Until PSP came along, no 2nd place platform in Japan had ever sold even 6 million units...so I don't think so.
NES was essentially a monopoly in Japan (except for the PC-Engine I think).
SNES slaughtered the Genesis in Japan
PS1 obliterated Saturn and N64
PS2 destroyed GC and Xbox
Wii is creaming PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan
Its something like
NES generation: Nintendo = 85%+ marketshare
SNES generation: Nintendo = 83% marketshare
PS1 generation (w/o DC): Sony = 66% marketshare, Sega/Nintendo about 17% each
PS2 generation (w/ DC): Sony = 79% (still growing), Nintendo = 12.5%, Sega = 7%, Microsoft = 1.5%
In other words, unless there are three semi-viable competing platforms in Japan, one platform tends to end up with 80% marketshare or more. Portables like GB, GBC, GBA fell into this pattern as well until PSP arrived and knocked Nintendo portables down into the 70 percentile range
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
