Mario Kart 8 and the Wii U Take Top Spots in Japanese Charts

At least the wii u sounds like it is selling better in other markets after mk8. This is not that great of boast in hardware.

Wow, the biggest week for the 360 for a while in Japan.

I am worried that the success of mario kart 8 will be short lived. I hope more people go out and buy a wii u. Especially after E3 I hope it can gain some momentum

now this is what we're talking about. Wii U domination.

While the hardware numbers aren't that big, you need to factor in that consoles haven't been selling that much in Japan with the all new tax policy. I mean, just look at the other hardware sales. Solid numbers for MK8 itself though.

This is only 3 days of sales

Uh....good WiiU numbers I guess.

I knew MK8 wouldn't help.

Gotta start somewhere. Just shows the growing trend away from consoles in Japan. No wonder Nintendo wants to make a cross over system.

I love how even with MK8 debuting, MK7 is still there in the top 20. And in a similar note, PS3 is beating PS4 sales again.

So... everything Sony decreased...

Good launch sales for the game quite disappointing hardware sales for Wii U if I'm being honest.

Cant wait for the USA numbers. Ive been tracking Amazons best sellers and Mario Kart 8 is holding strong.

It's a decent bump that's for sure, but nothing like what I was hoping for. I know that the new tax has made it difficult, but I think even Wii Party U had more of an impact in Japan. Still a win is a win, let's see how well it holds.

@liljmoore "This is only 3 days of sales" <--worth noting in the OP.

@XFsWorld Heh, Heh, probably because while us americans and europeans got a free game with bundle, Japan just got a mercedes benz dlc.

Really shocked by the hardware numbers. We've seen so many media reports of packed out demo events, it seemed like the Japanese were far more excited by this release than the West was.

I know people will be ever optimistic about the fact sales went up, but Nintendo will be bitterly disappointed with that number. Even if they kept those weekly sales up all year they'd only sell another 600,000, which I'm sure everyone can agree is not anywhere near a healthy number.

Hopefully next weeks NPD numbers are not the same story.

Lets hope they are bigger next week, seeing as next week will be 4 of the 7 days of MK8's release, rather than 3!

It's the way Japan is with the tax, (ps4 only selling 6,508 in japan compare to europe and north america)

I don't know if that's good or bad for hardware. If PS4 wasn't struggling and Wii U hadn't dropped to 3,000 last year, 19,000 would still look bad in Japan but it's May so it would never be as big as it would be at Xmas. If it's been as well received in Japan as it has here, the word of mouth might help things... oh well, I'm just glad I get to play it!

Can we finally stop this talk of Mario kart and smash saving the Wii U.

The hardware sales are nowhere near good enough. just like the GC, we see first party titles not shifting hardware.

Anyone who thinks smash will save the day needs help. Wii U is toxic..

Wii U will struggle to sell 20m..

It would be very handy if there would actually be dates in there so we could see how many of those days were with Mario Kart 8 being released. I'm sure people know, but for all I know this could just only include the weekend MK8 was released in. If that's the case then just wait for the sales figures when MK8 has been released for over a week.

Did Japan have the same kind of bundle with a free game promo?

This comes up every week. A new title released always has only 2 days of sales in it's first week, but the first week is always the biggest week. This is not going to sell more in next week's chart with 7 days than it did in this week's chart with 2 days. You go back through the Japanese Chart articles about Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3, Mario 3 World, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, it's the same thing being said. 'Oh, but it was only on sale for 2 days, it will do better next week', but week 1 is the biggest week every time.

I've asked this a dozen times but have never gotten an answer, and I Googled it w/o any results - did Japan get a Wii U MK8 bundle last week or not?

Considering Nintendo just announced a Wii U Sports Club bundle for Japan July 17th maybe people are waiting on that console to purchase one? Japan seems to get a new Wii U bundle every other month.

