:: JAPAN : RANKING . Archives (second half 2005)




Konami's baseball is gone, thanks God. During the Christmas week, sales for Mario Party 7 and Naruto 4 have been improving, which is good news, but both games remain quite much the previous titles from those franchises.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from December 19 to December 25
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
8 11 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 7    
14 19 Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 Tomy fighting 5    
43 35 Bleach GC Tasogare Ni Mamieru Shinigami Sega action 3    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 597,628 | 2.PSP 161,332 | 3.PS2 97,475 | 4.GC 36,646 | 5.GBASP 35,764 | 6.GBM 19,261 | 7.X360 5,674 | 8.GBA 906 | 9.XB 141


*

Mario is a beast. Even after throwing his seventh party, he manages to climb up the chart while Naruto and Bleach suffer a hangover and fall down a few places.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from December 12 to December 18
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
11 15 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 6 43.490 [Ent] 226.625 [Ent]
19 18 Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 Tomy fighting 4 31.703 [Ent] 168.954 [Ent]
35 19 Bleach GC Tasogare Ni Mamieru Shinigami Sega action 2    
42 new Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Memorial Edition Konami action 1    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 408,770 | 2.PSP 95,689 | 3.PS2 55,342 | 4.GBASP 19,098 | 5.GC 17,849 | 6.GBM 14,432 | 7.X360 8,623 | 8.GBA 416 | 9.XBOX 182


*

The ranking expands as a peacock's tail, Mario Party 7 moves upward while Gundam Gashapon collapses, in the meanwhile Bleach arrives in the middle.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from December 5 to December 11
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
15 17 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 5 33.882 [Ent] 183.135 [Ent]
18 14 Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 Tomy fighting 3 27.239 [Ent] 137.251 [Ent]
19 new Bleach GC Tasogare Ni Mamieru Shinigami Sega action 1 26.531 [Ent] 26.531 [Ent]
35 11 SD Gundam Gashapon Wars Bandai action 2    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 299,328 | 2.PSP 86,403 | 3.PS2 45,893 | 4.X360 43,970 | 5.GC 12,212 | 6.GBASP 10,456 | 7.GBM 8,326 | 8.GBA 396 | 9.XBOX 164


*

Take no prisoner: One Piece and Battalion Wars were shot down out of the charts in a blink, respectively losing (at least) 17 and 8 places. In the meanwhile Naruto stumbled and fell sharply, while Mario is trying to keep his balance after partying all night long. Good news for all fans of Japan, SD Gundam entered the charts pretty high, but will their cute look be enough to ensure a lasting success ? An interesting fact about last week hardware sales was that the GameCube almost sold as much as the Game Boy Advance SP, could it possibly outsell it, indicating that there's still like in the GC ? We'll see that soon enough, in the meanwhile the DS is kicking butts, selling almost three times more than the PSP.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from November 28 to December 4
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
11 new SD Gundam Gashapon Wars Bandai action 1    
14 3 Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 Tomy fighting 2    
17 14 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 4    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 176,958 | 2.PSP 92,121 | 3.PS2 32,042 | 4.GBM 7,911 | 5.GBASP 6,797 | 6.GC 6,494 | 7.GBA 386 | 8.XBOX 149


*

Naruto 4's first week sales surpassed all previous results of the Naruto Gekkitou Ninja Taisen series. It entered directly in the chart with over 100.000 sales which is also better than many Nintendo games for GameCube this year. It proves once again, if necessary, the strength of the Naruto franchise, which, although less remarkable than Dragon Ball, reminds us of this other phenomenon of the 80's and 90's.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from November 21 to November 27
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 new Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 Tomy fighting 1 109.000 [Den]  
14 6 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 3    
33 new One Piece Pirates Carnival Bandai mini-games 1    
42 22 Battalion Wars Nintendo wargame 5    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 132,012 | 2.PSP 51,196 | 3.PS2 27,545 | 4.GBM 7,594 | 5.GBASP 5,709 | 6.GC 5,130 | 7.GBA 241 | 8.XB 128


*

Harvest Moon: Poem of Happiness world version didn't last a week, neither did Mario Party 7's supremacy. The biggest surprise this week doesn't come from the GameCube though, but from the poor performances of the two new Pokemon games on Game Boy Advance (130.000) and Nintendo DS (153.000). For Pokemon RPG on handhelds, the results seem indeed quite catastrophic, even though those games are not a part of the root series (Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Silver, Gold, Crystal, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald and whatever).

