JPN Super Famicom Vs. JPN Megadrive (Sale Numbers)

[MegaDrive20XX]

This is a tall order, but I'd like to find out how well the two did in Japan during their years.

[Aussie2B]

Well, I can tell you that it was absolutely no contest. The Super Famicom demolished the Mega Drive in Japan. Don't know about sales numbers, though.

[Ed Oscuro]

Same!

Oh, and for the record - King of the Monsters 1 and 2 on the SNES wipe the floor with their MD counterparts (and I think the SNES KotM 1 is better than the arcade version, graphics-wise), but what's the system with Splatterhouse and Comix Zone, again? Thought so.

I've heard all sorts of stuff over the years about "x did horrible," and apparently horrible means that the Mega CD got ports of The Ninja Warriors and Sengoku? That doesn't jive with me :O Perhaps Europe, Oceania (the real-world kind, AUS/NZ) and Brazil were footholds for Sega worldwide over the years, but something has to explain lots of good action games getting released for the MD that didn't get released elsewhere. I'm quite sure that from 1994 the MD was really starting to weaken in Japan, though, as far as action games go.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, I can tell you that it was absolutely no contest. The Super Famicom demolished the Mega Drive in Japan.
Well, the Super Famicom did better - but how much better? And did the MD lose money (I don't believe this at all, and won't believe it until I count every last MD and SNES sold! LOL ) ?

[MegaDrive20XX]

Well of course SFC crushed it LOL , but I just want to see the numbers ;)

[slownerveaction]

I've been trying to find actual numbers on this for years. I've never found them, but this is my understanding:

The Super Famicom did better than both the Mega Drive and PC Engine (including the Duo and all other variants). The PCE posed a serious threat to Nintendo for a years before losing ground to the Super Fami later on (its largest success was during the late-80s when it competed directly with the Famicom). The Mega Drive wasn't as huge a flop as it's often perceived, but it was definitely third place for the majority of its lifetime.

I do know a few numbers of other consoles in Japan, btw. I saw these on the Magic Box a while back. They're usually pretty good with Japanese numbers, but I can't fully vouch for 'em:

3DO: 1 million
Laseractive: 1 million (remember, Laserdiscs were a lot bigger in Japan than here -- they were supported heavily enough that there's even a Japanese Phantom Menace Laserdisc!)
PC-FX: 600,000
N64: About 5.5 million
Saturn: Close to 6 million

The Saturn was definitely more successful than the Mega Drive; same with the N64 and Super Fami. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say Mega Drive had about a 2-4 million install base, and the Super Fami over 10 million (probably significantly over 10 million). PCE was probably close to 10 million, counting all variants. If anyone has real numbers, I'd love to see 'em.

[MegaDrive20XX]

The Saturn facts hold up strong, even two years ago according to polls of all time favorite systems, people in Japan still praise the Saturn to this day!

[Aussie2B]

That little for the PC-FX? o_O That surprises me.

[Ernster]

There's this myth out there that Sega some how did better in Australian than Nintendo, and Im here to tell you that's a lie! Yes Sega did well down under, but the NES outsold SMS and Im betting my money the same with the SNES/MD.

[Melf]

Saturn: Close to 6 million

The Saturn was definitely more successful than the Mega Drive; same with the N64 and Super Fami. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say Mega Drive had about a 2-4 million install base, and the Super Fami over 10 million (probably significantly over 10 million). PCE was probably close to 10 million, counting all variants. If anyone has real numbers, I'd love to see 'em.


The MD killed the Saturn in worldwide sales by a brutal margin. By the end of its life span (including all 3 versions), there was an estimated 28.5 million units sold (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/segabase/SegaBase-Genesis.html). The MD is, in fact, Sega's best-selling console of all time.

[slownerveaction]

The MD killed the Saturn in worldwide sales by a brutal margin. By the end of its life span (including all 3 versions), there was an estimated 28.5 million units sold (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/segabase/SegaBase-Genesis.html). The MD is, in fact, Sega's best-selling console of all time.

I know that. I was talkin' 'bout Japan, though. In Japan, the Saturn was Sega's most successful system. And it's still a favorite console over there.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Saturn: Close to 6 million

The Saturn was definitely more successful than the Mega Drive; same with the N64 and Super Fami. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say Mega Drive had about a 2-4 million install base, and the Super Fami over 10 million (probably significantly over 10 million). PCE was probably close to 10 million, counting all variants. If anyone has real numbers, I'd love to see 'em.


