I have long argued that the Japanese gaming market is remarkably consistent in its gaming tastes, and the weekly Famitsu Most Wanted Chart, which ranks upcoming games based on their level of anticipation in the Japanese market, is a testament to that. I have also argued that some companies’ tendency to never quite announce concrete release dates, or to actually meet their release date projections, probably begin to wear thin on Japanese gamers after a while- and this, too, is something that anyone who observes the weekly Famitsu charts can attest to.
Take, for instance, Kingdom Hearts 3, the game that rarely manages to chart in the Most Wanted chart anymore (though this week, it’s back with a Top 10 showing at the number 9 spot); or take Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which has now finally ceded its #3 spot to Dragon Quest 11, and fallen all the way down to #5.
In general, the games on the chart this week are the same ones as before, but the positions have seen some shuffling- the top two are, as always, Final Fantasy 15 and Persona 5, with the next two spots going to the 3DS and PS4 versions of Dragon Quest 11 respectively. Number 5 is Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and 6 goes to an unusually strong Pokemon Sun/Moon. Zelda has gained a spot and is now ranked number 8, while 7 remains Tales of Berseria. Kingdom Hearts 3 and Monster Hunter Stories respectively round out the top 10.
With most of these games due to release in Japan in the next few months – Final Fantasy 15, Persona 5, Tales of Berseria, Pokemon Sun/Moon, and Monster Hunter Stories will all launch in Japan before the end of this year – I, for one, am excited to see whether the Japanese software and hardware charts, which have been suffering from a lack of quality software, see better numbers.
[Thanks Nintendo Everything]