Topic: Media Create Sales: October 11 to 17

[NWR_MattB]

Pokemon keeps Kirby from debuting at the top.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24337

Pokemon Black and Pokemon White have held the top spot in Japan for five consecutive weeks, keeping many games from reaching the summit. This week Kirby is forced to sit in the runner-up spot as Pokemon Black and Pokemon White continue to dominate with sales of 168,000, pushing it further past the four million mark.

Kirby's Epic Yarn opens with sales of just over 92,000. This is the third lowest opening for a Kirby game according to Media Create, well below Kirby Super Star Ultra's first week sales in 2008, but Kirby Air Ride and Kirby Canvas Curse opened with sales of around 80,000.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded slides 3 to 4 thanks to a 67% decrease in sales. Wii Party continues to see small decreases in sales each week as it ends the week with sales of 23,000. This was enough to secure it sixth position for the second week in a row.

Outside of the top 10, One Piece: Gigant Battle sees a 42% increase in sales causing it to fly 22-14. Super Mario Galaxy 2 saw a small 10% decrease in sales, selling 6,200 copies. Wii Fit Plus and Mario Kart Wii can also still be found on the outskirts of the top 20.

Hardware sales of Nintendo’s platforms continue to see decline this week. The Nintendo DS family of systems continue to decline in sales as the Pokemon Black and White effect wears off. The three models of handhelds sold 47,100 units last week, 3,000 less than the week before. The PlayStation Portable rose slightly to 38,700 whereas the PlayStation 3 rose to 22,00 without any major software releases. The Wii, despite the release of Kirby, rose by only 700 units to 12,800. The Xbox 360 and PS2 continue to linger around the 2,000 mark.

Next week Super Mario Collection hits stores, a very likely candidate for next week's number one game.

Media Create October 11-17
Position / Position last week [Platform] Title – Week total / All-time total (% change)
01. / 01. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) - 168.541 / 4.161.397 (-27%)
02. / 00. [WII] Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo) - 92.280 / NEW
03. / 00. [PSP] Lord of Arcana (Square Enix) - 69.932 / NEW
04. / 03. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (Square Enix) - 31.247 / 126.753 (-67%)
05. / 04. [PS3] Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive) - 26.293 / 96.982 (-63%)
06. / 06. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) - 23.304 / 1.122.732 (-11%)
07. / 02. [PS3] Gekijouban Macross F: Itsuwarino Utahime - Hybrid Pack (Bandai Namco) - 18.071 / 170.769 (-88%)
08. / 11. [PSP] Black Leopard: A New Tale of Yakuza (Sega) - 11.263 / 247.748 (-41%)
09. / 05. [PSP] Class of Heroes 3 (Acquire) - 9.848 / 40.420 (-68%)
10. / 09. [PS3] Dead Rising 2 (Capcom) - 9.761 / 113.872 (-60%)

[Caliban]

Damn you Pokemon, you're stealing Kirby's awesome comeback.

[broodwars]

Heh, in just one week Kirby managed to outsell probably Metroid Other M's total sales to date in Japan.  Not my cup of tee, but I'm glad to see something unique out of Nintendo sell well.

[BlackNMild2k1]

there are also hardware #'s and a Kirby sales comparison in the sales thread
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=18481.msg639775#msg639775

[Mop it up]

There goes Kirby's only chance at number one. With any luck, it won't see too dramatic of a decrease for next week, but I don't it'll be high enough for number one then (and I doubt Pokémon will fall that far).

[KDR_11k]

Meh, creative art styles always mess up the sales. Also I don't think Nintendo is too worried about losing #1 to themselves.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

There goes Kirby's only chance at number one. With any luck, it won't see too dramatic of a decrease for next week, but I don't it'll be high enough for number one then (and I doubt Pokémon will fall that far).

Perhaps, but this chart covers sales dating back to the 11th, when Kirby was only released on the 14th in Japan. With 92,000 in just half a week, it has the potential to rank highly for this week, and in the long-term, it could be an evergreen seller.

[Mop it up]

Ah, I didn't realize! Those half weeks can be confusing at times, too bad they're not mentioned in the articles. In that case, that's a pretty good number. It makes me wonder if the posted list of first-week sales of Kirby games are all full weeks.

[Luigi Dude]

Kirby games have great legs in Japan.  Here's the sales list of all the Kirby games from the last decade in Japan shamelessly copied and pasted from the Official Sales Thread.

03/24/00   [N64]   Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards   (Nintendo)   -   337.035   /   927.269
08/23/00   [NGB]   Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble   (Nintendo)   -   200.190   /   507.252
10/25/02   [GBA]   Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land   (Nintendo)   -   213.300   /   585.700
07/11/03   [GCN]   Kirby Air Ride   (Nintendo)   -   79.700   /   278.500
04/15/04   [GBA]   Kirby & the Amazing Mirror   (Nintendo)   -   188.837   /   736.226
03/24/05   [NDS]   Kirby Canvas Curse   (Nintendo)   -   75.365   /   310.251
11/02/06   [NDS]   Kirby Squeak Squad   (Nintendo)   -   166.131   /   1.144.490
11/06/08   [NDS]   Kirby Super Star Ultra   (Nintendo)   -   265.654   /   1.157.813
10/14/10   [WII]   Kirby's Epic Yarn   (Nintendo)   -   92.280   /   92.280


So as you can all see, Kirby's first week sales don't mean much since as the chart clearly shows, the majority of Kirby sales in Japan comes from the following weeks.  Though Epic Yarn will probably end up selling somewhere between 300-500k when it's all said and done since it's a spin-off title.  Of course since it's gameplay is closer to the traditional ones then Tilt 'n' Tumble, Air Ride and Canvas Curse were, it could do better in the long run.

[Stratos]

Of course since it's gameplay is closer to the traditional ones then Tilt 'n' Tumble, Air Ride and Canvas Curse were, it could do better in the long run.

Plus unlike those other titles Epic Yarn has universal acclaim (or in many people's opinion, is actually a good game).