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from November 14 to November 20
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
6 1 Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 2 29.622 [Med] 108.782 [Ent]
22 17 Battalion Wars Nintendo wargame 4 5.788 [Ent] 45.358 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 65,341 | 2.PSP 58,898 | 3.PS2 21,102 | 4.GBM 9,140 | 5.GBASP 6,822 | 6.GC 5,661 | 7.GBA 249 | 8.XB 141


*

No matter how many times it has been iterated, the Mario Party series still performs well. Well enough at least to grab the number one spot (an achievement which happened all too rarely during the console's life time) in this quiet November week. However, as Dengeki notes, sales for the series has been declining ever since it's reached the GameCube's shores: Mario Party 4 (1st week sale: 189.000 / total sales: 810.000), Mario Party 5 (f: 110.000 / t: 672.000), Mario Party 6 (f: 93.000 / t: 500.300). And now a third less for Mario Party 7, with a small 69.000 units in the first week; if the trend continues, total sales for Mario Party 7 should be somewhere between 300.000-400.000, perhaps 375.000.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from November 7 to November 13
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
1 new Mario Party 7 Nintendo mini-games 1 69.000 [Den] 69.000 [Den]
17 14 Battalion Wars Nintendo wargame 3 9.025 [Ent] 39.570 [Ent]
36 new Harvest Moon: Poem of Happiness for World Natsume farm RPG 1 3.603 [Ent] 3.603 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 48,342 | 2.PSP 31,078 | 3.PS2 19,277 | 4.GBM 9,151 | 5.GBASP 6,143 | 6.GC 4,368 | 7.GBA 227 | 8.XB 119


*

Things didn't quite turn out as expected: Zoids Full Metal Crash is gone and now Battalion Wars is left alone to compete with 49 other games ! To say the GameCube is doing very bad in Japan at the moment is an understatement. Fortunately things are not that bad in general for Nintendo, even though 3/5 of the ranking is Playstation games (PS2+PSP), the remaining 2/5 is all for Nintendo console games (DS+GBA and, well, GC).

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from Octobe 31 to November 6
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
14 11 Battalion Wars Nintendo wargame 2 9.029 [Ent] 30.545 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 48,520 | 2.PSP 29,395 | 3.PS2 22,030 | 4.GBM 9,349 | 5.GBASP 7,089 | 6.GC 3,290 | 7.GBA 284 | 8.XB 167


*

Safe ! Mario and Pokemon have been wiped out, but Battalion Wars and Zoids Full Metal Crash are in, saving the GameCube's honor and even improving its sales a little on the way.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from Octobe 24 to October 30
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
11 new Battalion Wars Nintendo wargame 1 19.000 [Den] 19.000 [Den]
34 new Zoids Full Metal Crash Tomy action 1 5.338 [Ent] 5.338 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 46,826 | 2.PSP 27,837 | 3.PS2 21,976 | 4.GBM 11,656 | 5.GBASP 6,515 | 6.GC 2,931 | 7.GBA 321 | 8.XB 114


*

This is literaly a cliffhanger ! Both Pokemon XD and Mario Baseball are hanging on the edge of the ranking. Are Pokemon and Mario going to die ? Will a new title come to save the GameCube ? Will the ranking be without a single GameCube title since the console launched in Japan ? All this and more next week on Samurai Nintendo ! To be continued...