The MD killed the Saturn in worldwide sales by a brutal margin. By the end of its life span (including all 3 versions), there was an estimated 28.5 million units sold (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/segabase/SegaBase-Genesis.html). The MD is, in fact, Sega's best-selling console of all time.


Damn straight! ;) We gotta break down the numbers on this...yet Im pretty sure from what people said earlier that MD spent "3rd" place most of it's life span

[Melf]

Yeah, the Saturn was more successful there, mainly because Sega of Japan decided they knew more about the American Market than SOA did. The result? A distant third place, U.S. CEO quitting, and a shamed Nakayama stepping down.

Way to go SOJ! :(

[Parodius]

Maybe if SOA had released some of the killer Saturn 2D titles over here things would have been different.

The Saturn has more great 2D titles than any other system. IMHO of course.

[GaijinPunch]

I used to have a bookmark that had Famitsu's soft rankings from the mid 80's to 2002 or so. That covered 16-bit and up. Not sure if they had hardware, but your best bet is to find a site that has archived Famitsu (or similar magazine's) findings, and it's most likely going to be a japanese page.

And yeah -- the MD was a massive dud in Japan. I dont' think they even broke even. Of course I don't have the numbers to prove this. It was technically considered a failure though.

[GaijinPunch]

Okay, here's the numbers. I don't know when this was last updated so it could be pretty inaccurate for current gen stuff... in fact, it was printed in the 700th issue of Famitsu. Not sure when that was, so it's probably been a while.

Here's how to read it.
Machine Name | Number of Units (1 = 10,000) | Generation | rank

Rank is defined (by Famitsu) as:
1 = > 2 million units
2 = ~500,000 units
3 = < 300,00 units (not sure about 400,000 ^^)
Not sure how they came up w/ the numbers for 4th gen stuff, but I don't think anyone can argue that PS2 is dominating the 4th generation. I assume this came out before the Xbox was released in Japan.

Family Computer 1,923 Gen=1 Rank=1
Playstation 1,913 Gen=2,3 Rank=1
Super Famicom 1,715 Gen=2 Rank=1
Playstation 2 895 Gen=4 Rank=1
PC Engine 584 Gen=1,2 Rank=2
Sega Saturn 560 Gen=2,3 Rank=2
Nintendo64 552 Gen=3 Rank=2
MegaDrive 358 Gen=2 Rank=3
Dreamcast 280 Gen=3,4 Rank=3
GameCube 140 Gen=4 Rank=2

As you can see, it looks like the MegaDrive not only got the living piss kicked out of it, it sold less than 20% of what the SFC sold.

[Ed Oscuro]

Haha, oh man, that's pretty bad. It got SOUNDLY trounced by the PC-Engine...I'll live with it though :P Too bad there's no breakdown for CD-ROM units - I'd like to see how that worked out for NEC; it seems to me their CD-ROM addon worked out to be a great equalizer for them.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Good god...Scary how close PS1 is to the Famicom itself.....

[GaijinPunch]

Good god...Scary how close PS1 is to the Famicom itself.....

And even scarier that both of them sold many units a month well after this was printed.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Good god...Scary how close PS1 is to the Famicom itself.....

And even scarier that both of them sold many units a month well after this was printed.

yikes, that always opens my eyes to how much Sony has impacted on the market. Never ceases to amaze me.

[Melf]

Thing is, these statistics meant so much more during the 16-bit generation than they do now. Japan is no longer the most vital market, and the last two generations have seen platforms survive and even thrive without selling at all there.

Heck, Japan's decline as the most important market is even apparent in this stage, as the PC-Engine, which was #2 in Japan at the time, succumbed to the competition. The Mega Drive, which sold like shit in Japan, held 55% of the worldwide market and put Sega ahead of Nintendo.

[Parodius]

Thanks to its dismal performance toward the end of its life in Japan the MegaDrive is the system with the most titles north of $100(apart from NeoGeo).

[GaijinPunch]

Thing is, these statistics meant so much more during the 16-bit generation than they do now. Japan is no longer the most vital market, and the last two generations have seen platforms survive and even thrive without selling at all there.

