Feature | INSiGHT: Nintendo Back to its Best in Japan?

What happened this week, though? The latest Call of Duty stormed into the charts on PS3 and Xbox 360, showing that there is a place for Western-developed games in Japan after all. On the other hand, the Japanese-centric Lost Planet spin-off, E.X. Troopers made a quiet debut on both of its parent systems, starting marginally stronger on 3DS than PS3. As well as this, the first ever 3D Pokémon Mystery Dungeon made its appearance on 3DS. This particular matter is a point of contention with some, come to mention it. After all, around 125,000 units for a game featuring those ever-popular Pocket Monsters might seem rather low. In reality, however, the dungeon-crawling genre has struggled to gain momentum in recent years, with even the once major Shiren the Wanderer line from Spike Chunsoft not hitting its former highs. Since every game in that style is pretty much the same - and this 3DS title being by the same developer -- the Pokémon name alone is driving it as high as this, as is the general strong status of 3DS, and will undoubtedly fare extremely well as children's money starts coming in from relatives and the holidays kick in.

Japan is a quirky place where random games make odd strides up the charts. Back when the Nintendo DS was at large, all sorts of training titles were cropping up from publishers previously unheard of, or at least those never before having had a breakout hit. Now it is the turn of RPG Bravely Default: Flying Fairy to be the slow burner that does not seem to want to depart the chart. Square Enix's spiritual successor to the impressive Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light on DS received numerous demos on eShop, yet did not get much retail promotion, but has been selling so well that it forced Square Enix to quickly push the game onto eShop so that sales were not lost whilst it desperately tried to send more physical stock to retailers. It has already surpassed sales of the DS RPG, and without Final Fantasy branding nonetheless, and looks set to trundle along to 300,000+ sales with ease in the coming month or so.
 
Another example of a new mainstay in the list is Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire! -- or Run for Money in its shorter, English moniker. This game has dropped off the charts, bounced back up, disappeared again, and continued to yo-yo around partly due to Bandai Namco being caught off-guard by its popularity, but also due to the TV game show it is based around only airing every few weeks or so. The idea is based around a cancelled US programme called Cha$e, and involves contestants running around an area, being chased by 'hunters' that want to tag them before set missions can be completed. It all sounds extremely basic, but clearly has captured the imagination of the masses, which has translated well to the video game version!

Anyway, without further ado, below is the Top 30 software sales list from Famitsu, along with the hardware listings:

Famitsu Software Sales - 19th-25th November, 2012

16.) (7) Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (PS3, Koei Tecmo) - 7,967 | 91,533
17.) (14) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013 (PSP, Konami) - 6,722 | 61,120
18.) (NEW) Ouchi Mainichi Tamagotchi (3DS, Bandai Namco Games) - 6,612 | NEW
19.) (5) Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3, Electronic Arts) - 6,184 | 29,056
20.) (15) Bravely Default: Flying Fairy (3DS, Square Enix) - 6,145 | 259,663
21.) (4) Summon Night 4 (PSP, Bandai Namco Games) - 5,998 | 37,902
22.) (17) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013 (PS3, Konami) - 5,792 | 358,928
23.) (19) Nintendo Presents New Style Boutique (3DS, Nintendo) {2012.09.27} (¥4.800) - 5,768 | 171,833
24.) (11) Aikatsu! Cinderella Lesson (3DS, Bandai Namco Games) - 5,579 | 14,598
25.) (18) Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 (NDS, The Pokémon Company) - 5,537 | 2,811,781
26.) (16) Okami HD (PS3, Capcom) - 5,422 | 78,137
27.) (22) Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb (3DS, Bandai Namco Games) - 5,197 | 274,664
28.) (24) Kobito Zukan: Kobito Kansatsu Set (3DS, Nippon Columbia) - 4,678 | 137,919
29.) (6) Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (PSV, Ubisoft) - 4,625 | 26,735
30.) (10) Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game (PS3, Electronic Arts) - 4,418 | 17,909

Famitsu Hardware Sales - This Week | Last Week | 2012 Total Sales | Lifetime Sales

Anyone wondering what is going on with that hardware layout? Famitsu tracks separate system revisions such as the Nintendo DSi, DSi XL, PSP Go, and so on, but has long since dropped the DSi XL and PSP Go. Therefore, total sales are included for all model revisions, as well as separately for those individual formats still tracked.