Japan’s Top 100 games sold in 2008: MHP 2nd G on top, Xbox 360 barely makes it

Here we have a breakdown of the Top 100 games that sold in Japan during 2008. The list was published by Enterbrain earlier this month, and now also appears on this week’s Famitsu issue. Mostly dominated by Nintendo titles, the list still has some noteable Sony games somewhere near the top too (surprise, surprise, MHP 2nd G reigns king, as always). Meanwhile, the 360 is… well, at least it’s represented, care of Tales of Vesperia… and *only* Tales of Vesperia. Yeah, right down at #82.

Whether you want to talk about installed base or longevity or whatnot, some still argue that the truth is in the numbers. Here we have a breakdown of the Top 100 games that sold in Japan during 2008. The list was published by Enterbrain earlier this month, and now also appears on this week’s Famitsu issue.

Mostly dominated by Nintendo titles, the list still has some noteable Sony games somewhere near the top too (surprise, surprise, MHP 2nd G reigns king, as always). Meanwhile, the 360 is… well, at least it’s represented, care of Tales of Vesperia… and *only* Tales of Vesperia. Right down at #82. Here’s a partial glimpse of the full list.

Top 15 games (of 100) sold during 2008 in Japan:

1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom) – PSP (2,452,111)
2. Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Company) – DS (2,187,337)
3. Wii Fit (Nintendo) – Wii (2,149,131)
4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) – Wii (2,003,315)
5. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Nintendo) – Wii (1,747,113)
6. Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo) – DS (1,350,671)
7. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Square Enix) – DS (1,176,082)
8. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) – Wii (895,302)
9. Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) – DS (855,427)
10. Wii Sports (Nintendo) – Wii (841,736)
11. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami) – PS3
12. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix) – PSP
13. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Nintendo) – DS
14. Phantasy Star Portable (Sega) – PSP
15. Professor Layton and the Last Time Traveller (Level 5) – DS

Sorry, we have to cut the list short (you can check out the entire list in the Via link). And just in case some of you were asking, yes, I think I spotted Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode for the DS somewhere in the list too – pretty high at #19, actually.

Now if you want to get a clear picture of what the entire list looks like sorted by developers and by platforms (just like what we had last time for Famitsu’s most wanted!), here’s the breakdown.

Total tally of games on Top 100 (by platform):

1. DS: 47
2. PSP: 15
3. Wii: 15
4. PS2: 12
5. PS3: 10
6. 360: 1

Total tally of games on Top 100 (by publisher/developer):

1. Nintendo: 29
2. Namco Bandai: 20
3. Square Enix: 11
4. Konami: 10
5. Capcom: 6
6. Level-5: 4
7. Sega: 4
8. SCE: 3
9. The Pokémon Company: 3
10. Koei: 2
11. Atlus: 2
12. Enterbrain: 1
13. IE Institute: 1
14. Hudson: 1
15. Rocket: 1
16. EA: 1
17. Marvelous: 1

• Most rented games in 2008: Xbox 360 dominates, GTA4 tops chart
• Famitsu most wanted: FFXIII dethroned, replaced by DQIX for DS
• Media Create Japan: 360 really didn’t beat Wii; still beat PS3 though
• PSP breaches 10 million sales in Japan; Monster Hunter dominates all-time chart