There’s still a month before the Christmas holidays, but the Japanese charts are already lighting up in a big way this week with the release of two titles that are sure to appear on many gift lists. And it is also amidst general indifference seen from home that Japan welcomed last Thursday one of the future essentials of family celebrations, namely Momotaro Dentetsu World from Konami, which succeeds Momotaro Dentetsu from 2019 and its 4 million copies sold in the archipelago, a historic record for the publisher.
The railwayman thus takes the lead in sales with 314,699 copies, without any respect for the much more globally influential icon that is Mario. But if Super Mario RPG has to settle for second place with its 301,334 sales, the game from the ArtePiazza studio is far from underperforming. It’s even the opposite, because if the original game had started with 335,872 units on Super Famicom, this remake starts far ahead of all other Mario-branded RPGs. Nintendo will therefore be able to quietly rely on two very big Mario titles for the end of the year since Super Mario Bros. Wonder took the opportunity to exceed one million box sales.
And it is also thanks to the Switch that Warner Bros. can rub your hands. Regardless of the major restrictions of the port and its many months of delay, Hogwarts Legacy offers itself a new commercial success on the Nintendo platform which is felt even in this Japanese ranking. A notch lower, those who have not yet completely had enough of the Phantom Thieves have responded to the call of Persona 5 Tactica (42,507 sales combining the Switch and the PS5). On the other hand, the public did not find it particularly necessary to buy a 58th Naruto fighting game.
In terms of console sales, the PlayStation 5 failed to keep the lead for the second consecutive week and therefore returns its throne to the Switch, while still sticking closely to it. As the home stretch of the year approaches, the Switch is only 450,000 units behind its performance last year (4 million sales at the same stage). The PS5, for its part, is widening its lead over the PS4 with 320,000 more machines than its big sister at the same stage.