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from Octobe 17 to October 23
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
49 40 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 12    
50 35 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 14    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 44,283 | 2.PSP 28,067 | 3.PS2 21,699 | 4.GBM 15,540 | 5.GBASP 7,389 | 6.GC 1,519 | 7.GBA 396 | 8.XB 129


*

This week both games are coming dangerously near the edge of the ranking. Are we going to have a top 50 without a single GameCube game ? It's possible, but unlikely, even though there's still a week to go from now before the next releases. Sales of the GameCube in the meanwhile have never so low.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from Octobe 10 to October 16
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
35 29 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 13    
40 36 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 11    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 44,262 | 2.PSP 29,162 | 3.PS2 23,659 | 4.GBM 20,026 | 5.GBASP 9,707 | 6.GC 1,666 | 7.GBA 431 | 8.XB 132


*

Viewtiful Joe Battle Carnival didn't survive round 2 and we're back in the same situation as before with just Mario Baseball and Pokemon.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from Octobe 3 to October 9
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
29 31 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 12 2.800 [Ent] 182.789 [Ent]
36 28 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 10 2.901 [Ent] 197.676 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 39,137 | 2.PSP 31,089 | 3.PS2 25,328 | 4.GBM 24,568 | 5.GBASP 9,837 | 6.GC 1,486 | 7.GBA 323 | 8.XB 106


*

A very unexpected entry this week, it's Viewtiful Joe's fighting game, Battle Carnival, also known as Red Hot Rumble on our continents. Why is it so unexpected ? For two reasons, firstly, because the game was obviously under-promoted. No one, not even the fans of the first Viewtiful Joe plaform games seem to be looking forward to it (as suggests our poll). Secondly, the two first games have achieved poor results in Japan: VJ1 stayed 9 weeks in the ranking and sold 75.000 units, while VJ2 did not enter the ranking at all ! However, the circumstances are also favorable: there hasn't been a new GC game released for weeks and this week is pretty quiet with only a few entries to compete with Joe. Nevertheless, seeing Viewtiful Joe failed to beat the weekly sales of two aging GC games, the miracle should be short-lived.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from September 26 to October 2
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
28 29 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 9 3.481 [Ent] 194.775 [Ent]
31 26 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 11    
36 new Viewtiful Joe: Battle Carnival Capcom fighting 1    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 43,362 | 2.PSP 31,702 | 3.GBM 30,065 | 4.PS2 24,638 | 5.GBASP 10,751 | 6.GC 1,958 | 7.GBA 397 | 8.XB 112


*

Oh my goodness, something happened while I slept last week: Pokemon XD and Mario Baseball have swapt position ! Not very interesting, and yet... and yet it is ! Because Mario Baseball is an older game, it means it is more popular than Pokemon XD. Mario > Pokemon ? Not quite. Possibly: multi-player fun sport game > poor game sequel.

And to finish, some good news: the Xbox has been selling under 100 units this week ! Die bastard, die !

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from September 19 to September 25
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
26 30 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 10 5.020 [Ent] 176.929 [Ent]
29 28 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 8 5.813 [Ent] 191.294 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 68,123 | 2.PSP 50,629 | 3.GBM 46,529 | 4.PS2 25,518 | 5.GBASP 12,483 | 6.GC 2,267 | 7.GBA 448 | 8.XB 98


*

Zzzz... huh, duh, what ?? oh, yes, the Game Boy Micro has released in Japan. *yawn* Zzzz... Zzzz...

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from September 12 to September 18
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
28 15 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 7 5.250 [Ent] 185.481 [Ent]
30 18 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 9 3.884 [Ent] 171.909 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBM 170,306 | 2.DS 72,167 | 3.PSP 70,152 | 4.PS2 24,396 | 5.GBASP 11,147 | 6.GC 1,882 | 7.GBA 624 | 8.XB 109


*

Well, well, well...

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from September 5 to September 11
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
15 13 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 6 5.665 [Ent] 180.231 [Ent]
18 12 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 8 4.835 [Ent] 168.025 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 47,239 | 2.PS2 22,133 | 3.PSP 26,156 | 4.GBASP 8,997 | 5.GC 1,923 | 6.GBA 506 | 7.XB 118


*

Quiet week...

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from August 29 to September 4
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
13 7 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 5    
12 14 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 7    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 58,579 | 2.PS2 26,282 | 3.PSP 22,610 | 4.GBASP 11,081 | 5.GC 2,388 | 6.GBA 538 | 7.XB 198


*

"No one hears you scream in the depth of the ranking", that's what's happening to Chibi-Robo and the baseball team of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 who are both out this week. Above, Mario and Pokemon fight to stay alive. On a brighter note, it's surprising how well the DS sells, more than twice as much as the PSP. It seems Nintendo did the right thing with its curious games which are not games such as the brain training software. But what about the rest of the world ?

