Japan's top selling games of '02

[BenSkywalker]

1 Pocket Monster Sapphire Nintendo GBA RPG 11.21.02 1,391,612
2 Pocket Monster Ruby Nintendo GBA RPG 11.21.02 1,349,297
3 World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 Konami PS2 Sports 04.25.02 1,090,655
4 Onimusha 2 Capcom PS2 Action 03.07.02 949,325
5 Kingdom Hearts Square PS2 A.RPG 03.28.02 819,617
6 Shin Sangoku Musou 2 Mushouden Koei PS2 Action 08.29.02 741,185
7 Tales of Destiny 2 Namco PS2 RPG 11.28.02 736,129
8 Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo GC Action 7.19.02 655,136
9 Super Robot Taisen Impact Banpresto PS2 S.RPG 3.28.02 592,141
10 From TV Animation: One Piece Grand Battle 2 Bandai PSone Fighting 3.20.02 579,333
11 Mario Party 4 Nintendo GC Party 11.08.02 529,499
12 Virtua Fighter 4 Sega PS2 Fighting 01.31.02 521,705
13 SD Gundam G Generation Neo Bandai PS2 S.RPG 11.28.02 498,509
14 Let's Make a Pro Soccer Club 2002 Sega PS2 Simulation 03.07.02 496,943
15 Toruneko's Great Adventure 3: Mysterious Dungeons Enix PS2 RPG 10.31.02 494,224
16 Kirby Star: Fountain of Dream Nintendo GBA Action 10.25.02 462,184
17 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 9 Konami PS2 Sports 07.18.02 431,291
18 My Summer 2: Chapter of Sea Adventure Sony PS2 Adventure 07.11.02 400,506
19 Legend of Zelda: Baton of Wind Nintendo GC A.RPG 12.13.02 396,932
20 Mobile Suit Gundam: Lost War Chronicles Bandai PS2 Action 08.01.02 383,903

 

[Goldni]

Interesting. PS2 dominates GCN as far as hardware numbers yet Nintendo still finds away to sneak into the top software list. Pokemon has got to piss some of the Japanese companies off. It comes out late in the year and kicks everyone's ass. Guess it's really a tried and true Nintendo franchise after all and not a fad. Still amazing what PS2 is doing though. Sony is strong everywhere.

Zelda was near 400,000. How many weeks was that? Two or three? I know I saw numbers that showed it at 500,000. Still very respectable numbers though.

 

[CeiserSöze]

I thought pokemon was as good as dead. Seems it isn't...

MediaWorks numbers have Zelda at 400'000 while Media Create's are about 100'000 higher. Don't know who's right...

 

[Guest]

Million sellers are getting lesser with every passing year in Japan.

 

[Grall]

This is why I love the Japanese:

> 9 Super Robot Taisen Impact Banpresto

What a wacky name for a game! Super Robot Taisen!

*G*

 

[archie4oz]

Million sellers are getting lesser with every passing year in Japan.

Since when were there loads of them to begin with (Famicom days withstanding)? Besides, there's a lot more to pick from since the Famicom days. Nowadays there's on average twice as many videogame titles released into the public in Japan than in North American and Europe, plus the gaming per capita is much higher. Thus you have more diverse tastes and choices for gamers meaning fewer chances of a title going platinum compared to the other regions...

 

[Peppermonkey]

I really don't like Soccer games, and I don't see what the big deal is about soccer.

I guess it's extremely popular in Japan.

 

[zurich]

Two words: World and Cup.

 

[Mariner]

I really don't like Soccer games, and I don't see what the big deal is about soccer.

I guess it's extremely popular in Japan.

As Zurich mentioned, the World Cup was held in Japan & South Korea this year. As the second biggest sporting event in the World after the Olympics, surely you should have heard of this?

Although I'm a football fan (Soccer to you heathens), I must say that football computer games hold absolutely no interest for me whatsoever - I find them rather tedious.

As an example of how popular football is throughout the world, China's star player Li Tie has recently signed for Everton, a club in the English Premier League. One of their games was televised in China the other week and there were claims that it was watched by 300 million people.

 

[V3]

Although I'm a football fan (Soccer to you heathens), I must say that football computer games hold absolutely no interest for me whatsoever - I find them rather tedious.

Have you play WWE6 ?

 

[790]

I really don't like Soccer games, and I don't see what the big deal is about soccer.

