Nintendo Sales | Wii Top 50 Since Launch in Japan

So sad. Just 1 third party game in the top 10. Super Mario Galaxy broke the 500,000 mark last week, I believe.

Mario Party above Zelda is just incredibly depressing.

Zelda on level with WarioWare just isnt right. (and this, coming from a wario ware fan).

I heard Nintendo commenting on the fact that they know the Japanese didn't receive Twilight Princess very well at all. I think the Japanese people realise Nintendo didn't do a very good job on the game. And this is a good thing too - if Nintendo's loyal fans from Japan don't take too well even to Zelda, perhaps they'll really pull their finger out on the next game.

Either way, it's clear the Japanese like their party games. Wii Sports, Play, Wario Ware, Mario Party... They're all right up there. Wii Fit has done well considering it's recent release too.

Says it all about what a letdown Twilight Princess was.
And poor Zack and Wiki! That game needs WAY more attention...

Indeed, Nintendo Lad. I was disappointed in so many ways with TP, it hurts me to say it.

I found TP a good game. There must be something wrong with you!!!!

What I found strange was that Galaxy was so far down on the list. I know that Wii Sports was going to be first, but Galaxy 8th?????!!!!!

( Edited on 24.12.2007 21:19 by Keven )

Mario Galaxy only came out last month, remember. It's doing pretty well.

As for TP, it just wasn't what I expected. Yes, it's a great game. But the promises Nintendo made about it didn't really come true. Just some of my personal disappointments with the game:

- Nintendo said a 70 hour main quest. It wasn't anywhere near.

- Lack of Princess Zelda. Not always a bad thing, but TP needed her more than any other Zelda game, I felt.

- Very few side quests, and of those there were, they were crap with crappy prizes. For me, Zelda is all about the side quests as much as it is the main quest.

- Game was too damn easy. We need difficulty modes now, damnit.

- Lack of points of interest on the overworld. It was massive, but there was bugger all to do on it.

- Lack of towns. There was only Kakariko and Castle Town. And you could hardly visit anywhere. In the screens and vids of the game before it came out, Castle Town looked huge. But when the time came, you coudln't even explore most of it, you could only enter certain buildings, and you could only speak to certain people. Big disappointment.

- Lack of interaction with other characters. We had Ilia, the kids, Telma and some others, but there were plenty of other characters we should have been able to interact with more. Ashe is one example. She looked like a great character and we really only got one scene with her.

- Game was very linear. Compared to something like The Wind Waker, which was very open, TP always had you on a set path. Beat this dungeon, go to the next. There wasn't that much to do in between. Which was very sad for a Zelda game.

I could probably add more but that will do. That's just my personal opinion, but I found TP a big disappointment when compared to the other Zelda games, and especially considering Nintendo's promises. It's a great game, but not what I expected at all.

Nice list, but expected. Good to see the list of favs at the top, and surprisingly decent sales for TP (I thought it would be far lower in the list).

Azzy - totally agree with pretty much all you said, good game but much of the same with a lick of paint. TP is a worthy entry and a game with plenty of merits in its design but was fairly limiting with such a huge canvas for them to play with.

Other than that, a good range of 3rd party titles in the top 20, Naruto, DBZ, Resi. Etc.

Hopefully by this time in 2008 the list (07-08 releases) will be far broader, with some new franchises and genres thrown in there for good measure.

I heard Nintendo commenting on the fact that they know the Japanese didn't receive Twilight Princess very well at all. I think the Japanese people realise Nintendo didn't do a very good job on the game. And this is a good thing too - if Nintendo's loyal fans from Japan don't take too well even to Zelda, perhaps they'll really pull their finger out on the next game.

So your saying they did an excellent job on mario party or Wii sports? Don't be so naive to think that sales = quality, so many excellent games are overlooked, and so many crap games sell by the bucketload. Look at Brain Training, I could've programmed a similar game on VB with my limited programming knowledge... and that is like one of the best sellers on DS. That is a bad thing, as Nintendo is going to focus less on proper games and more on those cheap casual games. Haha reminds me about the advent of reality television.

iCAME, I don't mean it like that, but it's a difficult point to get across. I mean, yeah, I agree with what you say and worry about it too.

I know they didn't do too well with TP, but they know they need to rectify that. Look at Mario Galaxy. That game is proof that they aren't abandoning us long time hardcore players.

They know games like Brain Training and Mario Party appeal to a wide range of people, but they know they can't afford to not deliver on the main franchises too.

If you take TP as the main example, really they've delivered a game the fans wanted - pretty much Ocarina of Time 2. Fans wanted another OoT. Realistic graphics, deeper storyline, horseback fighting, lots of dungeons. But in the end, I think too many didn't like how TOO much alike it was to OoT.

Really, I think TP is the only slip up on the main franchises so far. But I don't put that down to concentration on the "non-games" they're making at all.

They can still deliver on both sets of games.

I agree with you that TP wasen't very open ended like the other Zelda games, but I disagree wit most everything else. Don't hate. That's just my opinion.