It was only a matter of time before Japan was not the biggest market. America has twice as many people -- hardly a fair playing ground, is it? They just needed publishers to either publish games to get more people into gaming, or wait for the general public to get dumb enough to enjoy the piles of tripe that's mass-produced there. (Sorry if that was harsh -- there are many western games I love, but the majority of them I think are crap).

As for thriving elsewhere without surviving in Japan, MegaDrive is about the only case. You'd have to sell a LOT of units in the other two markets (US/Europe). Nobody else has done that. Xbox is close, but they're still miles behind the PS2. I don't keep up with Europe, but I assume their Xbox sales there are somewhere between it's sales in America (respectable) and Japan (absolutely laughable).

Being a powerhouse in both East and West opens up doors to a lots of profit, especially for easily localized games, and of course, big 3rd party support that has presences in both lands (Capcom, Konami, Square, etc.) is more likely to jump on board. While they may not need it to survive, I think M$ would do well to have some 3rd party developer that puts out games that sell 1-2 million copies it's first week... these games are usually in the form of RPG, and have the words Fantasy and Dragon in them. ;)

All of that Japan love may be in vein though. The site I got this info from states that the highest selling game in Japan ever is Pokemon Red/Blue/Green at 5.594 million units, and the number two game Pokemon Silver/Gold at 5.56 million units. :/ Out of curiosity, anyone got stats on the highest selling games in the US?


Thanks to its dismal performance toward the end of its life in Japan the MegaDrive is the system with the most titles north of $100(apart from NeoGeo).

Yeah, but most are in the form of Akklaim titles localized to Japan. The PC-Engine has a much largerlibrary for $60-$120 games, and games that aren't found anywhere else at that. While the JP Akklaim games are cool to have, you can get their Genesis counterparts for mere sheckles.

[Ed Oscuro]

And even scarier that both of them sold many units a month well after this was printed.

yikes, that always opens my eyes to how much Sony has impacted on the market. Never ceases to amaze me.
And my eyes to Nintendo! Which is the much older system?

As for the Mega Drive...heh, the really expensive versions of Genesis games just are fun to collect. Where would I be without my first MD title - Contra The Hard Corps, costing me $150 for a brand new (-like) copy? LOL

[GarrettCRW]

And my eyes to Nintendo! Which is the much older system?

The Famicom is still quite popular in Japan-so much so that the AV Famicom was being produced until October of 2003 (which is also when NCL stopped writing Disk System games for 500 yen a pop). Of course, since new Japanese TVs currently lack RF inputs and the original Famicom was RF only, many AV Famicom sales were for upgrading purposes.

[Melf]

As for thriving elsewhere without surviving in Japan, MegaDrive is about the only case. You'd have to sell a LOT of units in the other two markets (US/Europe). Nobody else has done that. Xbox is close, but they're still miles behind the PS2. I don't keep up with Europe, but I assume their Xbox sales there are somewhere between it's sales in America (respectable) and Japan (absolutely laughable).



The N64 was around for a pretty long time for a console with little support in Japan. The Xbox, coming from an American company with no previous console experience, has done quite well world-wide. It used to be that a system had to do well in Japan, or it was doomed. This simply isn't the case anymore, and Japan will keep losing relevance in terms of needed sales as time goes on. Yes, being successful in both territories is a great thing to have and equals more software for your console, but selling well in Japan doesn't necessarily spell its death anymore. As long as the hardware manufacturer has the cash to ride things out until sales pick up in the U.S., which Nintendo and Microsoft have, they can do pretty well.

The U.S. may have a larger population, but consider how the Japanese eat and breathe electronic gadgets and gizmos. They are a nation of early adopters, and when you consider that Japanese companies like Tecmo, Namco, and now Mistwalker are still on board with Xbox development, it says a lot about how things have changed.

[slownerveaction]

Little late on this, but mucho thanks for putting those numbers up, GaijinPunch. That's clears up some of the confusion I had over the 8/16-bit console wars in Japan. BTW, do you know if that PC Engine number includes Duo sales as well? Considering how well supported the PC Engine CD market was... and how many variants NEC put out, I thought it did a little better than that.

[GaijinPunch]

The N64 was around for a pretty long time for a console with little support in Japan.

It's still considered a failure by fans... in both parts territories. I don't know any Nintendo fan that would want to see history repeat it self... yet it did.



The Xbox, coming from an American company with no previous console experience, has done quite well world-wide.

