A 38/40 in Japan’s own Weekly Famitsu, supposedly 700,000 reservations placed for the game (although that looks dubious now), and more adverts on Japanese TV than any other Wii game so far. But still Super Mario Galaxy only shifted 251,000 copies in its first week on sale here.

Wii and DS games do have a terrific record of long-term performance in Japan (Wii Sports is still inside the Japanese all-formats Top Ten this week, and it’s well past the two million mark), but it remains to be seen whether Super Mario Galaxy has the kind of broad appeal that can sustain continued sales.

This isn’t to do with Japan falling out of love with Mario — New Super Mario Bros. on the DS is close to having sold five million copies here. It’s probably more a reflection of Japan’s relationship with 3D Mario games — even Super Mario 64 only moved 1.92 million units in Japan, when Nintendo expected greater things, and Super Mario Sunshine didn’t hit one million. 2D > 3D according to the Japanese game-buying public, then? Maybe.

Another factor is the rise of so-called casual gamers and light games. Super Mario Galaxy is an awesome game for gamers, but it’s unlikely that everyone in the typical Japanese family is going to want to (or be able to) play it.

Wii Sports, Wii Play, Gentle Brain Exercises, Wii Fit… these, on the other hand, are things that anyone can — and will want to — play. Super Mario Galaxy is the perfect gift from Nintendo to Mario’s fans and veteran gamers, but many Wii owners are new to games and fall into neither of those camps. Even here in Game Central, Japan.

Source: Media Create, via Inside Games

Related posts: Lacklustre opening day sales for Super Mario Galaxy? | Super Mario Galaxy debuts in Japan, world stops turning

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 5:00 am by WiiWii
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