:: JAPAN : RANKING . Archives (first half 2004)




A new entry ! A new entry ! ...oh no !! It's Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban !! *runs away and hides*
(today July 1st, Donkey Konga 2: Hit Song Parade is released: results next week)

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from June 21 to June 27
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
8 4 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 9 15.872 [Med]  
18 11 Wario World Nintendo action 5    
40 new Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Electronic Arts adventure 1    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 29.213 | 2.GBASP 24.823 | 3.GC 4.297 | 4.GBA 2.340 | 5.XB 294 | 6.PS1 172 | 7.WSC 57


*

No change... will... happen. Legend of Golfer failed to enter the ranking, according to some early reports, it sold only 878 units on the first day !

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from June 14 to June 20
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
4 3 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 8 18.746 [Med]  
11 8 Wario World Nintendo action 4    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 27.641 | 2.PS2 26.853 | 3.GC 4.690 | 4.GBA 2.181 | 5.XB 493 | 6.PS1 264 | 7.WSC 89


*

The sun is shining so the Pikmin are doing quite well, keeping the same rank, just behind Mario vs. Donkey Kong on Game Boy Advance. Wario World on the other hand fades slowly, not surprising for such a poor title.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from June 7 to June 13
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 3 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 7    
8 4 Wario World Nintendo action 3    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 27.227 | 2.GBASP 24.838 | 3.GC 5.229 | 4.GBA 2.254 | 5.XB 434 | 6.PS1 195 | 7.WSC 89


*

Flower power ! Pikmin 2 goes up, Wario World goes down, and that's all for today.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from May 31 to June 6
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 7 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 6    
5 4 Wario World Nintendo action 2    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 29.406 | 2.GBASP 24.838 | 3.GC 5.020 | 4.GBA 2.208 | 5.XB 574 | 6.PS1 299 | 7.WSC 63


*

The ranking is hardly more interesting than Samurai Nintendo at the moment, Wario World is a new entry (yeah, it's only released now in Japan) with numbers about the same as Four Swords +, Pikmin 2 sold slightly more and... yaaawn. Not exactly interesting.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from May 24 to May 30
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
4 new Wario World Nintendo action 1 50.000 [Den]  
7 2 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 5 30.232 [Med]  
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 38.957 | 2.GBASP 29.202 | 3.GC 5.342 | 4.GBA 2.505 | 5.XB 802 |6.PS1 299 | 7.WSC 76


*

Now even Naruto left us and it's little Pikmin's job to defend alone the GameCube's values in the video game ranking ! Waaa, that's a big task for such a small fellow.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from May 17 to May 23
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
2 2 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 4 26.762 [Med] 279.629 [Ent]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 30.081 | 2.GBASP 29.091 | 3.GC 4.959 | 4.GBA 2.647 | 5.XB 238 | 6.PS1 218 | 7.WSC 70


*

Little Pikmin climbed ! and everybody else fell. It's quite the contrary of last week's results, except this time the falls are harder: out Four Swords + and Custom Robo. 2 months... it must be the shortest stay in the top 50 for a Zelda game. Naturo 2 seems unstoppable; even though it loses one spot this week, we'll remember it's been almost half a year it's here !

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from May 10 to May 16
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
2 4 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 3 46.000 [Den] 244.000 [Den]
41 40 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 24    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 31.300 | 2.GBASP 20.400 | 3.GC 4.700 | 4.GBA 2.900 | 5.PS1 370 | 6.XB 240 | 7.WSC 89


*

Little Pikmin fell ! And fell quite hard as it lost more than 80% of its past sale strenght, one reason could be the lack of stocks; seemingly Nintendo had released a few Pikmin 2 games and all of them are gone ! Other than that, not much to say, the three other games managed to go up thanks to the Golden Week holidays.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from May 3 to May 9
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
4 1 Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 2 28.000 [Den] 198.000 [Den]
38 45 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 8    
40 51 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 23    
49 67 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 10    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 53.780 | 2.PS2 46.131 | 3.GC 10.406 | 4.GBA 5.237 | 5.PS1 367 | 6.XB 286 | 7.WSC 127


*

Hurrah for Pikmin ! In its first week, it sold more than the first weeks of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Custom Robo Battle Revolution and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords +, altogether ! (71.000+32.000+52.000=155.000) That's definitely a nice score, by far the best GC performance of the year and a nice beginning. Hopefully its success won't subside too quickly. Now an update, as I got newer results for this week from Dengeki. Interestingly, we learn that the first Pikmin sold 95.000 units in its first week and reached a total sales number of 507.000. We also learn that Naruto 2 has sold 378.000 units. The biggest surprise this week though, is probably the unexpected return of Donkey Konga and Atsumare!! Made in Wario in the charts after more being 10 weeks away. The reason is proablably because they are now cheaper and there were the Japanese Golden Week celebrations.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from April 26 to May 2
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
1 new Pikmin 2 Nintendo strategy 1 170.000 [Den]  
31 93 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 21    
36 113 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 29    
45 35 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 7    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 61.087 | 2.PS2 52.281 | 3.GC 9.416 | 4.GBA 4.501 | 5.XB 485


