News: Chart Analysis - Japan

The new Japanese charts are in, has the GameCube overthrown the PS2? Pfft.

Software
1. Pokemon Sapphire (GBA/Weekly: 47,200/Annual: 1,714,200)
2. Pokemon Ruby (GBA/Weekly: 46,600/Annual: 1,725,900)
3. World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 (PS2/Weekly: 25,600/Annual: 591,900)
4. Kingdom Hearts (PS2/Weekly: 23,800/Annual: 301,700)
5. Mega Man Battle Network 3 (GBA/Weekly: 21,500/Annual: 408,300)
6. Momotaro Railway 11 (PS2/Weekly: 20,800/Annual: 328,800)
7. Xbox Live (Xbox/Weekly: 17,500/Annual: 17,500)
8. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (NGC/Weekly: 17,400/Annual: 724,900)
9. Jissen Pachislo Hisshouhou! Majuuoh S (PS2/Weekly: 16,700/Annual: 221,100)
10. Mario Party 4 (NGC/Weekly: 14,000/Annual: 788,200)

Hardware
1. Game Boy Advance: 62,100 (Annual: 525,600)
2. PlayStation 2: 58,600 (Annual: 401,100)
3. GameCube: 14,200 (Annual: 126,700)
4. Xbox: 3,400 (Annual: 20,000)
5. PSOne: 3,100 (Annual: 14,800)
6. Wonder Swan Crystal: 1,300 (Annual: 7,400)
7. Wonder Swan Color: 1,100 (Annual: 6,500)
8. Game Boy Color: 1,000 (Annual: 5,100)

Analysis:
Well, at least the Pokemon games make predictions far easier for me, though a lot less interesting. The sales are down from last week, but don't let that worry you, all the numbers are down from last week, the games will still be there next week.

In other news, I told you so, Zelda held steady, whilst Mario Party 4 slipped another place. Interestingly, Xbox Live made it above the cel shaded masterpiece, but a comparison of these figures to the huge 150,000 unit sell out of Live in America makes it somewhat trivial. Still, considering the amount of Xbox's sold in Japan, almost every Japanese Xbox owner seems to have paid for the online service (possibly a slight exaggeration on my part), maybe Nintendo will start to roll out some online stuff quicker? Wishful thinking, I know.

All the hardware sales have dropped from last week, which isn't really a surprise, the Christmas period has come and gone, as the summer draws ever closer sales will drop as the industry drops into it's yearly slump whilst everyone waits for this Christmas again. The distance between GBA and PS2 has dramatically dropped, which is a little worrying, but I find that adding GBA sales to GameCube sales cheers me up no end.

Nintendo wise, predictions for next week are pretty slim. I seem to have confirmed Biohazard 2 and 3 as being released today, which I wouldn't expect to see in the charts personally, not if full price is charged for each, as in America. Though of course, the Japanese are never entirely predictable. I'm still holding out hope for seeing Ikaruga blast in at number ... well, I suppose three is the best it could hope for. Apart fromthat, yes Pokemon will still occupy the top two slots, unless I've missed something really important.


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