Regardless, double is double. It's a win. When's the last time Wii U outsold the 3DS LL? It's at the very tip-top of the hardware chart, that should mean something no matter the number. #1 baby!

@Captain_Toad smh . I'll be surprised if the WiiU hardware numbers go above 60k in NA and EU.

Japan did NOT get a mario kart 8 bundle. They are selling the wii play + wii sports bundle. Japan also did not get a free game with MK8, they get a demo and option to purchase game at discount %.

At least NA and Europe know how to bundle and advertise with our MK8 bundles and free games. Win for America's and Europe. American numbers should be good with MK8 in top spot on amazon.

I just feel vindicated at all the snobs who said PS4 is going to obliterate everything! Yes it is doing better but 6,000 units was once called abysmal for Wii U sales so now it's my turn to call it abysmal for PS4 sales. "Oh it's being outsold by last gen!" Poppy cock

@Peach64 Isn't it already understood that home consoles are kind of cold in Japan right now? I mean, look at the PS4 numbers. It sells even worse than Wii U in Japan.

@HAL9000 We'll see.

Playstation Vita TV?

Far less hardware moved then I had hoped but momentum is key now. How many weeks will it take for the Wii U numbers to fall back to PS4 levels. If it takes a month or 2 and is still ahead of Sony then things are looking up, but if in 2 weeks Wii U is back in 5th then it probably will be a struggle this generation.

@jakysnakydx You're talking about Japan, all console sales are abysmal over there. The Wii U will have a couple of good weeks before it plummets to the same level its been since launch.

Its not a knock against the Wii U or the PS4, but Japanese consumers simply don't care for home consoles. They prefer to play on the 3DS, Playstation Vita, and tablets over there.

Likely, this is a trend for this generation. PS4 and Wii U sales will spike around the release of a major title, and then plummet back down once the hype surrounding that title vanishes.

Good for the Wii U, but the real test is how much of an impact Mario Kart 8 had for the Wii U's sales in the West. Japan is a poor standard for judging home consoles right now. Hell, I would even say Japan is meaningless when it comes to judging home consoles sales. They are into handhelds, and nothing will change that.

The true barometer of Mario Kart 8's success will be its impact in the west where consoles are still very popular and the top gaming devices.

Guys there have to be a problem at Japan, this numbers in overall are to low... 3ds, wiiu, ps3...

@rjejr

I have been wondering the same thing! I can't find an answer either. Did Japan even get the price drop everyone else got last year?

@Blue-Thunder Staying out of Japan is the smartest move Microsoft will ever make. Consoles don't sell in Japan anymore, and they would lose more money than its worth trying to bring the Xbox One over there. Japanese consumers have been cold towards the Xbox anyway, so Microsoft is better served focusing their efforts on the west and other regions.

As the poor sales of the PS4 and Wii U have shown, Microsoft does not need Japan to have a successful system.

I think that Nintendo should play up how cool some of the multi-tasking features are on the Wii U. I didn't know until I got one that I could suspend my game, and browse the web on my Gamepad, then I could choose to share or not share the web in 1080P on my TV, or close the curtain and browse local....or browse for something to show people, and then play a video and then open the curtains...that is too cool....then go back to my game instantly.

I thought the Xbox One only had features like this. I can access my downloads, Miiverse, Friends lists etc without leaving my game.

Word of mouth might help to sell more systems, in time.

@MinecraftGreek

You can also do most of the multitasking features you mentioned on the 3DS as well. Except the tv stuff, obviously.

MK8 software # - Good
Wii U hardware bump - Terrible

Hopefully the Wii U can maintain a 10K baseline from now on or at least the next few weeks.

Just got mario kart 8 today. sped threw all circuits with my brother and am now heading online! Love it..

@electrolite77 MK always had legs. Considering they didn't have bundles over there, it's a good number for only 3 days.

300,000+!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!??!?!?!??!? That way better than what I was expecting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going along with 100,000ish, but I'll go with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't expecting a big hardware boast though...still nice to see the U on top for once.

