While American interest in Japanese video games has been waning with the shift in market towards Western developed titles, you can bet your hat that Japan is still very much in love with the games they create. A list of games put together by Media Create has compiled the 30 best selling video games in Japan over the course of 2012, and not a single game on the list was created beyond Japan's borders.
Call it island nation syndrome, or whatever, the Japanese still love what they do best. All the typical heavy hitters: Mario, Pokemon, and Dragon Quest took the top spots with Animal Crossing: New Leaf taking a surprising second place as the year's dark horse. Monster Hunter did not see a release this year, but the most recent game launched back in 2011 still managed to crack the top 15.
Other surprise hits were Dragon's Dogma, Capcom's first time attempt at an open world RPG, and Fire Emblem: Awakening shattering all expectations and emerging as one of the best selling Nintendo 3DS games of the year.
Here is the list below. If you are no a fan of JRPGs and cutesy platformers, I suggest you look away. This list was translated by Siliconera
Rank | Title |
2012 sales Tot. sales |
Sys. | Publisher |
01. | Pokémon Black/White 2 |
2,919,977 2,919,977 |
DS | Pokémon Co. |
02. | Animal Crossing: New Leaf |
1,969,955 1,969,955 |
3DS | Nintendo |
03. | New Super Mario Bros. 2 |
1,743,791 1,743,791 |
3DS | Nintendo |
04. | Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D |
919,870 919,870 |
3DS | Square Enix |
05. | Resident Evil 6 |
833,012 833,012 |
PS3 | Capcom |
06. | One Piece: Pirate Warriors |
828,150 828,150 |
PS3 | Namco Bandai |
07. | Mario Kart 7 |
748,797 1,908,966 |
3DS | Nintendo |
08. | Super Mario 3D Land |
689,374 1,769,566 |
3DS | Nintendo |
09. | Mario Party 9 |
641,348 641,348 |
Wii | Nintendo |
10. | Dragon Quest X |
609,783 609,783 |
Wii | Square Enix |
11. | Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate |
602,058 1,587,556 |
3DS | Capcom |
12. | Yakuza 5 |
518,224 518,224 |
PS3 | Sega |
13. | Dragon's Dogma |
467,375 467,375 |
PS3 | Capcom |
14. | Fire Emblem: Awakening |
455,268 455,268 |
3DS | Nintendo |
15. | Tales of Xillia 2 |
428,913 428,913 |
PS3 | Namco Bandai |
16. | Paper Mario: Sticker Star |
402,133 402,133 |
3DS | Nintendo |
17. | Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 |
399,340 399,340 |
PS3 | Konami |
18. | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates of Infinity |
373,699 373,699 |
3DS | Pokémon Co. |
19. | New Super Mario Bros. U |
369,392 369,392 |
WiiU | Nintendo |
20. | Wii Sports Resort (w/ MotionPlus pack-in) |
358,627 1,161,600 |
Wii | Nintendo |
21. | The 2nd Super Robot Taisen Z |
344,018 344,018 |
PSP | Namco Bandai |
22. | Pokémon Conquest |
341,250 341,250 |
DS | Pokémon Co. |
23. | Taiko Drum Master: The Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb |
340,533 340,533 |
3DS | Namco Bandai |
24. | Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City |
338,889 338,889 |
PS3 | Capcom |
25. | Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance |
338,812 338,812 |
3DS | Square Enix |
26. | Run for Money Tousouchuu |
337,472 337,472 |
3DS | Namco Bandai |
27. | Taiko Drum Master: Super Splendid Edition |
321,959 321,959 |
Wii | Namco Bandai |
28. | Kid Icarus: Uprising |
316,133 316,133 |
3DS | Nintendo |
29. | Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Neppuu/Raimei |
314,016 314,016 |
3DS | Level 5 |
30. | Resident Evil: Revelations |
296,040 296,040 |
3DS | Capcom |

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