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

I see a revival with the Wii.. the 1M+ will increase with time as the Wii is barely at the middel of it's life.

I think it's fair to not take it against 360 that they have no milion sellers... the console itself barely is over 1M....

Wii brings some increase...

PS3 is bringing it a little down.

X360 no comments.

Yes I know about the 360, I just thought I had to have it with the current gen. Microsofts goal is to try building a base for itself in Japan and by the looks of it they´re making it. Compared to XB the 360 has really improved the status for Microsoft in Japan (even if sales are still minimal).

I hope to see a revival for Wii with motion + as well. I think that we could perhaps see four new millionsellers for Wii in the near future (Wii Sports Resort, Monster Hunter 3, New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii Fit Plus) and perhaps five if Super Mario Galaxy manages to crawl over the millionmark (Famitsu has it as 955 k sold.)

Add in portables and your rend dies. The DS has sold 29 million sellers, the PSP has sold 3. By contrast the GBA sold 5 and the GB sold 25. The DS and PSP should be able to rack up another 20 million sellers between them

So no, developers do not need to rely on non Japanese markets

I wrote that Japan is a portable country and that DS has loads of millionsellers in my OP, I am talking about consoles. It seems that consoles in Japan are shrinking in favor of portables. So it seems that in developing games for consoles developers have to start relying on western markets more for huge profits.

This is true Samus Aran - but then why add
"It looks like developers are going to have to rely more on western markets from now on to make huge profits. " When they can simly rely on portables.

Anyway, I think the most important thing to say is that this chart is based off the full sales of each gen except the last.

The Wii will have many more million sellers in Japan than the PS2 did. It currently has 8 (I'm not sure where you got 7 from) add to that WSR, WF+, Zelda:Wii, SMG2, MH3, NSMB:Wii and it's then only 3 behind the PS2. KH3, FFCC-TCB, Mario Marty 9 and it's equal to the PS2
The PS3 can easily beat the GC's single million seller, just with FFXIII and GT5.

This generation represents the biggest increase in the Japanese gaming industry since SMB

Interesting, I didn't know the trend was happening with the previous consoles.

There are two points here.

The drop in software sales for consoles in not new.
Handhelds have become the systems of choice for Japanese gamers.

Together, this probably means that the old adage -- "As Japan goes, so goes the world" -- is no longer true.

Mike from Morgantown

Looking at this... was that adage ever true?