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from August 22 to August 28
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
13 13 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 4 10.674 [Ent] 166.751 [Ent]
14 11 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 6 9.950 [Ent] 155.502 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 57,313 | 2.PS2 27,161 | 3.PSP 20,322 | 4.GBASP 11,144 | 5.GC 2,586 | 6.GBA 652 | 7.XB 130


*

"Back with a vengeance !" cries out a tiny metallic voice; it's Chibi Robo, back from the depth of the ranking to a heart-warming forty-third place, before Konami's Pro Yakyuu 12. For the rest, it's relatively quiet and surpriseless, Pokemon XD slides a little, Mario Baseball gains a little, and that's it.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from August 15 to August 21
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
7 6 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 3    
11 12 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 5    
43 57 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 9    
45 38 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 6    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 80,945 | 2.PS2 33,292 | 3.PSP 23,923 | 4.GBASP 16,721 | 5.GC 3,960 | 6.GBA 822 | 7.XB 263


*

This time, Pokemon XD failed to match Colosseum's results with a weaker 2nd week performance (34.000 XD / 47.000 Col.). Please note we're unsure the exact current sales total for Pokemon XD is 142 or 149 thousand units at this point. Number one this week is Jump Super Stars for DS with 207.000 units sold in the first week, actually a tad disappointing for such a high-caliber title.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from August 8 to August 14
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
6 3 Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 2 34.000 [Den] 142.000 [Den]
12 12 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 4 35.423 [Ent] 145.552 [Ent]
38 36 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 5    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 103,095 | 2.PS2 37,041 | 3.PSP 25,100 | 4.GBASP 19,958 | 5.GC 3,799 | 6.GBA 708 | 7.XB 202


*

Interestingly, Pokemon XD sold as much (or slightly better actually) than Pokemon Colosseum ! Now we know there are 115.000 dedicated Pokemon fans in Japan who are ready to buy such a game in its first week. But what of the others ? Will they be willing to pay too ? Pokemon Colosseum left the ranking in its 17th week with total sales close to 600.000. It would definitely be good news for Nintendo if Pokemon XD could achieve the same, but despite a good start, this seems unlikely. Global sales for GameCube games have been dropping increasingly for a year now, as disappointed results for Chibi-Robo and DDR with Mario suggest. We'll follow carefully Pokemon XD next week, and see if the game how the game stand compared to Pokemon Colosseum which recorded a 60% decline in sales in its second week.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from August 1 to August 7
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 new Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Nintendo RPG 1 115.000 [Den] 115.000 [Den]
12 10 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 3 18.934 [Ent] 110.129 [Ent]
36 29 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 4    
47 36 Dance Dance Revolution with Mario Nintendo music 4    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 43,665 | 2.PS2 34,057 | 3.PSP 20,571 | 4.GBASP 12,107 | 5.GC 4,445 | 6.GBA 419 | 7.XB 228


*

Progressive decline, as usual, is what drives the sales of fresh GameCube games. Pokemon XD is released today (August 4) and results will come next week, it's difficult to know how well it's going to sell. Pokemon Colosseum, although a poor game by all means, sold pretty well, about 115.000 units in its first week. So, will Pokemon XD hit the 100.000 mark too ? It depends on two factors which are quite impossible to evaluate if you're not close to Japanese players: how did they like Pokemon Colosseum ? And how strong is the Pokemon craze at the moment ? Our idea is that Pokemon Colosseum disappointed in Japan like in the rest of the world, and that, although still very strong, the Pokemon craze is weakening more and more outside the handheld consoles circle. In addition, Pokemon XD didn't receive much praise in Japanese magazines. So if we had to take a wild guess, we'd say Pokemon XD won't make it pass the 100.000 units and maybe not even that high. But once again, one should never underestimate the power of Pokemon.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from July 25 to July 31
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
10 3 Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 2 30.058 [Ent] 91.195 [Ent]
29 16 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 3 6.900 [Ent] 51.829 [Ent]
36 21 Dance Dance Revolution with Mario Nintendo music 3    
42 31 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 6    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 44,518 | 2.PS2 33,705 | 3.PSP 20,031 | 4.GBASP 12,555 | 5.GC 3,147 | 6.GBA 530 | 7.XB 196


