For a system in its 5th year on the market, the 3DS is looking to have an exceptional lineup this year in Japan. Four heavy hitters in particular have a shot at becoming the best selling game of the year in Japan, but which one will take the title?
Pokemon Sun/Moon, recently unveiled for the system, will likely launch sometime this fall-winter and will be the second pair of mainline releases on the 3DS (succeeding Pokemon XY, which sold over 4.3m units following its launch in 2013). Considering the speculation of Nintendo's next system, Sun/Moon may not have as much time as X/Y to sell on the 3DS if they decide to launch their next handheld within its release window.
Yokai Watch 3 will launch this summer for the system, and is following the success of Yokai Watch 2 Ganso/Honke (over 3.1m copies) and Shinuchi (over 2.6m copies). However, the brand overall has been noted to be less powerful than it was at the time these games launched, so it will be interesting to see how the third iteration performs.
Monster Hunter Stories is a brand new spinoff for the franchise, taking on a more kid-friendly nature along with turn-based combat. Recent releases in the series include Monster Hunter 4 (over 3.4m copies), which launched in 2013 and Monster Hunter X (over 2.7m copies), which launched late 2015. Stories is a much different case than these, however, so its impact in the market it's targeting could go either way.
Finally, Dragon Quest XI, while not officially revealed to have a 2016 release date, has a decent chance of releasing this year on the 3DS so it's being included. The last mainline game in the series, Dragon Quest IX for the DS, sold over 4.3m copies in Japan, making it the best selling title in the series there. One thing potentially holding this version's sales back is that it's multiplatform with the PS4, so sales will be split in some form.
What do you think?
