The big news with last week's sales numbers is not that the DS managed to top 300,000 again, but that the New Super Mario Bros. broke five million in Japan. Not only that, but the game took the sixteenth spot in today's Famistu chart.
Also showing legs is Mario Kart DS, which sold 68,000 copies to take the number eight spot. While it's no surprise that Mario Kart does well week after week (after week), we didn't expect it to make the top ten. We're also happy to see some new DS blood enter the ring, with Rune Factory 2 selling 56,000 in its debut.
The rise in sales from the previous week was most likely due to the New Years holiday, which is a popular shopping period in Japan. These numbers are almost certainly not sustainable, though, so we should see a big difference next week. Of course, we fully expect that the DS will end up on top, as always, with a smattering of its games in the top ten.
Check after the break to see the numbers, with NSMB sales tacked on for good measure.
We were finally able to get our greedy little hands on the Japanese sales numbers from Famitsu for the week of 12/24, and came to find that the DS had another great week.
Unsurprisingly, the DS took the top spot in hardware sales, moving 195,000 units. While this was a drop from the week before's incredible numbers, it certainly isn't a bad showing for the three-year-old handheld.
In terms of software, Final Fantasy IV is continuing to sell well, meaning that more remakes in the series are sure to follow. The other Square-Enix remake on the charts, Dragon Quest IV, managed to go platinum this week. Mario Party DS, meanwhile, was the only other DS game to make the top ten, as the Professor Layton sequel slipped to the number eleven spot.
To see the hardware and software sales numbers for the the week of 12/24, check after the break.
Another week in Japan has come and gone, which means yet another week of ridiculous success for the DS. The hardware managed to top 300k for the week, while heavy hitters like Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest IV, and Mario Party DS littered the top ten in the software charts. It was also a good week for baseball game Dorabase, which debuted at the number nine spot with 96k, selling 90% of it's total stock.
Hardware:
DS: 319,000
Wii: 264,000
PSP: 162,000
PS3: 51,000
PS2: 24,000
Xbox 360: 8,100
Check after the break to see the software numbers for 12/17-12/23 in Japan.
Be careful with that DS of yours. It may be small and look all cute with its two screens, but that thing is a monster. How else could a system manage an 89,000 boost in hardware sales from last week's already ridiculously high numbers? The DS just continues to blow everything else away, selling 91,000 units more than the competing PSP (which also had a good week in Japan).
As for software sales, however, only three of the system's biggest contenders (Mario Party DS, Professor Layton II, and Dragon Quest IV) managed to make it into the top ten. Not only did these three games do well for the week, but their total sales are pretty outstanding. We wouldn't be surprised to see all of them reach the million mark at some point.
Check after the break to see Japan's hardware and software numbers for the week of 12/10-12/16.
It's not complete. And it's pretty well hidden. But, it's there. If you're anything like us, you've been dying to get your hands on Dragon Quest IV. Now, importing it looks like a more viable option to getting our fix and to put a calm on these shakes, now that this has been discovered.
What you'll need is an Action Replay and the game (natch). By inputting code 02106404 00000001, you'll be able to enjoy some nice, readable text. Of course, this isn't perfect, so those of you who want to experience the full game as it's intended for your language region might want to wait. But, of course the problem is that waiting is hard.
While Japan goes absolutely nuts for Dragon Quest IV, these videos landed on the 'net over the weekend, giving us our longest look yet at some of the meaty gameplay currently being enjoyed by over 600,000 Japanese gamers.
Truth be told, we're still not totally sold on the slightly jarring combination of 2D heroes and 3D environments, especially as the cheaper-than-everFinal Fantasy III and forthcoming Final Fantasy IV are both depicted in full 3D. On the other hand, we'll happily concede the environments do look rather spiffy. We reeeally need that western release date though, Square Enix.
Embark on a quest past the break for the second trailer.
Let's be honest, DS sales didn't really need a boost in Japan, but it seems that the handheld got one anyway with the release of Dragon Quest IV. DS hardware sales went up by over 55% for the week of 11/19 to 11/25, jumping from 76,069 units sold to 116,694. Hardware for all other platforms went up, too (perhaps in response to the upcoming holidays), but none rose as significantly as the DS.
The sales for the week ending 11/25 are as follows:
Dragon Quest IV for the DS hit stores yesterday in Japan, and since that nation seems to still exist, apparently there was a large enough supply to at least stave off Armageddon. Per Jeux-France, gamers in Japan snapped up a rumored 360,000 copies in the first day, so we can only assume that there is a whole lot of questing going on today.
But what's a release without a few last minute pages in Famitsu? The magazine laid out a sweet new spread to welcome the title, and you can see it for yourself after the break.
The DS remake of Dragon Quest IV introduces some content new to the game: the Immigrant Town, seen in some form in both Dragon QuestsIII and VII. In this mode, people you meet during the game can be recruited from other towns to come live in yours. Their professions shape the services available in your town.
Of course, the DS version takes this idea a little further, adding the ability to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to send people to other players' towns bearing messages. You can customize your emissary's appearance and message, and even assign him or her a skill. If you're less practical-minded, we suppose you could send a legion of creepy children over to your friend and enjoy a little laugh as his party wanders, unsuspecting, into the Village of the Damned.