Done quite well in the English-speaking world. The Xbox was consistently outsold by the PSOne in Japan only a few months after it's release. Indeed, a bomb. It was hacked pretty early which might've helped HW sales in other parts of Asia, but still not a huge presence. While they've held their own in the US, they're still not anywhere close to Sony. This is not thriving... not even close. Agreed, it's their first outting in the console market. However, I seem to recall a company called Sony that dominated ALL markets on their first try.


It used to be that a system had to do well in Japan, or it was doomed. This simply isn't the case anymore, and Japan will keep losing relevance in terms of needed sales as time goes on.

I seriously doubt it. Go look at sales figures of the big JPN games... this is far from irrelevant. Just as the Xbox can surivive not being number 1, Japan is still a massive market, even if not the biggest. Bill himself admits this, and knows he fucked up (hence he's got some bigger players on board).


but selling well in Japan doesn't necessarily spell its death anymore

I never said it did.


The U.S. may have a larger population, but consider how the Japanese eat and breathe electronic gadgets and gizmos.

That's a bit of a stereotypical myth though. The average Japanese person is way more frugal than the average westerner. Most Japanese citizens actually have a savings... I come back to the states, and all I see is debt consolidation commercials.


They are a nation of early adopters, and when you consider that Japanese companies like Tecmo, Namco, and now Mistwalker are still on board with Xbox development, it says a lot about how things have changed.

Indeed, they're making the right steps to getting better support in Asia. While Tecmo makes great games, they've never really made very many. Namco is a much better catch. They are still going to need something along the lines of Capcom or Konami. I hate saying this, and I hate it being a reality, but I think there's a lot of truth to the correlation of the highest selling console in Japan is the one that has the Square exclusives. Sad but true. No RPGs, and you're fucked in Japan. Proof? Dreamcast. One of the morons from M$ himself said that "Japanese have to quit making Mahjong games. They have to make world-wide hits, blah blah". Spoken like a true moron. Pachisuro and Mahjong games are cash cows in Japan. It's that dumb-whitey syndrome that got them down and out in the first round in Japan in the first place.

[Ed Oscuro]

The U.S. may have a larger population, but consider how the Japanese eat and breathe electronic gadgets and gizmos.
That's a bit of a stereotypical myth though. The average Japanese person is way more frugal than the average westerner. Most Japanese citizens actually have a savings... I come back to the states, and all I see is debt consolidation commercials.
Indeed; the Japanese government set up an advertising campaign to get people to spend money. I'm not sure if it's quite like this anymore, but Japan has been caught in the dreaded Liquidity trap Hicks wrote about back in 1937 - back then it was just an interesting wrinkle, a possibility that nobody thought would happen. It happened.

As far as I can scope it, the trap boils down like this:

High savings + near zero interest rates and low inflation + nobody spending their money = monetary policy (i.e. restricting or expanding the supply of money) does not work anymore.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm missing a few parts in there, but that's worth thinking about.

[Melf]

Done quite well in the English-speaking world. The Xbox was consistently outsold by the PSOne in Japan only a few months after it's release. Indeed, a bomb. It was hacked pretty early which might've helped HW sales in other parts of Asia, but still not a huge presence. While they've held their own in the US, they're still not anywhere close to Sony. This is not thriving... not even close. Agreed, it's their first outting in the console market. However, I seem to recall a company called Sony that dominated ALL markets on their first try.

That's my whole point. The Xbox and N64 did quite well in spite of their failure in Japan. The fact that they're not in Sony's league sales-wise simply means that they're not number one. Calling them failures because they didn't sell as much as the Playstation isn't accurate. You can still thrive without being #1.

Heck, that's even further proof of what I'm saying. Two systems, both failures in Japan, both trounced in sales by Sony, still manage to be successful.


I seriously doubt it. Go look at sales figures of the big JPN games... this is far from irrelevant. Just as the Xbox can surivive not being number 1, Japan is still a massive market, even if not the biggest. Bill himself admits this, and knows he fucked up (hence he's got some bigger players on board).

but if it were as relevant as it was a decade ago, the Xbox never would have lasted a year.



That's a bit of a stereotypical myth though. The average Japanese person is way more frugal than the average westerner. Most Japanese citizens actually have a savings... I come back to the states, and all I see is debt consolidation commercials.

I was referring to their tendancy to be earlier adopters than Americans when it comes to electronics. That's why a lot of new products, like cell phone cameras, for instance, are tried out there before being released worldwide.


