The latest Japanese charts are now in from Famitsu and it is once again all about Kirby (thanks, Gematsu). For the second week in a row Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe has triumphed over the competition, selling 62,581 copies this time around — not quite the 189,931 that we saw last week, but respectable nonetheless.
It has been another strong showing from Nintendo this week too, with the Switch being represented by seven of the top ten chart entries. Alongside the usual suspects of Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Octopath Traveler II continued to sell well (shifting 14,085 and landing in seventh place this time), and Metroid Prime Remastered just about managed to sneak into the standings in its market debut, selling 7,960 copies.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty's debut on PlayStation consoles managed to fill in the gaps this week, with the PS5 version landing in second and the PS4 entering the charts in fourth.
Here's your look at this week's Japanese software top ten:
- [NSW] Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Nintendo, 02/24/23) – 62,581 (251,612)
- [PS5] Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Koei Tecmo, 03/03/23) – 30,132 (New)
- [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet (The Pokemon Company, 11/18/22) – 24,592 (4,908,398)
- [PS4] Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Koei Tecmo, 03/03/23) – 17,699 (New)
- [NSW] Rune Factory 3 Special (Marvelous, 03/02/23) – 16,627 (New)
- [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 14,766 (3,918,766)
- [NSW] Octopath Traveler II (Square Enix, 02/24/23) – 14,085 (68,080)
- [PS5] Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros. Games), 02/10/23) – 13,449 (139,535)
- [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 10,295 (5,183,660)
- [NSW] Metroid Prime Remastered (Nintendo, 03/03/23) – 7,960 (New)
On the hardware side of things, it has once again been a strong week for Sony's PS5. The system achieved 60,403 units sold this time, topping even the Switch OLED which lands in second place on 45,752.
The rest of the chart paints a pretty standard picture, with the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, Switch and Switch Lite rounding out the top half as the poor old Xbox continues to struggle.
- PlayStation 5 – 60,403 (2,638,017)
- Switch OLED Model – 45,752 (3,997,806)
- PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 18,009 (419,095)
- Switch – 11,463 (19,208,969)
- Switch Lite – 9,310 (5,232,941)
- PlayStation 4 – 1,655 (7,857,826)
- Xbox Series X – 708 (179,709)
- Xbox Series S – 140 (250,441)
- New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 66 (1,190,758)
Let us know what you make of this week's Japanese charts in the comments below.
[source famitsu.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments (55)
In all honesty Metroid was never going to set the Japanese charts on fire as it's a very western flavoured game, I'm actually amazed it even charted!
7k? That's not a good opening week. It's guite sad to see it beat by trash like scarlet and violet.
7 thousand copies is nothing impressive but considering Metroid's historical sales figures in Japan, just being in the top ten is great!
It would be interesting to see the digital numbers for Japan. I imagine they might be a higher percentage digital than many other countries?
Wow, Pokemon S&V are going to overtake Mariokart 8 Deluxe in sales?
Damn who's buying those bug ridden, nontested, piles of crap?
I didn’t realize Kirby had such a big first week.
@Bigmanfan If they sell a pile of feces with a Pokemon logo stamped on it, it'll sell millions. People will buy it regardless of what it is
Definitely not bad for Metroid in Japan! The series has always struggled there so it’s good to see it at least make it on the charts
Yess, that Kirby remake looks beautiful. It is playable for me. It is possible the first place.
For reference, Metroid Dread sold over 80K in it's first week in Japan. Not great to say the least.
lets wait for its total sales for western market it probably did extremely well going to do a second playthrough love the game so much and im pretty sure 2 and 3 are getting remastered as we speak.
@John_Deacon Definitely not wrong!
Any solid theories as to why Metroid struggles in Japan relative to elsewhere?
Yes, Pokemon SV deserves a lot of criticism but at a certain point it gets really tiring to always read the same "trash like scarlet and violet", "bug ridden, nontested, piles of crap" etc. Especially under a news where Pokemon SV isn't even the main focus
Well that's usually the dynamic for both. Metroid always resonated more with the west with the east always being in Kirby's corner. Sure there are players from the opposite that might like or be interested in both. But in the grand scheme of things. Both have regional bias and support.
I have both, The Nintendo Switch OLED and the PS5! Once The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out, OLED will be back on Top. Glad to see both doing great! Metroid Prime Remastered is an excellent game, it deserves more sales.
@mariomaster96
Agreed, I’m not the biggest fan of Pokémon but these entries were the most fun I’ve had with a Pokemon game in the last 20 years. The positives heavily outweigh the negatives.
In total, the Switch models sold more than the PS5. Also, if this is physical sales only, I would imagine Metroid Prime Remastered has a higher percentage of digital sales than most games, given that the release date was much later for the physical version.
@mariomaster96
Believe me, not for nothing, I always commented why so much negativity and hostile attitudes......;
And yes, also, I am not against criticism, negative criticism, but constructive and without annoying; However, as you see, it is everything, ALL the time...... Oh well...
The famous phrase of Professor Oak in games is for me an example to follow in these cases:
"There is a time and place for everything, but not now"
@MikeJones as someone said before, it’s a more western oriented game. I don’t really know if this would affect sales as much but Prime is also developed by a western studio. I’m not an expert with any of this so take my opinion with a grain of salt
@Bunkerneath Pokemon S/V is infinitely better than that Sonic Frontiers garbage.