Uh oh -- a Japanese retailer posted this sign, warning Dragon Quest devotees that supplies of Dragon Quest IV for the DS may be limited. The game, which goes on sale November 22, is likely to be somewhat popular in Japan, and retailer Tsutaya is encouraging people to pre-order as soon as possible, because there's not likely to be enough copies to go around.
This could become serious business; after all, no one wants to see cosplayers fighting it out in the streets. In the meantime, maybe we should start a betting pool on sales predictions ....
It's time again to reap the bounty from, uh, some dude with a scanner and access to Japanese magazines! Three games are shown off in today's crop (to continue the farming metaphor for some reason), all RPGs of various kinds.
Most interesting (to us) is the first real blowout of images from Intelligent Systems' Kousoku Card Battle Card Hero, which we haven't heard from in about a month. Also in the "somewhat mysterious RPG project from Nintendo-owned developers" department is Soma Bringer, Monolith Soft's new RPG, which, according to NeoGAFfer charlequin, "has possibly the most generic character designs ever seen in a JRPG." It's probably going to be a pretty good game and all, but it does rather look like they put some money into a JRPG Character vending machine. "One EVIL LONGHAIRED GUY, and ... hmm, maybe GIRL IN ELABORATE DRESS."
We initially thought it was a strategy RPG, but the magazine description pegs it as an action RPG.
Finally, Dragon Quest IV gets a seven-page preview, which is thick with screens of, well, basically running around on the overworld and then also battling, which is what happens in Dragon Quest IV quite a bit.
The adorable little layabout in this Dragon Quest IV commercial sells the central message quite well: playing the garish, hokey adventures of some medieval types on the DS is way better than stepping into a real cartoon adventure.
This silly commercial nails the Dragon Quest aesthetic and mood: always goofily happy and bright, with that endless, bouncy march music. We also definitely get a Famicom-era vibe from it: if not for the, you know, Nintendo DS, the ridiculous live-action interpretation of game graphics could easily have tricked us into thinking we were watching a commercial from the late '80s. This is one of the rare cases in which we don't mind the relative lack of in-game graphics in a commercial!
Chapter 3 of Dragon Quest IV introduces one of the series' most famous characters, the jovial merchant Torneko. How famous is Torneko? Pretty famous. How famous is Torneko, with illustrative examples of his fame? He got two spinoff games of his very own. In fact, the first Torneko game, Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon, was the first game in Chunsoft's Fushigi no Dungeon Roguelike series.
As in those games, Torneko embarks on a quest to improve his shop by finding rare items. Along the way, he traverses dungeons and fights monsters-- you know, basic Dragon Quest stuff. But, unlike most Dragon Quest characters, Torneko is brave enough to face down the slimes and whatevers all alone-- probably because he doesn't care to share his earnings.
In case you missed out on Dragon Warrior IV the first time around, or if you did play it but can't distinguish any Dragon Quest characters from one another unless they're Slimes, Famitsu has posted an introduction to the characters found in the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV. These are just some of the people who show up over the course of the game-- in particular, these folks show up starting in Chapter 2.
Not counting the "Hero," who is, of course, a big blank, we have: Clift, a priest of the Santheim Kingdom who performs recovery magic; Alena, princess of the Santheim Kingdom with a desire for adventure-- and, of course, a natural talent for fighting; and Brai, a magician who serves as Alena's tutor, teaching her the art of having hair like Larry Fine.
In the course of introducing these characters, Famitsu naturally posted a bunch of screens of the game. And it must be "Japanese RPG Remakes With 3D that Actually Looks Kind Of Okay Day", because the 3D actually looks kind of okay! Seriously, the more we see of Dragon Quest IV's look, the more we like it.
The boxart for Dragon Quest IV (it's a remake don't you know) has made its way onto the internets, but as you can see above, it is the Japanese boxart. We have a feeling, however, that the general layout won't change as it hits other territories outside of Japan. And, should you want some new screens to gawk at, there are plenty of those to check out, as well.
So, who's on the train headed for Excitementville with us?
The big news with last week's sales numbers is not that the DS managed to top 300,000 again, but that the New Super Mario Bros. broke five million in Japan. Not only that, but the game took the sixteenth spot in today's Famistu chart.
We were finally able to get our greedy little hands on the Japanese sales numbers from 
Another week in Japan has come and gone, which means yet another week of ridiculous success for the DS. The hardware managed to top 300k for the week, while heavy hitters like 
The DS remake of 
Uh oh -- a Japanese retailer posted this sign, warning Dragon Quest devotees that supplies of Dragon Quest IV for the DS may be limited. The game, which goes on sale November 22, is likely to be somewhat popular in Japan, and retailer Tsutaya is encouraging people to pre-order as soon as possible, because there's not likely to be enough copies to go around.
It's time again to reap the bounty from, uh, some dude with a scanner and access to Japanese magazines! Three games are shown off in today's crop (to continue the farming metaphor for some reason), all RPGs of various kinds.
Chapter 3 of 