Indeed, they're making the right steps to getting better support in Asia. While Tecmo makes great games, they've never really made very many. Namco is a much better catch. They are still going to need something along the lines of Capcom or Konami. I hate saying this, and I hate it being a reality, but I think there's a lot of truth to the correlation of the highest selling console in Japan is the one that has the Square exclusives. Sad but true. No RPGs, and you're fucked in Japan. Proof? Dreamcast. One of the morons from M$ himself said that "Japanese have to quit making Mahjong games. They have to make world-wide hits, blah blah". Spoken like a true moron. Pachisuro and Mahjong games are cash cows in Japan. It's that dumb-whitey syndrome that got them down and out in the first round in Japan in the first place.

True. I think MS has taken the right approach to remedy this by securing exclusives from Japanese companies like Mistwalker. They screwed up big time this generation, but still managed to keep their console afloat, thanks to a big bank account and strong sales in the U.S.

[GaijinPunch]

That's my whole point. The Xbox and N64 did quite well in spite of their failure in Japan.

You missed what I'm saying. What fan considers the N64 in Japan OR the US a success? It was a prelude to everything everyone hates about the GC. Terrible 3rd party support mainly. (Also note I'm coming off a Nintendo thread at Assembler where everyone bitches about Nintendos last two consoles). Money-wise they might've stayed above ground, but they alienated a LOT of their fan-base.


but if it were as relevant as it was a decade ago, the Xbox never would have lasted a year.

You even said yourself 'they'll do okay if they have the money the to wait it out'. Microsoft would've been there no matter what. I don't think the state of Japans economy had dick to do with Microsoft's presence... at least not the first time. I do think it's fair to say that Microsoft's dexterity in the whole situation proves that Japan is still a very relevant player.


True. I think MS has taken the right approach to remedy this by securing exclusives from Japanese companies like Mistwalker. They screwed up big time this generation, but still managed to keep their console afloat, thanks to a big bank account and strong sales in the U.S.

But the Japanese companies they need aren't going to completey get onboard until they can secure strong sales in BOTH markets. That's the trick about getting the big JPN companies, and is what's going to provide the most work for M$ next generatino. There's way more Japanese developed games localized for western markets than there are vice versa. Look at what Sega did. They only put their games that sold weakly in Japan out on the Xbox. Capcom's not going to put Street Fighter only on a system that sells in one market, since it's a worldwide cash cow. Same with Rockman and Devil May Cry. Konami wouldn't do it for Castlevania or Metal Gear Solid. Of course if M$ shelled out you might see this, but I think it woudl cost them a lot of dough.

I would personally like to see them do well in Japan. The stuff that's possible on the hardware is amazing. They just need to make the console about half the size. That was obviously a huge mistake.... I would think for any market.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's a bit of a stereotypical myth though. The average Japanese person is way more frugal than the average westerner. Most Japanese citizens actually have a savings... I come back to the states, and all I see is debt consolidation commercials.
I was referring to their tendancy to be earlier adopters than Americans when it comes to electronics. That's why a lot of new products, like cell phone cameras, for instance, are tried out there before being released worldwide.
How so, if they aren't spending money in the first place? I'm not convinced of that at all.

[GaijinPunch]

How so, if they aren't spending money in the first place? I'm not convinced of that at all.

Indeed. Japan has been in a recession for years... it's not that their gaming industry is in trouble, ALL of their industries are in trouble. This is a country that had almost zero unemployment until the mid-90's.

They've been doing some things to remedy the situation, but not enough. The changed a few holidays to follow during the week, instead of the weekends to stimualate spending.

[Melf]

You missed what I'm saying. What fan considers the N64 in Japan OR the US a success? It was a prelude to everything everyone hates about the GC. Terrible 3rd party support mainly. (Also note I'm coming off a Nintendo thread at Assembler where everyone bitches about Nintendos last two consoles). Money-wise they might've stayed above ground, but they alienated a LOT of their fan-base.

You're talking from a fan's point of view, right? I'm looking at it from the business side, and though it's obvious that Nintendo is a shadow of its former self, they still came through the 32-bit era with their heads above water. That's what I'm saying: poor sales in Japan doesn't equal instant console death like it once did.


You even said yourself 'they'll do okay if they have the money the to wait it out'. Microsoft would've been there no matter what. I don't think the state of Japans economy had dick to do with Microsoft's presence... at least not the first time. I do think it's fair to say that Microsoft's dexterity in the whole situation proves that Japan is still a very relevant player.

