Top 30 games of 2009 in Japan

The 30 top selling games of 2009
amply demonstrate the Japanese
market continues to revolve
around Nintendo, RPGs and the
occasional dash of Sony, with
precious little in the way of
originality or novelty on display,
not that these games are
necessarily bad.
The chart, as compiled by Ascii:
Title Date 2009 Sales Total Sales


1 DS Dragon Quest IX 09/07/11 4,089,136 4,089,136
2 DS Pokémon Heart Gold 09/09/12 3,301,873 3,301,873
3 DS Tomodachi Collection 09/06/18 2,059,236 2,059,236
4 Wii New Super Mario Brothers 09/12/03 1,897,089 1,897,089
5 Wii Wii Sports Resort 09/06/25 1,499,058 1,499,058
6 PS3 Final Fantasy XIII 09/12/17 1,455,505 1,455,505
7 Wii Wii Fit Plus 09/10/01 1,205,424 1,205,424
8 Wii Monster Hunter III 09/08/01 949,095 949,095
9 PSP Monster Hunter Portable
2nd G 08/10/30 878,880 1,080,715
10 DS Inazuma Eleven 2 09/10/01 851,175 851,175
11 DS Mario & Luigi RPG3!!! 09/02/11 708,311 708,311
12 DS Kingdom Hearts 358/2
Days 09/05/30 571,981 571,981
13 PS3 Biohazard 5 09/03/05 552,553 552,553
14 PS3 Ryu ga Gotoku 3 09/02/26 525,826 525,826
15 Wii Wii Fit 07/12/01 499,251 3,470,235
16 DS Professor Layton 4 09/11/26 481,311 481,311
17 PSP Fantasy Star Portable 2 09/12/03 415,522 415,522
18 Wii Mario Kart Wii 08/04/10 404,751 2,447,964
19 PSP Shin Sangokushi Musou
MULTI RAID 09/02/26 397,080 397,080
20 DS Pokémon Fushigi no
Dungeon 09/04/18 383,226 383,226
21 Wii Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 08/12/11 375,895 625,391
22 PS3 Winning Eleven 2010 09/11/05 370,831 370,831
23 DS Rhythm Tengoku Gold 08/07/31 361,292 1,763,270
24 PS3 Tales of Vesperia 09/09/17 352,961 352,961
25 PSP Tales of The World 09/01/29 339,523 339,523
26 DS Pokémon Platinum 08/09/13 325,911 2,536,712
27 PSP Gundam vs Gundam NEXT
PLUS 09/12/03 323,531 323,531
28 DS Wagamama Fashion Girls
Mode 08/10/23 314,832 861,393
29 DS Gyakuten Kenji 09/05/28 313,891 313,891
30 PS2 SD Gundam G Generation
Wars 09/08/06 306,985 306,985

2009 seems not to have been the
most inspiring year for the
Japanese gaming market, with a
succession of formulaic RPG sequels,
Pokémon titles and casual games
dominating the charts.
Even more disturbingly, of the top
30 games of 2009 only 2 are non-
sequels, with one being a Sims style
rearing game and the other a
fashion game. 7 of the top 30 were
not even released in 2009.
Originality and innovation in game
design seems at some point to
have become a commercial liability
in the Japanese market, perhaps
even more so than elsewhere