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AtomSurprise! Japan wants Halo 3 too
Some people presume that Japan doesn’t like Western games, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Grand Theft Auto sold fairly well and Ratchet & Clank has always been a hit even though the box art has cartoony characters. Similar to how there is a growing niche market for strategy RPGs in North America, a first person shooter market is beginning to emerge in Japan. Case and point Famitsu’s recent most wanted list. Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII take the top two spots. No real surprise there, but let’s skip down to number 20, Halo 3. That’s right Bungie’s shooter managed to creep its way into the top 20 list beating out Itadaki Street DS (one of the few Square-Enix games not on the list) and Disaster: Day of Crisis.
1, Dragon Quest IX (DS, Square Enix)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
3. Biohazard 5 (PS3, Capcom)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3, Konami)
5. Monster Hunter 3 (PS3, Capcom)
6. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, Nintendo)
7. Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii, Square Enix)
8. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations (PS2, Banpresto)
9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
10. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
11. Everybody’s Golf 5 (PS3, Sony)
12. Animal Crossing (Wii, Nintendo)
13. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3, Capcom)
14. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square Enix)
15. It’s a Wonderful World (DS, Square Enix)
16. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
17. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
18. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3, Sony)
19. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco)
20. Halo 3 (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
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4 Responses to “Surprise! Japan wants Halo 3 too”
June 5th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Months ago, I caught it at number 16 on the list. The “hardcore” people will buy them. The list overall don’t represent the mainstream buying games, but its still nice to see it there. And let’s not forget how Japanese users pleaded for Oblivion and now they shall receive.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Even though the DS and Wii are making a killing in terms of sales, it’s nice to see three 360 titles, Lost Odyssey, Chopin’s Dream (Eternal Sonata), and Halo 3, being up there.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am
While Halo 3 won’t be the cultural phenomenon that the game is destined to become once it ships in the US, Bungie’s FPS may very well find reasonable success in Japan. Like Gears of War before it, nothing truly noteworthy, yet alone astonishing to spur up interest in the console but impressive enough for a Western-developed FPS nonetheless.
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June 5th, 2007 at 10:57 am
wow, it’s the only western game in the top 30. i was always surprised by the tastes of japanese gamers. in my local shop, there was an entire section of dating games that i knew i could just ignore entirely along with the pc adult game section. it made for some pretty quick runs through the store.
btw, it’s “case in point”, not “case and point”.