I never said anything about Japan's economy. I also never said that Japan was unimportant. I'm just saying that it's not as important as it once was.


But the Japanese companies they need aren't going to completey get onboard until they can secure strong sales in BOTH markets. That's the trick about getting the big JPN companies, and is what's going to provide the most work for M$ next generatino. There's way more Japanese developed games localized for western markets than there are vice versa.

Again, getting big sales in Japan is a definite boost, but it isn't a matter of life and death as it once was. Most of the big sellers of this generation have been western-made games, like Halo and GTA; even Metroid Prime was done by an American team. Japanese games are still huge sellers, but western-made titles have gained a lot of ground and have proven that there is life outside of Japan for game consoles.


Look at what Sega did. They only put their games that sold weakly in Japan out on the Xbox. Capcom's not going to put Street Fighter only on a system that sells in one market, since it's a worldwide cash cow. Same with Rockman and Devil May Cry. Konami wouldn't do it for Castlevania or Metal Gear Solid. Of course if M$ shelled out you might see this, but I think it woudl cost them a lot of dough.

We're already beginning to see it. Getting the creator of Final Fantasy to commit to two exclusive games is a start, but as I said, it's still pretty even. Nothing Sega or Capcom have released this generation have equalled the sales of GTA, and Rockstar has seen fit to release them on the Xbox (better late than never). If enough of the western developers embrace the Xbox 360 (or whatever it'll be called), it may cancel out what doesn't get sent over from Japan. A Metal Gear or Castlevania would be big, but Konami's apathy isn't going to be a death knell by far.


I would personally like to see them do well in Japan. The stuff that's possible on the hardware is amazing. They just need to make the console about half the size. That was obviously a huge mistake.... I would think for any market.

I too would like to see them be successful. It would mean more games for us, which is always good. I've heard that MS has learned a lot from it's blunder in Japan, so hopefully things will be different this time around.

Great discussion! :)

[GaijinPunch]

I do think it's fair to say that Microsoft's dexterity in the whole situation proves that Japan is still a very relevant player.

I don't think it ever did, really. No US games console has done extremely well in Japan. (Someone tell me if I'm mistaken.) All the Atari models come to mind. The MegaDrive further proves this... but then again, it sold really well just about EVERYWHERE else. The DC, however, disproves this. It had mediocre sales in the US, and flat out awful in Japan. We all know the result. While the N64 hardware numbers aren't that good, Nintendo sells a few million units of their core games, and they come out shining. And yeah, them having some $$ in the reserves definitely helped any flatlining they did during that time.


I also never said that Japan was unimportant. I'm just saying that it's not as important as it once was.

Fair enough. But saying "will keep losing relevence" sounded a bit like, 'will eventually fade into the black'.


Again, getting big sales in Japan is a definite boost, but it isn't a matter of life and death as it once was. Most of the big sellers of this generation have been western-made games, like Halo and GTA; even Metroid Prime was done by an American team. Japanese games are still huge sellers, but western-made titles have gained a lot of ground and have proven that there is life outside of Japan for game consoles.

Agreed, they don't need it to survive, but I still can't imagine any company, especially western not wanting to have their title huge in Japan. Those games you listed are all big games in the west... but not the East. Even Metroid Prime isn't huge in Japan, although it's a good seller. (While it was developed in the west, the eastern management team ruled them with an iron fist, no? I recall many delays). Peter Moore himself is the one that said the Japanese need to make world-wide hits. I can't think of one US-developed game that could break a million units in the US and Japan (again, someone correct me if I'm wrong) but a mainstream Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy, and probably even Biohazard all will. Would be interesting to compile a game sales chart for the three major markets. The Japanese stuff I know I can find. Are US and Europe sales data posted online anywhere? Hardware and Software would be pretty cool.


Nothing Sega or Capcom have released this generation have equalled the sales of GTA, and Rockstar has seen fit to release them on the Xbox

I'm not going to defend anything Sega's done this last year. Capcom is one of those anamolies. While they put out a huge seller every now and again (Biohazard 4 maybe) their beauty comes in the forms of a LOT of high-revenue franchises. Biohazard + spin-offs, Street Fighter, Rockman, and their more recent DMC & Onimusha seem to be golden. And then you've got Rockstar w/ their one hit. Not trying to dog on Rockstar, but you know which one will tilt the scales to Johnny Gamer.


