[Games] Japan Watch: Software charts wage Super Robot War(s Z)

Insanely popular turn-based strategy game featuring anime mechas top software charts sales; PlayStation’s portable dominate hardware

It’s robot-slash-mecha season in Japan.

Let it be said that Japan loves its digital idols, collectible monsters of varying shapes and dispositions, and robots. More so, if the latter is in SD form and fight each other in turn-based format.

Yes, Bandai Namco released a new iteration of the Super Robot Wars series to the Japanese public last week and it’s enjoying huge sales from it. According to the latest Media Creates Sales chart of April 7 to April 13 (via NeoGaf), both the PS3 and PS Vita versions of 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen were leading the software sales numbers with 142,433 and 128,236 units sold respectively.

How so? Because (a) the series has been around and been consistently using the tried-and-true turn-based combat system since the 90s and (b) the plethora of mecha and robots from the Gundam series to the recent Evangelion remakes make appearances as playable characters. Anime property crossovers are popular; too bad licensing issues prevent the mothership titles from making it outside of local shores.

Beyond that, the only new entries were a Crayon Shin-Chan game for the 3DS, which sold 16,409 units, and a visual novel called Tokyo Twilight Ghosthunters for the PS Vita and PS3, which sold 14,468 and 8,469 units respectively . Titanfall made its Japanese debut at ninth place on the charts; the Xbox 360 version sold 10,478 units. While one can write off that shooters don’t do well in Japan, the huge emphasis on mechas can be a possible game-changer. Then again, it’s on the country’s least-popular console. At least EA and Respawn should pat themselves on the back for attempting to break through the Japan market at least once.

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Thanks to the latest Super Robot Wars game, the PS Vita saw a surge in sales and is now at the top of the hardware charts. That said, sales units for the device went down from 26,388 units on the last chart update to 25,298 units. Ditto for the 3DS, where it went from 32,038 units to 23,562 units. The portable numbers were a bit perplexing, as new games would warrant a slight increase at the very least.

The top ten software list and hardware list is below for your perusal:

The top ten software list (Name, Console, Publisher, Sales Number)

1. 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen (PS3, Bandai Namco) – 142,433

2. 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen (PS Vita, Bandai Namco) – 128,236

3. Yo-Kai Watch (3DS, Level-5) – 33,833

4. Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS, Nintendo) – 28,114

5. Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi o Yobu Kasukabe Eiga Stars! (3DS, Bandai Namco) – 16,409

6. Tokyo Twilight Ghosthunters (PS Vita, Arc System Works) – 14,468

7. Samurai Warriors 4 (PS3, Koei Tecmo) – 13,552

8. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, Konami) – 11,005

9. Titanfall (Xbox 360, Electronic Arts) – 10,478

10. Tokyo Twilight Ghosthunters (PS3, Arc System Works) – 8,469

Hardware

PS Vita – 25,298

3DS – 23,562

PS4 – 13,034

PS3 – 7,305

Wii U – 5,512

PSP – 2,027

Xbox 360 – 229

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