North American numbers from Magic Box

[zurich]

Top 20 Video Games in North America
(Updated: September 17, 2003)
 

Rank	Game Title 		Publisher 		Platform 	USD 		Units 
1 	Madden NFL 2004 	Electronic Arts 	PS2 	$70,927,680 1,445,950 
2 	Madden NFL 2004 	Electronic Arts 	XB 	 $15,280,950   309,890 
3 	Soul Calibur II 	Namco 		       GC 	 $8,897,202 	179,605 
4 	Soul Calibur II 	Namco 		       XB 	 $6,041,354 	122,092 
5 	NCAA Football 	  Electronic Arts 	PS2 	$6,015,789 	121,036 
6 	Soul Calibur II 	Namco 		       PS2 	$5,951,200 	120,104 
7 	Silent Hill 3 	  Konami 		      PS2 	$5,628,295 	121,251 
8 	Star Wars: KOTOR	LucasArts 		   XB 	 $5,479,803 	110,514 
9 	GR:Island Thunder  Ubi Soft 		    XB 	 $4,810,482 	119,325 
10 	Mario Golf:TT	  Nintendo 		    GC 	 $4,644,774 	93,441 
11 	Madden NFL 2004   Electronic Arts 	GC 	 $3,737,192 	76,136 
12 	F-Zero GX 		  Nintendo 		    GC 	 $3,214,610 	64,842 
13 	GTA:Vice City	  Take Two 		    PS2 	$2,662,597 	68,930 
14 	Chaos Legion 	  Capcom 		      PS2    $2,570,816	 51,620 
15 	Halo 			    Microsoft 		   XB 	 $2,321,869 	47,856 
16 	Pokemon Ruby 	  Nintendo 		    GBA    $2,306,902 	71,242 
17 	Midnight Club II  Take Two 		    PS2    $2,177,606 	50,657 
18 	Splashdown: RGW	THQ 			      PS2 	$2,111,133 	53,095 
19 	NBA Street Vol. 2 Electronic Arts 	PS2 	$2,008,671 	46,254 
20 	Pokemon Sapphire  Nintendo 		    GBA    $1,999,477 	60,715 
21 	Enter The Matrix  Atari 		       PS2    $1,963,961 	46,884 
22 	DK Country 		 Nintendo 		    GBA 	$1,706,547 	56,589 
23 	NCAA Football 	 Electronic Arts 	XB     $1,690,547 	34,086

Fricking hell, remind me never to format another one of these charts.

 

[Sonic]

Needless to say, these numbers are very suspicious. ESPN Football sold a hell of a lot more than 50,000 copies yet it isn't even on the list. Where did Magic Box get their numbers from?

 

[Phil]

Interesting that the GC and Xbox version of Soul Calibur II both sold more than the PS2 one. Could this be a sign that most DC users/fans changed to GC/Xbox or is this just a coincidence?

 

[zurich]

Needless to say, these numbers are very suspicious. ESPN Football sold a hell of a lot more than 50,000 copies yet it isn't even on the list. Where did Magic Box get their numbers from?

When was ESPN released?

 

[cthellis42]

I think it's mainly a sign of GC users being absolutely parched for any high-profile 3D fighting games... and fighting games in general. (At least of the classic variety.)

 

[RaolinDarksbane]

Or it could be that people would rather play as Link than Heihachi or Spawn.

 

[cthellis42]

For multi-console owners, I would assume controller preference had more impact than the special character, though Link himself would have more pull from Nintendo-philes, true.

 

[Sonic]

I whole-heartedly agree with Link being a big factor in the higher sales of SC2 for the Gamecube. I was in a local Best Buy and they had all three versions up for play. No one was at the PS2, 1 was at Xbox, and 4 were at the Gamecube. Mind you this was at 7 PM at night if that has anything to do with it. I don't know, but Link definitely bolstered the sales of the Gamecube SC2.

 

[Blade]

Actually, I was swayed by controller design (Xbox or GCN) but got the GCN version of SC2 for Link.

I can't say I'm disappointed, because I've had a very good time with the GCN controller. Get used to using the analog stick to move and work with the awkward action buttons for a little while and there's really no reason to rule out the GCN version.

I gotta say that Link can be pretty cheap* at times, though.. even if he has disadvantages.

* Projectiles..

 

[zurich]

Well, if it was about graphics, people would go for the Xbox version. For control, PS2. For special character.. GC. One would think that it would have sold more on PS2, but perhaps the flood of fighting games, not to mention VF4:Evo for $19 USD released a week earlier, had something to do it.

 

[RaolinDarksbane]

I have been hearing about GC owners buying anything for their consoles because they are game-starved when explaining why some games have good sales(like Animal Crossing, ToS, Metroid, Zelda, etc...).... and I think that it is really ridiculous. Consoles(especially GC) are pretty cheap, I think it's relatively rare that homes today would only have 1 console instead of 2(or 3). I happen to live in a below-average income home yet we have all 3 consoles(4 if we count the extra PS2) and a lot of my friends own about 2 or more consoles in their house.

