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Nintendo Top Japanese Game Charts

Posted by simoniker on from the happy-happy-joy-joy dept.

Thanks to Reuters for the news that Nintendo have recaptured the top of the videogame software charts for the first half of the business year in Japan. According to the piece, "Konami, which shoved Nintendo aside in the April-September period last year thanks to its popular soccer game [the Winning Eleven series], slipped to No.2", as the two companies "sold a total 3.1 million and 2.9 million units respectively", with Super Mario Advance 4 and Wario Ware, Inc particular sales highlights for Nintendo. The story also notes: "As for hardware, sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console remained in a slump in Japan, selling only 28,656 units, well below Sony's PlayStation 2 at 1.1 million and Nintendo's GameCube at 319,037."

21 comments

  1. Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by Sevn · · Score: 1

    I was surprised months ago at the number of posts predicting Nintendo's demise. I never saw that happening. They have been in business forever. Unlike other companys that come and go, they adapt rapidly to changing market conditions. They are a huge, massive brand name with ferocious legal and monetary muscle. The "rodzilla!!!" of the console gaming world. Not that I'll be parting with my PS2 anytime soon, but I'm definitely buying a few GameCubes for christmas presents this year.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
    1. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Not that I'll be parting with my PS2 anytime soon, but I'm definitely buying a few GameCubes for christmas presents this year."

      That's the nice thing about consoles. There's no reason to give up one for the other. Let me rephrase that, there are practical reasons, i.e. trading in one console towards another. But there's no reason to not have both.

      As for Christmas presents, I think for XMAS I'm going to by my gf her own gamecube. We've been playing Mario Kart on the N-64 lately. I think it'd be fun to get a second game cube along with broadband adapters and play against each other, each on our own TV.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the nice thing about consoles. There's no reason to give up one for the other. Let me rephrase that, there are practical reasons, i.e. trading in one console towards another. But there's no reason to not have both.

      Please allow me to introduce you to the Backspace key.

    3. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Please allow me to introduce you to the Backspace key."

      Chickenhawk is back!

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    4. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by Khyl'Dran · · Score: 1

      "As for Christmas presents, I think for XMAS I'm going to by my gf her own gamecube. We've been playing Mario Kart on the N-64 lately. I think it'd be fun to get a second game cube along with broadband adapters and play against each other, each on our own TV." Oppositively, you could play Mario Kart on the SAME TV, thereby actually staying with your girlfriend in the same room, and in close proximity, even though you are both looking fixatedly at a TV

    5. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by Daetrin · · Score: 1
      Oppositively, you could play Mario Kart on the SAME TV, thereby actually staying with your girlfriend in the same room, and in close proximity, even though you are both looking fixatedly at a TV

      Who said the TVs would be in different rooms? I've got two TVs in my living room (medium size screen and old 13" tv/vcr) and there's nothing to say he doesn't have a similar setup.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    6. Re:Nintendo big market monsta!!!! by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Oppositively, you could play Mario Kart on the SAME TV, thereby actually staying with your girlfriend in the same room, and in close proximity, even though you are both looking fixatedly at a TV"

      I like how everybody gives me girlfriend advice here. I mentioned going to a movie by myself once, and I got several why didn't you take her?!?!! messages. HELLO, women don't like Star Trek!

      Anyhoo, if we're playing a game, we're interacting. Doesn't matter if we're in the same room or not. The reason that we'd want to split it up on two TVs is that we want to be able to play the game without an unfair advantage. Now it's not lal that necessary in Mario Kart, but it'd be a nicety. Try to imagine Goldeneye that way. Even if we were on different TVs in the same room, there's still the audio element. I useta do that with a coworker in our office. We used to spend late nights in our cubes playing Age of Empires, using the speakerphones to talk to each other. I used to piss him off because his phone was close to his speakers, so I could hear where he was on the map. With that knowledge, I'd stage suprise attacks. heh.

      In any case, yeah I suppose would play in the same room like we always do. If that takes away from the fun of the game, sitting next to each other doing it isn't going to save it.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. Hrm... by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

    Is it that Nintendo is just that good, or that everybody else is that bad? The latest and greatest taking the #1 slot is understandable and expected, but Konami being beaten out by a decade-old platformer? IMO, that sounds rather damning of modern games.

    1. Re:Hrm... by PaleZer0 · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't call it damning of modern games. Mario Bros 3 is thought of by many as the best game ever created. Also, wario ware is one of the most original games every created it its simple and addicting execution. I'd say it alone is a big Hurrah! for modern gaming.

      --

      PaleHour
    2. Re:Hrm... by Babbster · · Score: 1

      Don't forget that GBA games are cheaper and the GBA has a massive installed hardware base (once combined, the GBA and GBASP outsell every other console, including the PS2, every week), along with the fact that it has relatively little competition in the mass-market handheld arena, even in Japan where they have the Wonderswan. The surprising thing is really that they haven't dominated the software chales charts more often with their GBA titles.