*

Ouch. It's hot for Nintendo at the moment in Japan. As you can see, there's only one title left in the ranking, and it's Four Swords. Hopefully Pikmin 2 will come to cheer us up next week. It'll take more than fragile little Pikmin to consolidate the GameCube in the next months though: practically no game is coming out.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from April 19 to April 25
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
35 27 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 6    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 44.957 | 2.GBASP 43.726 | 3.GC 5.756 | 4.GBA 3.549 | 5.XB 432 | 6.PS1 310 | 7.WSC 44


*

Severe falls for both Gundam and Custom Robo, Mario Party's gone again, Naruto's up two places, Zelda lost two. Naruto 2 is surprisingly second best selling GC title at the moment. And that is all what's happening this week, see you next time !

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from April 12 to April 18
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
27 21 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 5 4.353 [Ent] 96.763 [Ent]
37 39 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 20    
41 31 Mobile Suit Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki Bandai action 5    
43 35 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 7    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 37.135 | 2.GBASP 30.363 | 3.GC 4.689 | 4.GBA 3.458 | 5.XB 397 | 6.PS1 241 | 7.WSC 146


*

Things should keep going this way for about three more weeks; till the release of Pikmin 2, we will see the last remaining GameCube titles fading out of the chart. The question is how many of them will be left after April 29 ? There's no more GC title in the top 20 and the only noticeable changes happening this week is that Custom Robo finally falls behind Gundam and Mario Party 5 replaces Mario Kart at the bottom of the ranking.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from April 5 to April 11
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
21 17 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 4 6.638 [Ent] 92.410 [Ent]
31 26 Mobile Suit Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki Bandai action 4 4.493 [Ent] 62.932 [Ent]
35 21 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 6    
39 39 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 19    
49 51 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 20   626.000 [Den]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 47.391 | 2.GBASP 40.166 | 3.GC 6.263 | 4.GBA 3.701 | 5.XB 557 | 6.PS1 310 | 7.WSC 165


*

It became almost a tradition for Sega's titles: one week and gone. And thus, bye bye Puyo Puyo Fever ! With few new releases this week, there's improvement in GameCube ranks and a surprising observation. First of all, Four Swords + and Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki slide less fast than before. Custom Robo for its part even manage to go one place up and confirms being the most successful game among the recent releases. But the surprise though, is not here at all, it's at the bottom. Mario Kart is back and Naruto 2 climbs up 11 places, what is surprising about that is these games are very old (November and December 2003) and still doing very well, especially compared to Four Swords + and Gundam. It underlines what we were reporting last week, that games of this first quarter of the year have failed to attract players unlike the titles of the end of last year.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from March 29 to April 4
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
17 15 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 3    
21 22 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 5    
26 20 Mobile Suit Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki Bandai action 3    
39 50 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 18    
49 55 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 22   721.000 [Den]
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 65.547 | 2.GBASP 47.601 | 3.GC 7.914 | 4.GBA 5.063 | 5.XB 449 | 6.PS 379 | 7.WSC 330


*

Nintendo is facing a difficult challenge for the rest of the year: the need of releasing mega-hits. The first three months showed us some key titles failing to achieve decent sales numbers. Four Swords +, Gundam and The Twin Snakes are moving too fast downward with poor results. Only Custom Robo, which manages to hang at the same spot this week, is doing rather well. The competition is fierce and Nintendo and its allies didn't necessarily made the right choices, the latest Zelda is too much a promotion of the Game Boy connection, The Twin Snakes doesn't have the appeal of an original Metal Gear game and Gundam doesn't seem to draw the fans. In about a month and half, the big show (the E3) will begin and it will be indeed a very important time for Nintendo to demonstrate they've been hard at work for the past months and maybe years on games that will definitely focus every player's attention. And it's not simply a wish, it's what they absolutely need to give them a boost.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from March 22 to March 28
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
15 4 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 2 19.055 [Ent] 73.837 [Ent]
20 6 Mobile Suit Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki Bandai action 2 11.169 [Ent] 51.647 [Ent]
22 22 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 4 9.994 [Ent] 118.004 [Ent]
33 new Puyo Puyo Fever Sega puzzle 1    
38 24 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes Konami adventure 3    
50 53 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 17    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1. PS2 64.866 | 2. GBASP 43.489 | 3. GC 7.554 | 4. GBA 5.413 | 5. XB 751 | 6. WSC 406 | 7. PS 390


