I guess they just think it's very Japan centric and that it wouldn't do well in the other regions.

That's what i'm saying. It is commercial, it's basically The Sims with Miis, from what i've heard.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 221 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 155 comments
Blizzard taking Valve to court over 'DOTA' trademark 112 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments

ASCII Media Works tracks Japan's top selling games of 2009 (so far)

Reader Comments (64)

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:04PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:06PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:18PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:20PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:21PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:21PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:25PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:26PM zefur said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:32PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:34PM Granger said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:38PM Vidikron said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:42PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:47PM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:48PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:53PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:56PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:15PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:16PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:34PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:40PM Uncontrol said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:42PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 6:44PM berzirk said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 6:50PM Marcus Carter said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 7:33PM bm111 said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 8:48PM CheeziePotato said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 11:15PM Granger said

Posted: Dec 29th 2009 7:16PM Foetoid said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:06PM Wiizer said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:14PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:18PM The Spoony said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:10PM Nigeria said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:35PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:18PM Nigeria said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 10:32PM asymptotic said

Posted: Dec 29th 2009 1:55AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:31PM Sweet Dude said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:43PM Wiizer said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:44PM bongoes said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:16PM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:32PM Katana Master said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 8:52PM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 8:52PM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Dec 29th 2009 3:26AM JRMG said

Posted: Dec 29th 2009 11:39AM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 4:45PM Sordid State of Eclairs said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:08PM Rob Liv said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 5:21PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 6:24PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

Posted: Dec 28th 2009 6:33PM Mr Khan said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Xbox Live Indie Gems: Nyan Cat Adventure

Dark Side 'Cause It Looks Cool: The Failings of Moral Choice in Games

Frictional teases a new Amnesia project, possibly set in China

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days