If enough of the western developers embrace the Xbox 360 (or whatever it'll be called), it may cancel out what doesn't get sent over from Japan.

I don't think you're going to see too a drastic improvement, personally. While they did grab the creator of Final Fantasy, they didn't get Square. There are fanboys even in Japan that will buy it b/c of the name (sigh). Also you have to throw in the fact that the top guys at pretty much all the big name companies are morons. Sega has done some of the dumbest shit ever. Sony of America block out a lot of great games b/c their 2D, and M$ mistakes are pretty obvious (but they seem to be the ones quickest to apologize). However, pig-headedness is prevelent in corporate world, which usually spells doom for all of us. 0_o

It should do better for the Xbox in Japan this time... I mean how the hell could it do any worse? I still think they need more than just Namco and the other names they got. I mean Tecmo made two of the most aesthetically pleasing games this gen, but it wasn't even close to enough.


A Metal Gear or Castlevania would be big, but Konami's apathy isn't going to be a death knell by far.

The absence of any one company isn't going to be I don't think. Stranger things have happened in the game industry though.


I've heard that MS has learned a lot from it's blunder in Japan, so hopefully things will be different this time around.

Yeah, they say so. I guess we'll find out pretty soon. That Peter Moore comment was classic though. I'll try to dig it up. Just seemed a bit hypocritical.

Maybe they'll have some dates next month at E3. I'm very curious to see the launch dates of the different systems this time. I will give it to M$... they put a lot of heart into the firstlaunch. I even spotted Gates at a Tsutaya for the sale of the first JPN unit. I had my wife line up to get me an LE version as well. For what it's worth, I did my fair share to help them out.


Great discussion! :)

Indeed.. one of the few 2-pagers at DP that didn't resort to panty-throwing and name calling. :D

[hydr0x]

The government set up an advertising campaign to get people to spend money. I'm not sure if it's quite like this anymore, but Japan has been caught in the dreaded Liquidity trap Hicks wrote about back in 1937 - back then it was just an interesting wrinkle, a possibility that nobody thought would happen. It happened.

As far as I can scope it, the trap boils down like this:

High savings + near zero interest rates and low inflation + nobody spending their money = monetary policy (i.e. restricting or expanding the supply of money) does not work anymore.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm missing a few parts in there, but that's worth thinking about.

that's exactly what is happening in Germany since ~1995 and especially worse since the fall of the New Economy in 2000, we have true unemployment figures of ~12% (cannot be compare to the fake numbers in the US though) here and even worse the old-age pension is falling and falling. All these things have heavily increased peoples fear of the future, many are afraid to lose their job and about old-age poverty, so they save money, and save and save and save, far too much, i know people who where in their 70s and had enough money on their accounts to build another house (which costs ~150.000 over here) which is absolutely insane, no way you need that money. Government over here also started campaigns to get people to buy things again, cause not buying only adds up to the problem and creates a vicious circle

[Xexyz]

Wait a minute I think this topic has gone astrey. I thought this topic was just about the Mega Drive vs. Super Famicom sales figures IN JAPAN ONLY, not about all these other systems, including current generation worldwide...

[anagrama]

Wait a minute I think this topic has gone astrey. I thought this topic was just about the Mega Drive vs. Super Famicom sales figures IN JAPAN ONLY, not about all these other systems, including current generation worldwide...

Yeah, dammit! What the hell are people playing at getting involved in an interesting discussion? Lock this thread immediately!

:roll:

[MegaDrive20XX]

Wait a minute I think this topic has gone astrey. I thought this topic was just about the Mega Drive vs. Super Famicom sales figures IN JAPAN ONLY, not about all these other systems, including current generation worldwide...

Yeah, dammit! What the hell are people playing at getting involved in an interesting discussion? Lock this thread immediately!

:roll:

See this is what happens, when people can't sleep at night, booze, pills, and women do to you. To the point where ever I can't remember what I originally asked for.

Yet, only you can prevent forest fires in your brain (fires as in, brain farts) and knowing is half the battle.

GI JOE!!

[GaijinPunch]

It wasn't that irrelevant. You asked for how pad the MD got pounced in Japan, and it went there from a debate on (in a nutshell) Japan's relevancy in the world market of games. Yeah there were some tangents here and there, but was all pretty fair game I think.