*

Twenty-two new titles enter the multi-format chart this week. This explains why all last week's GC titles at the bottom of the ranking, four games in total, abruptly disappeared. But their sudden departure has been avenged by four sharp swords ! The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords +, this new action style Zelda managed to grab the fourth spot with a very humble number of sales, 6 or 8 times less than the Wind Waker in its first week, and performed less well than Custom Robo. On its heels, Gundam is a little disappointment too, selling twice less than Custom Robo and just a little bit better than The Twin Snakes, though reports are contradictory here, some saying than Gundam is a little after Four Swords + with about 50.000 units sold as well. The main titles for this month have been released and so far there hasn't been anything impressive: not a single one managed to score 100.000 units, not even close, in the first week sale.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from March 15 to March 21
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
4 new The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + Nintendo adventure 1 52.000 [Den] 52.000 [Den]
6 new Mobile Suit Gundam: Senshitachi no Kiseki Bandai action 1 36.000 [Den] 36.000 [Den]
22 10 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 3    
24 5 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes Konami adventure 2    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 45.790 | 2.GBASP 41.448 | 3.GC 7.120 | 4.GBA 4.290 | 5.XB 718 | 6.PS 367 | 7.WSC 195


*

It was quite predictable if you ask me: Metal Gear Solid - The Twin Snakes, didn't start very well. 32.000 units, is a low start for any game, even more for such a famous franchise but let's bear in mind its drawbacks: not matter what was said it's still a remake, it was directed by a US team (never helps to sell in Japan) and it didn't get any rave reviews. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life had about the same sales numbers in its first week and that didn't bring it luck. Custom Robo falls surprisingly fast too despite better reviews. On the opposite side of the ranking, we still find our usual trio, this time back in its quatuor shape as Mario Party 5 returns. Contrarily to last week, Pokemon Colosseum and Naruto 2 are the ones to lose a few places.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from March 8 to March 14
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
5 new Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes Konami adventure 1 32.000 [Den] 32.000 [Den]
10 2 Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 2 24.154 [Med] 95.822 [Ent]
35 34 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 15    
40 39 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 17    
41 42 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 19    
47 52 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 16    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 43.826 | 2.PS2 42.448 | 3.GC 13.171 | 4.GBA 3.924 | 5.XB 1,142 | 6.WSC 372 | 7.PS 356


*

Not as well as we would have liked but well enough, Custom Robo entered the ranking. With a bit more than 70.000 units, it sold about as much as Pokemon Box in the first week. It's not so good (more than 100.000 would be) but it's not that bad either (less than 50.000 would be), we may hope that it will keep its sales steady in the next weeks although the past has shown us that it's a pretty rare phenomenon, even more when major titles (Metal Gear, Zelda, Gundam) are around the corner. The three old remaining titles keep delaying their departure as much as possible, Naruto 2 and Pokemon Colosseum even managed to climb up a few places.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from March 1 to March 7
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
2 new Custom Robo: Battle Revolution Nintendo action 1 71.000 [Den] 71.000 [Den]
34 38 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 14    
39 41 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 16    
42 39 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 18    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 48.936 | 2.PS2 43.248 | 3.GC 8.389 | 4.GBA 4.204 | 5.XB 839 | 6.PS1 448 | 7.WSC 363


*

It's time for new games to arrive because things look rather gloomy for the GameCube at the moment. There are only three GC titles left in the ranking and they are located in the bottom. Naruto 2 is still the one to perform the best among them, while Mario Kart swapped position with Pokemon Colosseum. Today, March 4, Custom Robo is released, hopefully it'll have a strong impact on next week charts.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from February 23 to February 29
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
38 34 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 13    
39 38 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 17    
41 35 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 15    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1. GBASP 68.206 | 2. PS2 65.148 | 3. GC 9.120 | 4. GBA 5.365 | 5. XB 751 | 6. PS1 517 | 7. WSC 326


*

The remaining GameCube titles are all quite low in the ranking. There's only one more week to go before interesting things start happening though. This week, except the come back of Donkey Konga, there's no significant change. One might argue that Everything or Nothing losing 11 places is a significant change, but maybe the more significant about it is that this game is still in the Japanese charts. Which is indeed surprising for a FPS and one developed by EA.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from February 16 to February 22
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
34 32 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 12    
35 39 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 14    
38 35 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 16    
43 37 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 13    
47 26 007 Everything or Nothing Electronic Arts FPS 2    
48 51 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 11    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1. GBASP 63.404 | 2. PS2 43.988 | 3. GC 5.872 | 4. GBA 5.598 | 5. XB 803 | 6. PS1 471 | 7. WSC 214