He is in the top 10 only because the top is really low this week. 7 thousand is not good, even for Metroid in Japan.
Japan just doesn't like Metroid for whatever reason. Like people mentioned it could be because it's the most westernized game Nintendo has or maybe it's the sci Fi setting.
But on a side note I'm playing through the remaster right now and it's amazing. Wish Prime 2 and 3 get ported to Switch at some point
When did Japan get the physical copy and does this include digital sales ?
@Strumpan I don’t think your math is mathing - both ps5 models outsold all 3 switch models 😂
@Ulysses Easy there lol.
@hippoeater Oh, you're right, didn't see the digital model.
Love to see Kirby do so well!
Not surprising seeing Metroid Prime not do as well in Japan as elsewhere (although it would be interesting seeing the digital sales considering that version came out first) so I'm happy to see it at least made it in the top 10!
@mariomaster96 Couldn't have said it better!
@NintendoEternity "Once The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out, OLED will be back on Top"...
I think the question is: how long will ZeldaTotK keep OLED on top...maybe a handful of weeks.
But PS5 is still dealing with launch demand in Japan & then a couple of weeks after Zelda will be Final Fantasy in June
@Bunkerneath
... Considering you have a profile gif picture of Sonic Frontiers, that's not saying much lmfao. I would rather play a bug infected game that's actually FUN to play than a meaningless, empty and boring open world game like Frontiers
Nintendo fans really loves easy cash grab.
I don't know why anyone would expect meaningfully bigger numbers for Metroid Prime Remastered - it's a month-late supply-constrained retail launch of a remaster of a game that never sold much to begin with (Metroid Prime on GCN sold <90,000 copies lifetime in Japan).
Nintendo is smart to had made Metroid Prime Remastered as a standalone. Had they release it as a trilogy I doubt it would even charted. Now they just need to make Metroid Prime 2 Remastered and rinse and repeat with Metroid Prime 3 Remastered and then Metroid Prime Hunters Remastered and then Metroid Prime Pinball Remastered and then Metroid Prime Federation Force Remastered and then the Metroid Prime Collection Remastered, easy money for them every year until Metroid Prime 4: Vapor came out.
@MrHonest
Nintendo are masters at harnessing that nostalgia…it’s part of their business model 💯
I got Metroid Prime Remasterd physical on Sunday (I got Target's last copy).
Wow, what an upgrade from the original. It looks so much better than what is seen on YouTube compression!
@WiiWouldLikeToPlay Since the digital version released weeks earlier and it charted highly there I'd say these physical sales are alright.
Retro Studios is an american company but still Nintendo is Japanese. With just 7.000 i'm not sure it worth the cost to localise it
@Bigmanfan hardly opening week when it's been out digitally for the last four weeks which will have certainly impacted physical sales.
Where is situated on the Japanese eshop chart ?
I love how this devolved into Pokémon and Sonic fans debating over whose game sucks the hardest.
@Strumpan Not really, there's two PS5 versions also. Normal and digital, if you add them up PS5 still sold more than switch.
@Rainz Can’t blame Nintendo when people are willing to pay for it.
@JAGleics Fair point I suppose. I would be curious to see how many people double dipped on physical and digital though.
About those Metroid numbers, from what I understand, the original Meteoid Prime is the best any Metroid has ever performed in Japan. I'm sure it'll sell in the long run.
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe
a)Some people probably bought it digital and didn't double dip nor plan to do it?
b)There might also be stock issues in Japan?
EDIT
@Baler As of the typing of this edit, the game is not in the Top 30 ranking in the Japanese eShop.
EDIT 2:
The eShop goes only until #30, but the Japanese My Nintendo Store goes all the way and lists the top 50. The top 30 matches that in the Japanese eShop. According to it, Metroid Prime Remastered is at #35.
https://store-jp.nintendo.com/software/ranking/
@MarioBrickLayer Second hand is big in Japan and you can't trade a digital game.
@HammerGalladeBro @old-dad That was going to be my question too. Is it available in abundance in the stores? Or did the supply run out quickly like the rest of the world?
Looks like PS5 owners are finally starting to buy physical software in Japan. Bodes well for FF16 and FFR7-2.
Good week for hardware. PS5 finally hitting its stride, Switch still doing well, and PS4 outselling XBSX/S! It'd be nice to see YtD numbers since it's likely PS5 is the best selling console of the year so far.
@DwaynesGames
Yeah understand Japan has never loved metroid like the west but I'm hoping it was physical only which would only be about a week of sales.
@Mauzuri My profile picture changes to whatever game I am playing at the moment, and yes I am playing frontiers and so far found no bugs. Just an empty depressing world which is what it is supposed to be.
@Bigmanfan Metroid was never popular in Japan, so it is a shock it even hit Top 10.
@WiiWouldLikeToPlay Metroid Prime Remastered didn't even get a full week, so 7k (especially for Metroid) is impressive.
@John_Deacon Been saying it for years. GF/ TPC know this, that's why they don't even try to make an impressive Pokemon game anymore. Hardcore Fans will bend dover backwards and take it because it's Pokemon
@uptownsoul very true. Final Fantasy 16 will definitely help the PS5.
Sad to see transphobic crap such as Hogwarts Legacy do so well.
@mariomaster96 I've learned to enjoy the bitter tears. The meltdowns when SV pass 5 million physical in Japan will be glorious!
Tap here to load 55 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...