I have looked up statistics for millionsellers for all console winners each generation in Japan and one trend seems to be clear. Millionsellers in Japan on consoles are getting more and more rare. Here are the numbers for NES,SNES,PS1,PS2 and WII according to Famitsu.
3 MILLION + IN RED 2 MILLION + IN GREEN 1 MILLION + IN BLUE
NES: SNES: PS1: PS2:
1.Super Mario Bros 6,81 1.Super Mario Kart 3,82 1.Dragon Quest VII 3,89 1.Dragon Quest VIII 3,538
2.Super Mario Bros 3 3,84 2.Super Mario World 3,55 2.Final Fantasy VIII 3,50 2.Final Fantasy X 2,325
3.Dragon Quest III 3,80 3.Dragon Quest VI 3,20 3.Final Fantasy VII 3,277 3.Final Fantasy XII 2,322
4.Dragon Quest IV 3,10 4.Donkey Kong Country 3,00 4.Final Fantasy IX 2,707 4.Final Fantasy X-2 1,96
5.Super Mario Bros 2 2,66 5.Street Fighter II 2,90 5.Gran Turismo 2,186 5.Dragon Quest V (re) 1,611
6.Golf 2,46 6.Dragon Quest V 2,80 6.Resident Evil 2 2,154 6.Gran Turismo 3 A-spe 1,438
7.Dragon Quest II 2,40 7.Final Fantasy VI 2,55 7.Hot Shots Golf 1,777 7.Dynasty Warriors 4 1,197
8.Baseball 2,35 8.Final Fantasy V 2,45 8.Derby Stallion 1,737 8.Kingdom Hearts II 1,129
9.Mahjong 2,13 9.DKC 2 2,21 9.Gran Turismo 2 1,46 9.Winning Eleven 6 1,116
10.Family Stadium 2,05 10.Super Mario All Stars 2,12 10.Resident Evil 3 1,383 10.WSWE 7 1,1
11.Volleyboll 1,98 11.Street Fighter II Turbo 2,1 11.Final Fantasy Tactics 1,27 11.Hot Shots Golf Fore! 1,083
12.Tetris 1,81 12.Chrono Trigger 2,03 12.Resident Evil 1,194 12. Gran Turismo 4 1,066
13.The Legend of Zelda 1,69 13.Yoshi´s Island 1,77 13.Tekken 3 1,186 13. WSWE 8 1,059
14.Mario Bros 1,63 14.DKC 3 1,77 14.Dragon Quest IV (re) 1,173 14. PES 2007 1,052
15.Zelda II 1,61 15.Super Puyo Puyo 1,7 15.Chocobo no Fushigina 1,165 15.Dynasty Warriors 3 1,042
16.Excite Bike 1,57 16.Secret of Mana 1,5 16.SaGa Frontier 1,088 16.Samurai Warriors 1,024
17.Dr. Mario 1,53 17.Super Mario RPG 1,47 17.Tekken 2 1,088 17.Onimusha 2 1,003
18.Soccer 1,53 18.Dragon Ball Z 1,45 18.Dance Dance Rev 1,023
19.F1 Race 1,52 19.Final Fantasy IV 1,44
20.Dragon Quest 1,5 20.Dragon Quest III (re) 1,4
20.Ninja Hattori Kun 1,5 21.Romancing SaGa 3 1,3
22.4 Players Mahjong 1,45 21.Super Street Fighter II 1,3
23. Kung Fu 1,42 23.Dragon Quest I&II (re) 1,2
23. Pro Wrestling 1,42 23. Derby Stallion 2 1,2
25.Final Fantasy III 1,4 25.Romancing SaGa 2 1,18
26.Family Stadium 87 1,3 26. Zelda-A Link to the Past 1,16
27.Xevious 1,26 27. Dragon Ball Z II 1,15
28. Gegege no Kitaru 1,25 28. Kirby Super Star DX 1,1
28. Dragon Ball 1,25 28. Derby Stallion 96 1,1
30. Tennis 1,21
31.Twin Bee 1,2
31. Goemon 1,2
33. Doraemon 1,15
34. Lode Runner 1,1
35. Kid Icarus 1,09
36. Family Stadium 88 1,08
37. Famicom Jump 1,06
38. Kinniku Man 1,05
38. Adventure Island 1,05
40. Metroid 1,04
41. Gradius 1,00
To sum it up: 3 MILLION + 2 MILLION + 1 MILLION +
NES: 4 10 41
SNES: 4 12 29
PS1: 3 6 18
PS2: 1 3 17
That´s a negative trend isn´t it? Very sad, of course Japan is very much a handheld country now and there´s plenty of millionsellers for NDS but to me consoles are special and I think it´s a bad thing if big sellers for consoles are becoming a thing of the past. I think it´s safe to say that PS2 are on it´s way down now and I cannot see any more sellers for it making it of the magnitude of million in numbers so these numbers for PS2 will likely stand.
In the current generation: 3 MILLION + 2 MILLION + 1 MILLION +
WII: 2 4 7
PS3: 0 0 0
360: 0 0 0
It probably looks like we have to put our hopes up for Wii this generation to see plenty of millionsellers on consoles in Japan, Final Fantasy and maybe Gran Turismo will do it for PS3 otherwise I don´t see it for the console as of now. It looks like developers are going to have to rely more on western markets from now on to make huge profits.
What do you think, are consoles slowly dying in Japan?
Source: Famitsu,JapanGameCharts.com,Magic box