*

"Oh my goodness, what happened !?" Why this sudden fall for all the GameCube titles ? Why Donkey Konga, 1080 Silverstorm, One Piece Grand Battle 3 and Made in Wario are all out ? Why is there nothing new but one single GC entry ? Ladies and gentlemen, don't panic, it's almost all Nintendo's fault. Among the 20 first titles of the video games ranking this week, there are 13 new entries ! That's huge, especially at this time of the year. That's why so many games went down or went out. And among these 13 new entries, guess what ? 10 of them are from Nintendo and that's huge too. Nintendo didn't actually release 10 new games, they re-released some Famicom classics for Game Boy Advance, the exact conversions of some famous NES games under the label Famicom Mini. And all of them made it in the top 20 ! Here are the games and their ranking this week: Super Mario Bros. (5th), The Legend of Zelda (6th), Donkey Kong (8th), Ice Climber (9th), Xevious (12th), Bomberman (13th), Pacman (14th), Excitebike (15th), Mappy (16th) and Star Soldier (18th). These games are sold only 2000 yens, barely a third of a GameCube title, which is still a very good investment given the price they cost to produce... Some Famicom Mini even managed to outsell the Eye Toy (10th) for its first week release ! Ha ha ha ! That had me laughing for a long while. The old games beating the high-tech crap ! The old Donkey Kong selling better than the Eye Toy, can you believe it ? It's like a dream. Not the kind of thing which could happen in Europe sadly. Anyway, it's unknown how long these games will survive in the ranking, I don't think they will for long, but it will surely encourage Nintendo and others to release more. If, on the other hand, they do last long in the ranking, it could have a meaningful impact on Nintendo strategy... what about re-releasing more old games world wide, or even continuing old systems ?

P.S.: You can buy the Famicom Mini here (search "Famicom Mini" for more titles).

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from February 9 to February 15
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
26 new 007 Everything or Nothing Electronic Arts FPS 1 6.959 [Ent] 6.959 [Ent]
32 18 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 11    
35 19 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 15    
37 22 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 12    
39 26 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 13    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 99.151 | 2.PS2 52.026 | 3.GC 8.592 | 4.GBA 6.421 | 5.XB 793 | 6.PS 723 | 7.WSC 298


*

Games keep falling, all but the oldest among them, Made in Wario. Donkey Konga is the Nintendo title falling the fastest at the moment in the ranking, proving this music genre not so popular. One good thing is that 1080 didn't go down as bad as last week.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from February 2 to February 8
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
18 16 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 10    
19 15 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 14    
22 21 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 11    
26 23 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 12    
36 25 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 9    
38 36 1080 Silverstorm Nintendo snowboard 3    
42 33 One Piece Grand Battle! 3 Bandai action 9    
46 46 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 17    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 50.690 | 2.PS2 48.027 | 3.GC 8.647 | 4.GBA 6.778 | 5.XB 959 | 6.PS 402 | 7.WSC 186


*

It's all so quiet, just as expected. Naruto 2 and Donkey Konga manage to hang at the same spot while One Piece moves one step upward. With Warioware celebrating its 4th month stay by losing only 2 spots, that's the best happening this week. The worst is a sharp fall for 1080 (about 20 places) and a fall faster than expected for the three Christmas best sellers.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from January 26 to February 1
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
15 9 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 13    
16 16 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 9    
21 15 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 10    
23 18 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 11    
25 25 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 8    
33 34 One Piece Grand Battle! 3 Bandai action 8    
36 17 1080 Silverstorm Nintendo snowboard 2    
46 44 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 16    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.GBASP 64.783 | 2.PS2 45.976 | 3.GC 10.698 | 4.GBA 10.159 | 5.XB 801 | 6.PS 608 | 7.WSC 270


