I’m a recovering junkie living in a nation of committed junkies. Your average addict will say, “Golly officer, I don’t know how it happened. It was just, all the sudden I was shooting up.” That was me this morning as I took my place in line at the Amusement Center Geos store to pick up my copy of Pokémon Platinum. Just another junkie.
Yeah, I just can’t quit the Pokémons, but hey — I believe in small victories. This time around, 1UP is subsidizing my habit, so I don’t mind forking over 3500 yen + Nintendo tax over to the local game retailers. As long as I’m not the one subsidizing Satoshi Tajiri’s third house, I don’t mind beating Pokémon again. It’s fun and easy, and it plays to the deep-seated human fear of change. Small wonder people will buy the third edition of Final Fantasy IV, but not, say, Okami.
So if you’re wondering why Nintendo keeps releasing those “definitive editions,” here’s your final answer below, on the left:
[[image:kb_080913_pokemon_01.jpg::center:0]]
And while you’re pondering that, I’ll also leave you to ponder what the hell is wrong with the picture on the right. Maybe it’ll clue us in to the reason for the slow motion demise of the Japanese games industry as we know it.
If you need me, I’ll be playing Pokémon. I’ll be playing it so hard.
“Pok&aeacute;mon” Cerulean was easily the best.
what is wrong on the picture on the right: MADDEN 09 IS NOT IN THE TOP 4
what do I win?
what the hell is wrong with the picture on the right: Everybody knows that used copies of Musou games are worth 10,000 yen, minimum!!!
What is wrong with the picture on the right: Proof that the Japanese love repeatedly beating hordes of nameless Chinese people and demonspawn senseless?
No. Warriors Orochi is number 1, and Persona 4 is number 3. I win.
But that’s a little disingenuous, yeah? #2 and #4 aren’t pictured, which are obviously TAMA for the Saturn and Densha de Go for Wii.
oh wait, I think I get it now. The picture on the right is a Ruroni Kenshin reference. That’s pretty clever considering how ‘HUH WUH?’ the titles are. A panchinko should be at the very top (behind madden 09 off course)
Yo Parish can you fix up your RSS feed so it shows the author too, thanks.
Once again, no, I can’t. Please stop asking.
I thought what you were getting at is that PlayStation 2 games can still command two of the top three software sales positions in the country, because gawrsh, making HD games is hard.
I hope to be adding to the problem later this month when Warriors Orochi 2 launches Stateside in a couple weeks. No need to thank me, I’m more then happy to do my part.
I had the same impression as Nich (confirmed in part by a certain Ryan Payton interview), but yeah in light of the recent CockMo fusion negotiation announcement, the fact Warriors Orochi is number 1 is an equally troubling prospect.
I’d have hoped that Capcom would change their games when they announced they were trying to have their sales reflect the current market sizes, but then I remembered that I hate rehashed cash farm games that inexplicably keep being made, like Koei’s.
Well this phenomena isn’t entirely exclusive to Japan, I mean look at how many years people have bought Madden.
So the conscientious gamer buys the second edition of Okami rather than the third edition of FFIV?
The conscientious gamer is no longer conscientious if they buy the Wii version.
having the conscientious gamer explained to me makes it all the more fitting the top selling games are named “huh?” via some retarded animu reference