It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following our weekly sales updates for Japan, but the highest selling game of the year in the country was Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon– something that it managed with a late November release. I’d say that is impressive, but this is Pokemon, so it’s not, really.
Number 2 was, yet again predictably, Splatoon 2, which edged out the 3DS version of Dragon Quest 11. Monster Hunter XX on 3DS follows, for a top four on the charts dominated entirely by Nintendo platforms; the PS4 version of Dragon Quest 11 is the lone PS4 game in the top five, with Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Switch, Pokemon Sun/Moon, and for some obscene and perverse reason, Super Mario Maker for 3DS, rounding out the top ten.
This year should be especially interesting for Japanese charts- with several high profile PS4 games launching in the territory, including, of course, Monster Hunter World. What will the charts look like next year? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.