He has made similar comments recently about Mario Kart Wii selling so well because it is like the SNES version, and not backing up the statement at all.  He gives no reasoning for this, and since I don't see the connection, I can only conclude he is wrong.

He usually talks sense but this is so daft it extinguishes all the sensible things he has said in the past.

Anyway I like Nintendo's new approach. Make the Mario game Japan wants (NSMB DS and Wii) and make the Mario game the rest of the world wants (Galaxy and Galaxy 2). Japan wins and we double win cause we get Galaxy 2 and a bonus Mario game.

since this is a chartz site I'll add some chartz

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=Japan&game1=Super+Mario+Galaxy+-+Wii&reg2=Japan&game2=Super+Mario+Sunshine+-+GC&reg3=Japan&game3=Super+Mario+64+-+N64&weeks=128

As you can see, 3D Mario fell from grace in Japan after Mario 64. Sunshine has performed by far the worse, while Galaxy already beat Sunshine's lifetime total and continues to sell a few thousand a week.

If you bring in Mario 64DS, you can see that Galaxy even outperformed (so far) the DS version even though the DS userbase is much larger.

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=Japan&game1=Super+Mario+Galaxy+-+Wii&reg2=Japan&game2=Super+Mario+Sunshine+-+GC&reg3=Japan&game3=Super+Mario+64+DS+-+DS&weeks=175

From this we can conclude that Galaxy has been successful in Japan. While not wildly successful, it has in no way harmed the console. Now, if Nintendo released the game and expected to be able to do nothing for the next 2 years and systems would sell, then they were stupid, but I doubt Nintendo believed that. Of course, Maelstrom seems to believe that Nintendo expected just that.

Rough numbers

Galaxy has sold to 1/8 of the Wii owners in Japan vs. more than 1/6 in the Americas and about 1/6 in Others.

This is a difference, but without running the stats, I cannot tell you if it is statistically significant.

Malstrom does seem to operate though from the premise that the SNES versions of the games are the pinnacle, the perfect form. I do not agree with this arguement.

Furthermore, I find it a bit less convincing though, given the fundamental shifts happening in the Japanese markets, an external analysis of that market based upon numbers from the other side of the world.

Malestrom is starting to get annoying, I fear.

Mike from Morgantown

Last I checked the Wii is the best selling console in Japan.... what problems is it having?

That's a ridiculous statement. Console games in general haven't been selling too well this generation in Japan. And even then, Super Mario Galaxy has sold about 1.1 million units there, and is still selling.

If you take a look at Super Mario Sunshine's sales in Japan, you can see that Super Mario Galaxy is a succes in Japan, nothing more and nothing less.

The lack of Galaxy's popularity, might be reflected in the problem, the two things are somehow connected.

But as I alrady pointed out, he is often exaggerates thing when posting on his blog instead of articles.

I kinda agree too. Honestly, Galaxy failed in Japan. Yes, it sold 1 million copies, but I'm sure Nintendo expected more. I know 3D Mario hasn't been successful in Japan and that it already sold more than Sunshine, but the Wii user base is bigger and this game was supposed to be a fresh take on the franchise. In America it happened in that way, but not in Japan.

Is not that japanese stopped buying Wiis because of Galaxy, but it didn't moved consoles as other games like Mario Kart and Wii Fit. It stopped the momentum in some way.

It will be interesting to see if 2D Mario can move consoles the same way and know if Malstrom was right about that.

I agree with him, SMG failed.

Actually Shigeru did say that, Reggie also celebrated once it broke 1 million.

In fact, if Galaxy had done what 2d Mario did for Japan, then a study would of expressed with much more precision on what elements had the mass appeal, that would mean that Wii's would have sold quite a bit more.