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Japanese Sales Charts, Week Ending November 21st

Despite a more than 10 percent increase on last week, and a suite of new entries, the Japanese software market still remains only 85 percent of the weekly average. This i...

David Jenkins, Blogger

November 26, 2004

2 Min Read
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Despite a more than 10 percent increase on last week, and a suite of new entries, the Japanese software market still remains only 85 percent of the weekly average. This is largely due to lower-ranked titles selling in extremely minor numbers, with only 68 games in the top 100 enjoying sales over 1,000 units (down from 80 titles last week). Even so, seasonal favorites such as the Momotaro Railway and Mario Party series have done well, with Hudson’s latest train simulator selling 122,000 units in its first week – compared to 101,00 for its predecessor. Mario Party 6 sold 99,000 units – 16,000 more than Mario Party 5 in the first week, although the inclusion of a bundled microphone will eat into Nintendo’s profits slightly with the newer game. Next week sees the release of Dragon Quest VIII (aka Dragon Warrior in the West), which is expected to sell more than 3 million units in Japan alone. Japanese analysts are hoping that this, combined with the imminent launch of the Nintendo DS, explains the continued lull in the market, as customers save their money for more anticipated titles. In hardware sales, the PlayStation 2 has increased its lead with a 64.64% market share, followed by the Game Boy Advance at 28.78%. Despite three titles in the top ten, the GameCube is at just 5.22%, compared to around 20% at the same time last year. The Xbox has enjoyed its third week at above 1%, with a 1.27% market share, although such a derisory figure still seems little cause for celebration.

TW

LW

Title

Publisher

Format

Release Date

1

NE

Momotaro Railway USA

Hudson

PS2

2004.11.18

2

NE

Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 3

Tomy

GC

2004.11.18

3

NE

Mario Party 6

Nintendo

GC

2004.11.18

4

NE

Dragon Ball: Advance Adventure

Banpresto

GBA

2004.11.18

5

NE

J-League Winning Eleven 8: Asia Championship

Konami

PS2

2004.11.18

6

1

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Nintendo

GBA

2004.11.11

7

2

Magna Carta

Banpresto

PS2

2004.11.11

8

NE

Pop'n Music 10

Konami

PS2

2004.11.18

9

4

Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Boushi

Nintendo

GBA

2004.11.04

10

3

Mario Tennis GC

Nintendo

GC

2004.10.28

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About the Author

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

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