Despite a more than 10 percent increase on last week, and a suite of new entries, the Japanese software market still remains only 85 percent of the weekly average. This is largely due to lower-ranked titles selling in extremely minor numbers, with only 68 games in the top 100 enjoying sales over 1,000 units (down from 80 titles last week).
Even so, seasonal favorites such as the
Momotaro Railway and
Mario Party series have done well, with Hudson’s latest train simulator selling 122,000 units in its first week – compared to 101,00 for its predecessor.
Mario Party 6 sold 99,000 units – 16,000 more than
Mario Party 5 in the first week, although the inclusion of a bundled microphone will eat into Nintendo’s profits slightly with the newer game.
Next week sees the release of
Dragon Quest VIII (aka
Dragon Warrior in the West), which is expected to sell more than 3 million units in Japan alone. Japanese analysts are hoping that this, combined with the imminent launch of the Nintendo DS, explains the continued lull in the market, as customers save their money for more anticipated titles.
In hardware sales, the PlayStation 2 has increased its lead with a 64.64% market share, followed by the Game Boy Advance at 28.78%. Despite three titles in the top ten, the GameCube is at just 5.22%, compared to around 20% at the same time last year.
The Xbox has enjoyed its third week at above 1%, with a 1.27% market share, although such a derisory figure still seems little cause for celebration.
| TW | LW | Title | Publisher | Format | Release Date |
| 1 | NE | Momotaro Railway USA | Hudson | PS2 | 2004.11.18 |
| 2 | NE | Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 3 | Tomy | GC | 2004.11.18 |
| 3 | NE | Mario Party 6 | Nintendo | GC | 2004.11.18 |
| 4 | NE | Dragon Ball: Advance Adventure | Banpresto | GBA | 2004.11.18 |
| 5 | NE | J-League Winning Eleven 8: Asia Championship | Konami | PS2 | 2004.11.18 |
| 6 | 1 | Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories | Nintendo | GBA | 2004.11.11 |
| 7 | 2 | Magna Carta | Banpresto | PS2 | 2004.11.11 |
| 8 | NE | Pop'n Music 10 | Konami | PS2 | 2004.11.18 |
| 9 | 4 | Zelda no Densetsu: Fushigi no Boushi | Nintendo | GBA | 2004.11.04 |
| 10 | 3 | Mario Tennis GC | Nintendo | GC | 2004.10.28 |
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