Compared to what? It's the world's most popular game, with good reason. If you're a yank, remember, outside of the US nobody plays any of your games (AF,BB,BB) ;-0

Saying that, I'm not a soccer fan, and I would never touch a sports computer game. Except for extreme sports (wrestling is only extreme if the question is how stupid) , which are fun both in real life and on the console..

 

[Teasy]

I really don't like Soccer games, and I don't see what the big deal is about soccer.

Then you haven't watched enough of it Seriously, its the most popular sport in the world by far, so you really don't need to see what the big deal is to know that it is a big deal

If I had to describe why its so popular in a sentence, I'd say its the unpredictability and skill in the game that does it. But that really is far to simplified. Its so hard to describe why this game is so popular. There are so many eliments to it.

I'd say, to anyone who doesn't like the sport but is interested in why its so popular, take the time to watch it. If you can then watch the Premier League in England (that is shown even in the U.S) because its arguably the most exciting league in the world and watch more then one or two games, after all not every game can be enthralling.

Again if you can then watch Newcastle United games, especially at St James Park, they're usually very exciting. Because while we're excellent in attack and can score at pretty much any time, we can also be poor in defence and so allow the other team to attack too, which adds to the excitment of the game. Also the atmosphere at St James Park is incredible, one of the best in the world, and even comes through well on TV.

Mariner

I agree that most Football computer games are rubbish, especially the most known titles like FIFA. But some are excellent, ISS was the first really good Football game I played and at the moment the WE and PES series is head and shoulders above any other game out there. You should deffinately try WE5/6 or one of the PES games (on PS2) if you haven't already. Or if you don't have a PS2 then wait a few weeks and get it on GC. The newest WE game is coming out on GC in Japan at the end of this month and PES2 is also being released in Europe for GC on the first of Feb (although the PES2 release date is not yet confirmed).

 

[Peppermonkey]

I guess this is because I don't care much for sports in general. I've played Basketball, baseball, and soccer. All of them I really don't care much for.

I'm not much in the athletic department, so that might be one major reason.

I think sports video games are repetitive and boring... sure, people who like the sport would probably be more apt to like the video game.

 

[Tahir2]

Will you stop calling football soccer please.... That's considered a swear word and Red Card offence.

Thanks in advance

 

[Peppermonkey]

soccer soccer soccer soccer soccer soccer soccer...

So what, I'm a yank. I grew up calling it soccer. I personally think the name football does suit it much better, but for those who grew up calling American Football just plain football, I don't want to confuse people.


Oh well...

 

[Tahir2]

football football football football football football football football football football football football football football football

it's all good in da hood.. wespeck! [w]estlife!

 

[iscariot]

well when you're a yank, it's called soccer cause football here is a real man's game opposed to sissy 'soccer'. sorry 'bout that...

 

[Tahir2]

well when you're a yank, it's called soccer cause football here is a real man's game opposed to sissy 'soccer'.

Ack!! [Victor Meldrew impression] I don't believe it ... Real man's sport indeed.. try Rugby!

Where is Teasy.. ?? I need backup

 

[Peppermonkey]

I would probably run out of breath before 5 minutes into the game of non-american football. There seems to be tons of high speed running, and I am nowhere near fit enough to survive an entire game.

 

[Teasy]

Well lets face it, we all know which sport really deserves the name Football. That's not a shot at American Football, its just the truth. So I'd say if any compromise needs to be made for the sake of not confusing people it should be made by American's and not the rest of the world

iscariot

Try playing Football in England (or anywhere in the U.K), especially in winter (the season goes right through winter) on a rock hard pitch that will cut your legs when you slide in to tackle someone. Try running miles every game in freezing cold (well below zero) temperatures. Try having someone run as fast as they can and then jump on your legs with both feet, with the full weight of there body and while wearing long sharp studs (yeah that's not allowed in the sport, but it happens every game in none profesional leagues and quite often in the professional leagues to and often people get away with it). Or try going for a header and being headbutted many times in each game, or being kicked constantly in the back of the legs if your a striker. And remember, we have no padding or helmets. I'll bet if you experienced English/U.K Football, not the more European version, you wouldn't think its a a sissy sport anymore. Of course I'm not saying its as voilent as American Football, because as a sport its not about violence. But its certainly not always the low contact sport you may have experienced in the U.S, certainly not were it was originally invented anyway.

Anyway I'm not going to get into how rough and tough I think American Football is compared to other sports. Because it'll excellate into a big argument and Ben and I just don't have the time for another one of those threads