Info on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon Japanese first week sales

[Dragonsoul]

I went to VGChartz.com | and looked at the Japanese weekly sales charts. I looked at the first weekly sales in Japan for the main entries in the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon series. I got the numbers, I'll list them here, although some numbers appear to be erroneous...

Japanese Rpg Sales Info
-First week Japanese sales for main entries in Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon series

Title			Console		Date		First "Week" Japanese Sales
Dragon Quest IV		Nes		2-11-90		1,124,684
Final Fantasy III	Nes		4-27-90		0,619,491
Final Fantasy IV	Snes		7-19-91		0,182,435	-Error??
Dragon Quest V		Snes		9-27-92		0,962,268
Final Fantasy V		Snes		12-6-92		0,472,523	-Error??
Final Fantasy VI	Snes		4-2-94		1,258,668
Dragon Quest VI		Snes		12-9-95		1,529,679
Pokemon Red/Green	GB		2-27-96		0,265,071	-Error??
Pokemon Blue		GB		10-15-96	?
Final Fantasy VII	PS 1		1-31-97		2,025,834
Pokemon Yellow		GB		9-12-98		1,353,359
Final Fantasy VIII	PS 1		2-11-99		2,592,405
Pokemon Gold/Silver	GBC		11-21-99	1,528,509
Final Fantasy IX	PS 1		7-7-00		2,031,207
Dragon Quest VII	PS 1		8-26-00		1,821,450
Pokemon Crystal		GBC		12-14-00	0,319,667? or 806,798?
Final Fantasy X		PS 2		7-19-01		1,906,152
Final Fantasy XI	PS 2		5-16-02		0,070,016	-ERROR!!
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire	GBA		11-21-02	1,273,279
Final Fantasy X-2	PS 2		3-13-03		1,561,553
Pokemon FireR/LeafG	GBA		1-29-04		1,092,747
Pokemon Emerald		GBA		9-16-04		0,747,707
Dragon Quest VIII	PS 2		11-27-04	2,267,827
Final Fantasy XII	PS 2		3-16-06		1,819,872
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl	DS		9-28-06		1,646,064

It doesn't show any of the games I'm looking for before Dragon Quest IV, that was the earliest one. Sales for Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Pokemon Red/Green appear very low, so I'm not sure if those specific numbers are accurate. I didn't see sales information for Pokemon Blue either.

Also, I have a question about the first week sales information for Pokemon Crystal. I browsed on Vgchartz.com for the date I was looking for...
VGChartz.com | Japanese Weekly Chart
They don't show Pokemon Crystal but they show a new game called "Pokemon Trading Card GB 2" with sales of 806,798, which is what I'd expect for Pokemon Crystal sales. I looked for information on the game but couldn't find it. I went to the next week's sales though...
VGChartz.com | Japanese Weekly Chart
That game was not on the charts but this weeks sales shows a new game "Pocket Monsters Crystal" with sales of 319,667. That's the right name but incorrect date and unexpectedly low sales. I'm thinking that the 806,798 sales from the game a week earlier actually is Pokemon Crystal, not sure though.

Also, the first week Japanese sales for the original PS 2 version of Final Fantasy XI shows up as 70,016, which is definetely an error. I don't know what the true sales are but they would be over a million in the first week definetely.

All the other numbers on the list seem accurate. Now everybody can get a great idea of what the top Japanese rpg sales are. I searched through the Japanese weekly sales information for all 19 years they had available! It took a while, but I was really curious to get this information. Also, no other Japanese rpg's approached the sales figures of the main entries in these three rpg series. Oh, and from the sales figures I've seen throughout those charts, it appears that rpg's sell three times as much in Japan versus the United States!

What do you think of this information?

[Flying Mullet]

I don't think that the sales of the PS2 version of FFXI is an error. The PS2 version never really caught on like the PC version did and MMORPGs weren't as big in Japan at the time as they were in other countries like South Korea. If I remember correctly SE was losing a lot of money up front when they launched FFXI as they didn't have a large user base and they weren't planning on making money off of it until it was launched in more markets, like North America.

[Lawr]

Pokemon Blue is called Pokemon Green in Japan.

I think.

[Flying Mullet]

After looking over the list some more I find it hard to believe that FFVIII outsold all Dragon Quest games in their first week unless there was a shortage of copies and they over-produced copies of FFVIII.

[JKTrix]

First of all, try not to take VGChartz as gospel, but more like a point of reference.

Pokemon was a series that started out relatively well and just continued to grow. So while '265,000' seems like a small number compared to the millions of the others, it is actually quite a success. It was a brand new game with zero previous franchise support, starting fresh. Take a look at the recent launches of established franchises Mario Kart (594k) and Monster Hunter (880k). The Japanese market is different than it was 12 years ago when Pokemon came out, but still, selling 200+copies of an unproven game is considered a success even today over there.

Pocket Monsters Crystal is Pokemon Crystal. The game they show is the correct game. On the link you provided, note that it was still the top selling game of the week. Perhaps people also bought Pokemon Yellow beforehand, and were like "I'm not going to buy a game like that when I already have Gold/Silver." Also, it was a GBC exclusive game (Gold/Silver could still be played on old GBs) so that could have affected its sales as well.