*

1080 Silverstorm (known in the west as Avalanche) enters the ranking at the 17th spot. I don't remember seeing SSX 3 on any system doing so well in Japan, so even if it's not such a great start, it's rather good given the period of the year and all the games around. And it's deserved, 1080 is a very good game, very fresh and entertaining to play. The other most important fact of this week, except a steady declines for all GC titles due to a heap of PS2 titles released, is the impressive come back of One Piece Grand Battle! 3 from the depths of the chart (70th) to the 34th place. However, from now on and till March, new GC games releases should have quite an insignificant impact on the ranking.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from January 19 to January 25
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
9 5 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 12 9.965 [Med]  
15 9 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 9 8.629 [Ent] 626.144 [Ent]
16 10 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 8 8.802 [Ent] 306.732 [Ent]
17 new 1080 Silverstorm Nintendo snowboard 1 7.908 [Ent] 7.908 [Ent]
18 11 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 10 7.171 [Ent] 581.983 [Ent]
25 15 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 7    
34 70 One Piece Grand Battle! 3 Bandai action 7    
44 24 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 15    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 51.023 | 2.GBASP 46.834 | 3.GC 13.292 | 4.GBA 6.375 | 5.XB 1.040 | 6.PS1 586 | 7.WSC 307


*

It's another disappointement for Sega, while we were hoping to see Kaijuu no Shima entering the top, it did not happen. Sonic Heroes is also losing more than 10 ranks, falling fast in the chart. Last year has been a bad one for Sega in Japan: Sonic Adventure DX, Billy Hatcher, Phantasy Star Episode III and now Sonic Heroes, none of these titles sold well enough, worse, they sold very poorly. With the possible buyout from Sammy, 2004 doesn't look much brighter for the old Nintendo rival. The planning for this year is really dull with only Puyo Puyo Fever and Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation announced so far, given Sammy's current stance about the company "less home games, more arcade games", things do not seem to be on the way to improve.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from January 12 to January 18
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
5 3 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 11 16.125 [Med]  
9 6 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 8    
10 22 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 7 16.251 [Med]  
11 10 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 9    
15 9 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 6    
24 26 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 14    
39 28 Sonic Heroes Sega action 3    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 60.399 | 2.GBASP 41.357 | 3.GC 19.607 | 4.GBA 7.982 | 5.XB 1.249 | 6.PS 631 | 7.WSC 353


*

Bad news for the inauguration of the new ranking's design: all GC titles are down, sales seem to reduce by half, there's no new game to enter but three to leave including our poor Baten Kaitos. Yes, that's the after-Christmas effect. The whole month shouldn't be that gloomy though, hopefully as soon as next week, we should see a new entry from Sega, Kaijuu no Shima which looks like a nice cool game, and then 1080 Silverstorm and maybe The Sims.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from January 5 to January 11
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
3 1 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 10 29.735 [Med] 621.000 [Den]
6 2 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 7 48.000 [Den] 547.000 [Den]
9 5 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 5 27.521 [Med]  
10 9 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 8 19.160 [Med] 537.000 [Den]
22 15 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 6   292.000 [Den]
26 24 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 13    
28 13 Sonic Heroes Sega action 2    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 87.286 | 2.GBASP 69.412 | 3.GC 36.906 | 4.GBA 12.057 | 5.XB 1.950 | 6.PS 1,033 | 7.WSC 474


*

This week is one entry, a big one, Sonic Heroes at the 13th spot, while the PS2 version, released at the same time, is 15 ranks lower at the 28th spot. That's one piece of good news and there are more. Nintendo games sell very well. Some Japanese must be investing their New Year money, "otoshidama", in games and so, Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart gain almost 100.000 units each despite being release for more than 1 and 2 months respectively. That's really huge and both of them along with Pokemon Colosseum hit the half-million mark, the first GC titles in the ranking this year to do so. Donkey Konga, released for a month, also enjoys this good fate with a major increase in its sale numbers, even Baten Kaitos gets one up at the bottom of the top.

GAMECUBE BEST WEEK SALES: from December 29, 2003 to January 4, 2004
rank before title company genre weeks in this week sales total sales
1 6 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Nintendo racing 9 98.000 [Den]  
2 1 Mario Party 5 Nintendo mini-games 6 95.000 [Den] 499.000 [Den]
5 5 Donkey Konga Nintendo music 4 77.000 [Den]  
9 4 Pokemon Colosseum Nintendo RPG/battles 7    
13 new Sonic Heroes Sega action 1    
15 12 Naruto 2 Tomy fighting 5    
24 28 Atsumare!! Made in Wario Nintendo mini-games 12    
37 24 One Piece Grand Battle! 3 Bandai action 4    
48 49 Baten Kaitos Namco RPG 5    
50 48 Power Pro Baseball Live 10 Super Edition 2003 Memorial Konami baseball 3    
_____ __ _____________________ _______ ___________ __ _____________ _____________
HARDWARE SALES
1.PS2 244.800 | 2.GBASP 242.800 | 3.GC 164.500 | 4.GBA 33.700 | 5.XB 4.300 | 6.PS 1.400 | 7.WSC 660




:: JAPAN : RANKING . Archives (first half 2004)