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Nintendo 3DS Continues To Dominate Japan

The Nintendo 3DS has once again managed to fend off the competition to remain the best-selling hardware in Japan. The console’s nearest competitor, the PlayStation 3, sold 21,354 units, while the Nintendo 3DS sold a competent 60,232 units. This week there were only four Nintendo related games in the Japanese software charts. Here they are in full.

  1. [PSP] Little Battlers eXperience W
  2. [PS3] Resident Evil 6
  3. [3DS] Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
  4. [PS3] FIFA 13
  5. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013
  6. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2
  7. [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki Evolution
  8. [PSV] Little Battlers eXperience W
  9. [3DS] Style Savvy: Trendsetters
  10. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire!
  • Nintendo 3DS: 60,232
  • PlayStation 3: 21,354
  • PSP: 15,575
  • PlayStation Vita: 6,791
  • Wii: 4,035
  • Xbox 360: 2,150
  • PlayStation 2: 1,081
  • Nintendo DS: 529

55 thoughts on “Nintendo 3DS Continues To Dominate Japan”

      1. I find the numbers interesting though. The two Vita titles in the top 10 sold a combined average of about 41,000 copies. So, I guess it’s mainly people who already have a Vita getting the games and not new adopters.

        Meh. C’est la vie.

        Once it gets exclusive titles that are popular in those regions, it will do better.

        1. I think Sony need to just shift focus onto the home console playstation. Theyre in too mich trouble to continue diving into handheld market, especially nowadays, with mobile gaming. They’ve already lost me for next gen if im not impressed :/

        1. No they don’t. Why would they start making games for VITA when everybody else has a PSP? By your logic, Gamefreak thought the 3DS sucked so they kept B&W 2 on DS.

      1. because the hardware is expensive and maybe lack of potential (look at mobile handhelds) and high development cost. Watered down versions of PS3 games. WTH SONY

  1. Wow….. PSP is selling more than DOUBLE the Vita. Although it may be a nice piece of hardware, there´s definetely a lot wrong with Vita.

      1. Yeah, because it’s not appealing. All those games they have to put on a console-like handheld could be better investments on an actual console. Vita’s problem lies not within its power or design (though that itself is debatable, especially when its similar-looking predecessor is doing better), but in its redundancy within the market. Talk about extremely bad timing, there is really no place for the Vita right now other than in the hands of those who think wasting their money on a PS3 handheld is a good idea. Even if developers have thought of better titles later on to put on the Vita, by that time one would wonder if it’s even worth putting them on at all. It’s like how it was on the Wii — people kept talking about how better titles in the future would validate the existence of the Wii, and although better titles eventually did come like Skyward Sword, DKCR, Kirby, Last Story, Xenoblade, they didn’t exactly jumpstart the sales. And given that the Vita doesn’t even have the same innovative appeal that the Wii had, its position within this market is even more precarious. The Vita is certainly a respectable device, but it’s definitely not a mindblower or a console killer and it most certainly will not beat the 3DS. And for those who want the Vita to actually succeed, that’s a fact you’re going to have to accept, instead of saying it’s so damn good. Love the Vita for what it is (a regular console substitute) and not for what you think it should be doing (beating the 3DS).

      1. By far the two best sytems atm !!!!! I prefer the killer exclusives of the wii than the ps3 , but overall the ps3 gets more playtime……. 3DS + ps3 = today , 3DS + wiiu = future! and maybe a bit of ps3 for games like metal gear and GTA5 if they don’t come to wiiu untill ps4 comes out.

    1. Me too!!!! My xbox 360 is a forza dust machine…… I have my wii set up at the end of my bed to play the odd wii and gamecube classic on . And the 3ds is my most played system followed by ps3 :)

    2. Yeah, those are the 2 I brought with me to college. I love my ps3 and 3ds, but wish I coulda brought my wii. I still havent finished playin xenoblade ;_;

          1. 22 million out of 24 million.
            Cold hard facts.
            “Oh, must be fanboys”
            I bet Sony wished they had a few more fanboys right now.

            1. Lmao. Those couple million hardcore gamers are not going to keep sony afloat.

              If you can’t sell hardware, you sure as hell can’t sell software.

          2. something more than Mario ???

            Zelda , Starfox , Resident evil , Theatrythm FF , Kid icarus , Kingdom Hearts , Mario Kart , Tales of abyss , Monster Hunter , Animal crossing , Castlevania , Luigis mansion , Professor Layton , And many many other outstanding games….. Havaseat.

            Enjoy LBPV and uncharted ………….

          3. 1.I see a lot more COD kids with psp’s and vitas in my school.
            2.And that is why kingdom hearts sold almost 1million,RE:R sold 60,000(good for a handheld),and many others,while uncharted only 70,000(which is sad because that is what people buy the vita for)
            3.If you have a 3ds like you say you do,then would you be considered a “non gamer”?
            4.Shut up meg.

            1. 1: How do you know if they play CoD?
              2: KH sucks; Persona 4 Golden is far better.

              Not even going to bother with the rest. The 3DS is a babysitting tool.

    1. Have to agree. I mean the PSP/Vita sales show all that. Dont get me wrong, i think Cross Play is a really good feature, and im glad Nintendo have started that too the Monster Hunter (hopefully Smash Bros too), not to mention the Vita does have other cool stuff and is a solid console, but considering their financial position, they should just focus on the PS4. Unfortunatly, they cant just “drop” the Vita, unless it really just dies off, the best they can do is a price drop, but that’ll hurt them still…

  2. I would complain about the lack of Bravery Default in the UK…but i need to save money for WiiU xD im allowed to buy Prof Layton and Paper Mario, but after that, i must restrain myself

      1. Well thats not out till next year, so im safe then xD
        But theres about…£600 worth of WiiU stuff i want, from the top of my head, by the time 2013 comes, so yeaaah hahaha

  3. Interesting numbers for the 3DS given that only 4 games were in the top 10. As for Vita, I would imagine it was going to sell less and those two games bumped it up a little bit.

  4. Japan sure loves it’s 3DS lol Hope the Vita steps it up, well the devs not the Vita cause the Vita seems fine, just that more devs need to make more games for it.

  5. But apparently not game wise:

    [PSP] Little Battlers eXperience W
    [PS3] Resident Evil 6
    [3DS] Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
    [PS3] FIFA 13

    See? I have a troll list too.

  6. Japan has really nothing left now for vita until first quarter next year, it’s going to be a very tough battle. Just goes to show how reliant Sony is on third party, no matter how good their first party games are, they lack mass appeal, even their newly acquired mascot can’t even push sales worldwide. I think Sony’s forecast for vita was 10-12million by march, at this rate it’s selling it will struggle to hit half of that and makes you think, if this is how much they expected to sell, they said that the vita project will be profitable after 3 years, I wonder how much longer it will take at this rate.

    All I can say is for Sony to get their act together, saying that this thing is selling by their expectations when they adjusted their forecast twice is clearly turning a blind eye to its situation. I think they are finally getting a taste of how hard it is when Nintendo kept alive the gc and wii with just first party games. In the end, the vita is a system that the mass market didn’t need, Japan still has Psp and now with all the titles that made that system great over their is now on 3ds and the western world has to compete with a much more fierce competition from smart devices. At least the 3ds has a decent price with the right kind of software (sales aren’t really that great for the west for 3ds but decent).

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