    3. Re:Hrm... by rekkanoryo · · Score: 1
      And the best thing about the GBA is that you can still drop in your decade-old original GB cartridges and play them on the latest and greatest in portable gaming hardware. Even GB Color and Super GB cartridges work. You really don't find this kind of backward compatibility anywere else in the gaming world, which to me is quite impressive.

      Now if someone would just come up with a way for me to play my NES games on a GBA I'd go out and buy myself another GBA and buy the family a couple as well. Some of those games STILL have excellent replay value...the original "Legend of Zelda" and "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" come to mind, along with countless others that are in a bunch of anti-static bags collecting dust in my closet.

    4. Re:Hrm... by NonSequor · · Score: 1

      Actually, I've heard that you can install an NES emulator and a good many games on one of these. There's an emulator here

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
    5. Re:Hrm... by Ondo · · Score: 1

      The latest and greatest taking the #1 slot is understandable and expected, but Konami being beaten out by a decade-old platformer? IMO, that sounds rather damning of modern games.

      That "decade-old platformer" is the best-selling video game ever made that was never bundled with a console, and does include new stuff for this release. GBA games are all about a decade behind the home consoles in terms of technology, so it's fine on that front.

      And it was hardly SMA4 alone that beat out Konami. The article says it and Wario Ware sold over 300,000 units each, and that Nintendo sold 3.1 million units and Konami 2.9 million units. So SMA4 was around 10% of Nintendo's total. So to someone make this "rather damning of modern games" is a bit silly.

  3. Nintendo has something others seem to lack... by OccSub · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They have games that are still just plain FUN. It seems that the more popular American games (mostly for Xbox and PC), and the more popular PS2 games are darker, and focus on cool instead of fun. Nintendo doesn't seem to care about the latest fashion trends in games. They just keep making games that are simply fun. I just got F-Zero GX, and it's simply an incredibly fun experience. I just started playing Max Payne again, however, and it's not so much fun as it is "hey, bullet time, cool." Nobody complains about weak stories on Nintendo Games, because that's not their main focus. On the hardware end, that purple plastic cube and the grab-and-go controller both exude a "just-play-me" aura. The buttons are all unique on the Game Cube, "A" is a huge green one, "B" is a small red one, "X" is a horizontal bar, and "Y" is a vertical bar. The right analog stick is clearly, and typically programmed to be, a camera control. The left is obviously where your thumb goes. People hardly ever complains about controls in a Nintendo game!

    Congratulations and best of luck to Nintendo, for being the last company to hold out and keep gaming as a fun pastime that everyone can enjoy.

    1. Re:Nintendo has something others seem to lack... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just M2ed the Troll Mod as unfair, because it was.

      Whoever modded this as a Troll, it wasn't.

    2. Re:Nintendo has something others seem to lack... by Babbster · · Score: 1
      I never understand people praising the Gamecube controller design. I personally find it quite unpalatable (I have a GC, and I play games on it, but still...). The triggers feel odd like a combination of triggers and buttons, the button layout throws me (probably a bigger problem since I own and play on all three consoles) and the yellow stick is awful. Add in a too-small D-pad and it just feels wrong.

      Now, I will admit that first-party Nintendo games seem to take advantage of the controller and are generally as easy to control as anything on the other consoles. But when moving to third-party games, the controller becomes a chore for me, to the point that I won't buy a third-party game for the GC unless its exclusive (a policy I may violate with what sounds like cool GBAGC use in the next console Sims game).

      Since I've owned all three consoles, I've come to feel most comfortable for long periods of time using the Xbox controller, with the DualShock second and the GC controller a distant third.

      But, maybe it's just me. :)

    3. Re:Nintendo has something others seem to lack... by UltimaL337Star · · Score: 0

      Fun:
      Something you can get into easily without meeting horrible consquences because of an uninformed decision causing you to be pissed off but come back later because you already payed the months subscribtion

      not fun:
      everquest

  4. Save Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Let me just save all the Fan boys and Anti-Fan boys some time.
    [Fan Boy]
    Viva Nintendo
    PS2/Xbox sucks
    I love Mario
    Etc, Etc, Etc.

    [Anti-Fan boy]
    Nintendo is to kiddie
    PS2/Xbox Rocks
    All the games are the same
    Etc, Etc, Etc.

  5. I know why PS2 still sell so well by BigKato · · Score: 1

    It's because people have to replace their broken ones. But anyways I just got F-Zero, Metroid Prime, and Soul Caliber II so my GC is going to be getting some work after sitting dormant for awhile. Which is good cuz the Wavebird controllers kick ass. By far the best console controller ever produced. (Besides Steel Batallion's mammoth.)

    Does anyone think it's strange to see Nintendo and Sega's logo pop up on the same screen of some games? Ten years ago they were pretty much the only competition for each other and now Sega's making software for Nintendo. Crazy, man, crazy.

    --
    So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
    1. Re:I know why PS2 still sell so well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does anyone think it's strange to see Nintendo and Sega's logo pop up on the same screen of some games? Ten years ago they were pretty much the only competition for each other and now Sega's making software for Nintendo. Crazy, man, crazy.

      I agree. I used to debate with friends in school about Sega vs. Nintendo. Weird man!