*

Thankfully, people still have enough good taste left in them to realize Mario playing baseball is somehow more decent than seeing him shake his fat on the dance floor. So Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball managed to grab the third spot with satisfying sales numbers and we get as many as four GameCube games in the ranking, a feast which had not be seen for a long time. Again though, we can question Nintendo's choices: not only do they release their Mario Baseball title just a little bit after Konami's own baseball title, a courtesy that they could have avoided, but they also release two Mario titles almost at the same time. Sometimes you can't help thinking the person in charge of deciding Nintendo's releases is an utter idiot.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from July 18 to July 24
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 new Super Mario Stadium: Miracle Baseball Nintendo baseball 1 68.000 [Den] 68.000 [Den]
16 5 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 2 11.163 [Ent] 44.929 [Ent]
21 10 Dance Dance Revolution with Mario Nintendo music 2    
31 18 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 5    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 41,982 | 2.PS2 25,980 | 3.PSP 19,043 | 4.GBASP 10,935 | 5.GC 2,995 | 6.GBA 397 | 7.XB 163


*

Shocking news: a new Mario title defeated by a Konami game from their enduring and ridiculously cute sport series ! We expected change and action in the ranking, but not THAT kind. Fortunately, the new title is just Dance Dance Revolution with Mario. And at the risk of being booed and hissed, I'm kind of glad this happened, at least gladder that if it had happened to a true new Mario game. It makes a point, the same one as with Donkey Konga but this time stronger: even though there's a small fan base for such games, that's not what most people want to play.

In their first week, the first Donkey Konga sold 55.000 units, the second one 47.000, the third one 42.000, and now Dance Dance Revolution sold merely 22.000 units ! I think it's self-explanatory and Nintendo, after four average results (failures ?), should come to this logical conclusion: 4 music titles in such a short period of time is much more than a console can bear, at least for a decent system like the GameCube. It's time to stop.

Nintendo probably thought they would get a new Mario Party kind of success series, but it didn't work and hopefully they will discontinue this failed strategic model with their next console. One might argue that DDR with Mario is more Konami's than Nintendo's. Nevertheless, not only does this DDR is entirely focused on Mario, Mario characters and Mario's universe, but it's also published by Nintendo and probably overseen by them. It is a significant failure for big N, not for Konami, even more being beaten by a Konami-published baseball title, a tired series in its twelfth iteration.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from July 11 to July 17
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
5 new Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 Konami baseball 1 33.766 [Ent] 33.766 [Ent]
10 new Dance Dance Revolution with Mario Nintendo music 1 22.000 [Den] 22.000 [Den]
18 12 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 4 5.690 [Ent] 64.880 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 35,827 | 2.PS2 29,841 | 3.PSP 21,025 | 4.GBASP 9,132 | 5.GC 2,773 | 6.GBA 318 | 7.XB 221


*

Chibi-Robo vs the World ! Tinhead is still all alone fighting the big bad rival consoles. Things should change next week after Dance Dance Revolution with Mario and Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 12 have been released, and that's happening today.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from July 4 to July 10
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
12 11 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 3    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 41,503 | 2.PS2 28,711 | 3.PSP 20,390 | 4.GBASP 11,176 | 5.GC 2,273 | 6.GBA 289 | 7.Xbox 179


*

Sad prospects for the next half, the GameCube has still only one game in the ranking and it's not selling too well. Chibi-Robo, hold on !

GAMECUBE BEST WEEKLY SALES: from June 27 to July 3
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
11 3 Chibi-Robo Nintendo adventure 2 17.436 [Ent] 48.753 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.DS 35,083 | 2.PS2 29,992 | 3.PSP 21,901 | 4.GBASP 12,509 | 5.GC 2,602 | 6.GBA 310 | 7.XB 182




:: JAPAN : RANKING . Archives (second half 2005)