 

[cthellis42]

Indeed. PS2 pretty much gets EVERY major fighting game (sans DOA3), so it's not like they're beating down the walls. Plus, since many own other consoles as well, they may chase down other versions for whatever their reasons.

At any rate, since we're talking about fighters, who else is randy over seeing Onimusha Buraiden? My multi-tap will be functional in a fighting game again! Woooo! Hehe. And the thing looks, how shall we say, kickass. Hopefully there will be SOME semblance of depth to it, though.

P.S. Link irritates. Projectiles have no place in Soul Calibur. <grumble>

 

[Ozymandis]

Doesn't Necrid have a projectile attack too?

 

[cthellis42]

Hehe, let's not get into Necrid... I'm none too wild about a Todd McFarlane-designed random guy in there either.

At any rate, offhand I haven't seen one shooting out of Necrid, so I can't vouch for it. I also haven't heard any unbalance coming from it, while Link's have prominance.

 

[zurich]

Don't think so, Spawn does though (otherwise he fits in somewhat decently).

Call me crazy, but Spawn just sounds badass in Japanese

(Nightmare is still the shiznit though)

 

[LisaJoy]

I have been hearing about GC owners buying anything for their consoles because they are game-starved when explaining why some games have good sales(like Animal Crossing, ToS, Metroid, Zelda, etc...).... and I think that it is really ridiculous. Consoles(especially GC) are pretty cheap, I think it's relatively rare that homes today would only have 1 console instead of 2(or 3). I happen to live in a below-average income home yet we have all 3 consoles(4 if we count the extra PS2) and a lot of my friends own about 2 or more consoles in their house.

absolutely correct, far from game starved..

in a very short time I had to buy Mario Golf, F-Zero GX, Soul Calibur 2 for GC, not to mention the 7 other games I purchased for the 4 other systems(I could PC and GBA as viable systems ... if I buy for it, it counts to me).
I'm not starving for games, I'm starving for cash.. I chose the GC version of SC2 for link.. I admit it.

 

[cthellis42]

I believe all of us have said "fighting game" starved. Specifically, high profile ones of the classic (i.e. not 4-player "melee" ones) variety, in either 2D or 3D, and I will stand by that. What have we...? I think Bloody Roar, X-Men, and Mortal Kombat are all there are. No Street Fighters (though actually there might be a cross-platform VS. title I've forgotten about), no 2D or 3D standouts (MKA would be about as "high profile" as it gets), nothing they HAVE pushed or is really worth pushing... SCII is really the first that can count as a "showcase title."

 

[LisaJoy]

so not having a tekken game is "Fighting Game Starved"
GC has a Streetfighter game, but you say.. "but its crossplatform".. uhm if you have one Streetfighter game, you have them all.. its more overused and repackaged than cranberries ..

if you have SC2 and MK5, is anyone going to cry for not having DOA3? Tekken some may miss but I've never been a big fan(I love MK for the awesome characters, which is where Tekken falls flat.. the characters are just so amazingly goofy I can not take them seriously)

 

[cthellis42]

No, not having a high quality one to showcase, nor a well-respected series. Tekken and Virtua Fighter are the long-running titans of 3D fighters, and though Xbox has them neither, they made a graphical showcase of DOA3 and marketed it through the roof. (It's not what I would call "high class" as fighters go, but it's fun enough for the masses, so her.) Most Street Fighters are certainly respected, but I imagine Capcom vs SNK2's effect was lessened much by its age. I'd been playing it for a long time on Dreamcast! PS2 has already had it for a year. I don't think the new versions attracted much attention excepting the Live play that Xbox had.

And offhand, if you think "you have one Streetfighter game, you have them all," you obviously don't play them much. But yes, in this case the repackaging hurts, but only because the EXACT game was out in many other forms for a long time. There's also the fact imagining to play CvS2 on that controller gives me the willies...

Mortal Kombat came and went, and offhand I'm not sure how well it did anywhere. Considering the dragging through the dirt MK got for years beforehand, I'm sure most folks were sceptical. (And after playing it, the game is no great shakes.) It certainly doesn't command the attention it once did.

Granted, both Xbox and GC are pretty light on those style of fighting games, but DOA2 had made a name for itself (right after Tekken and VF and it's DC-mate Soul Calibur) and was a recent presence, and DOA3 was turned into a high-profile, graphically-impressive launch title and was marketed to move.

The GameCube has lacked anything impressive enough until now, and I don't think I saw much marketing from them if any for the other games, whereas SCII is rightly pushed.

 

[Fox5]

Necrid does have a projectile, and it homes in on the opponent and is unblockable. However, it is very obvious and easy to dodge. Then again, so are link's, all 3 of his can be easily dodge with a side step. Spawn also has a projectile attack, and come on, what do you call Ivy's whip?

BTW, I think Mortal Kombat: DA sold quite well, I think near a million copies in total across all 3 systems.