I can kind of believe the performance bump of FF8. It was the next game after FF7 and they'd gathered much more fans by then, so I guess the hype carrying over from 7 lasted them through 8's launch.

Extra point of reference, Kingdom Hearts 1 launched at 415,445 in Japan, KH2 launched at 740,207. There's no data for the US sales of KH1, but it launched in the US at 719,701 and consistently sold more than it did in Japan after that.

[Vivisteiner]

FFIX beat FFVII. I can understand why FFVIII was so high. Loads of people loved FFVII, so they must have been super hyped for the next one - FFVIII.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I actually prefer 8 to 7... so yeah

THE JACKEL

[Dragonsoul]

Thanks for the posts, I'll reply to each one...

Flying Mullet - I wonder, 70,000 is extremely low for Final Fantasy XI, some of the others went around 2 million. Does anybody else have more information about this? I know that Final Fantasy XI is or was the most popular Mmorpg in Japan, so I'm not sure about this. I wish I had the first week PC sales of it in Japan.

Sagensyg - In Japan they released Pokemon Red and Green to start out with. Green wasn't as good, and later that year they released Pokemon Blue. Usa got versions of Pokemon Red and Blue, and the Usa versions had all the Pokemon between them. I think that's right, but here's the article on it...
Seafoam Island - Pokemon Green and Japan Blue

Flying Mullet - Final Fantasy VIII I remember as being extremely popular when it came out. Final Fantasy VII was a smashing record breaking success, then FF VIII came out two years later with the same team and a relatively similar style. People were excited and bought even more, plus there was a bigger fanbase. Overall Dragon Quest sells more though, but I think that Final Fantasy VIII(or possibly VII) has sold the most of any Final Fantasy game worldwide or in Japan. I seen a pdf file with sales figures made by Square Enix, with their sales of all their games, from a few years back. If somebody knows where it is, please post it.

JKTrix - Vgchartz.com is great, but I'm not sure about it's accuracy, I don't know of any other great site like this. I understand your idea about Pokemon starting out small, it makes sense. What is the game that debuted in 800k called Pokemon Trading Card GB 2? Is that actually Pokemon Crystal(and an error of Vgchartz)? I compare the other handheld remakes of the main Pokemon games in their sales, and a 800k debut for Pokemon Crystal seems accurate. Yea I noticed the Kingdom Hearts 2 sales were about the same in Japan and Usa, why is this?

ViviSteiner - Yea FF IX beat FF VII. I'm curious about how much of that was due to the large fan base. I wish I could know exactly what the size if the fan base is, and gauge their anticipations. I think that even though FF IX beat FF VII in the first week sales in a way FF VII was more successful since the fan base was less in FF VII times than in the FF IX times, due to the popularity of FF VII and FF VIII, is this true?

ljkkjlcm9 - Yea Final Fantasy VIII was a great game, in addition to FF VII. It should be noted that the team for Final Fantasy XIII states that FF XIII will push the futuristic aspect of the game farther than FF VII and FF VIII were pushed. So if you like FF VIII, try out FF XIII?

[ljkkjlcm9]

ljkkjlcm9 - Yea Final Fantasy VIII was a great game, in addition to FF VII. It should be noted that the team for Final Fantasy XIII states that FF XIII will push the futuristic aspect of the game farther than FF VII and FF VIII were pushed. So if you like FF VIII, try out FF XIII?

lol me? Buy a PS3? No thanks!

THE JACKEL

[Roto13]

That Pokemon Trading Card Game is the sequel to the first Pokemon Trading Card Game for Game Boy Color. It was a Japan exclusive.

Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Lawr]

Oh yeah, I remember playing the Trading Card Game on my Gameboy! Good times. . .

[Roto13]

Yeah. My brother bought that one. It was actually really fun. And a lot more practical than actual trading cards. :P

[JKTrix]

What is the game that debuted in 800k called Pokemon Trading Card GB 2?

Japan-only sequel to this:

JKTrix seal of authenticity: I have a mole on my left pinkie. Almost as good as a a watermark.

I just stuck it in my GBC (cuz i can't find my SP) to check my progress. I played it for 13 hours and got 211/226 cards before I stopped playing it. My active deck was 17 psychic pokemon, 28 psychic energies and 15 assorted items. Hmm.

As for Kingdom Hearts, I'm sure the Disney side had a lot to do with its success. I recall seeing reports of the 2 KH games performing better than their nearest FF counterparts in the US.

[Lawr]

Darn it! You're persuading me to break out the ROMs again!!

[PuPu]

Extra point of reference, Kingdom Hearts 1 launched at 415,445 in Japan, KH2 launched at 740,207. There's no data for the US sales of KH1, but it launched in the US at 719,701 and consistently sold more than it did in Japan after that.

This is why Square Enix should release Final Mix+ to the West. I don't know where people got the idea that Final Mix+ would have fewer sales in the West than it would in Japan and cause SE to lose money.

Darn it, I really want FM+.