Hey everyone! I've been following Nintendolife for about 1 year but I haven't created a profile and joined any forums until now. I love reading the comments and following the debates. I'm a massive Nintendo fan and have been since my dad bought me an NES in 1989 (just dated myself =P). I wanted to talk a little about the Wii U sales from Japan.

I live in British Columbia, Canada but I previously lived in South Korea for 5 years with my wife and son. I am not surprised that the console sales in Japan are low and I don't think we should be focusing on the specific numbers but rather the percentage of growth. Many Japanese people (not all) live with extended families in smaller apartments. The realestate in that country is just crazy and most families need to pool their money together (grandparents, parents etc) to buy a nice place to live. Many of the apartments lack a larger family room where a massive TV can be displayed and a console can be hooked up. Instead, many members of the family enjoy free time in their rooms where they often don't have a tv. Moreover, older family members tend to dominate the TV viewing and it's not culturally appropriate to ask your grandma to turn off her daily soaps so you can bash stuff in a Mario game. Hence handhelds being so popular for younger kids. If you add in the fact many Japanese people commute a long way to work (3ds LL is popular for this) and that many of the most popular titles (Animal Crossing, Yoki-Watch, Pokemon) are only on handhelds and its pretty easy to see why consoles struggle in Japan from a cultural perspective. If you look at the 100% growth in console sales, you will actually see that MK8 is soooooo good, people are feeling compelled to buy it despite some of the issues I outlines above. South Korea is very similiar and consoles don't do as well there, either. I have some Korean friends who have a 3DS, 3DS XL and a Vita....all instead of forking out huge money for a PS4.

Japan is a great way to get excited about sales but it should not be used to make a sweeping judgement of the success or failure of MK8 and the Wii U. It's like comparing apples and oranges IMO. Let's wait for the NA and European numbers where traditional console sales are much higher. Add in the fact that NA and Europe had the MK8 bundle and the Club Nintendo promo, and I expect we are going to see much higher numbers. I bet we see Wii U sales in the hundred thousands for NA alone where stores here in Canada advertised MK8 hardcore and sold a lot. My local game shop sold over 100 copies of MK8 in the first few hours and completely sold out by Sunday afternoon. They also claimed to have sold double digit bundles and this is one Gamestop out of 40 in the Vancouver area. Good days ahead for the Wii U me thinks. Rant over!

@Peach64 It is unfair to use 3 days worth of sails to gauge the success of failure of a game "but week 1 is the biggest week every time." That rule usually doesn't apply to Nintendo games which often have pretty long legs and sell for many years. Remember we are talking about a market that pretty much doesn't give a crap about consoles. NA and EU will give a clearer picture

@Nintendofan83 you have good points in your rant.

@Nintendofan83 That's why I love my Wii U. I can play full on console quality games in my bed room with my gamepad while my wife is watching TV

Wonder what would happen if they released a version of the Wii U with everything built into the Gamepad. Would they treat it as a portable then and would it displace the 3DS in terms of sales consistently. (Most powerful handheld in one fell swoop).

Great #1 is #1 no matter the units sold

There was no special Wii U+ Mario Kart Pack released in Japan and no free game so I am not so suprised

Not much of a bump for Wii U consoles at all despite MK8's sales. Nintendo missed a huge opportunity here. If they had dropped out the Gamepad, and bundled that new Gamepad-less Wii U with Mario Kart 8, hardware sales would have been sure to be higher.

@Hy8ogen That's a very good and relevant point and I wouldn't be surprised if a big part of why Nintendo designed the Wii U with off-TV play in mind was to compensate for that issue in their home market.

But hey, people,can keep on ignoring relevant cultural points and saying this is rubbish, the Wii U should have sold six figures on the back of this release, it's doomed, etc etc

Damn, those are good sales numbers for Mario Kart 8, but pretty bad sales for Wii U, although better than the previous weeks.

@Caryslan the wii u numbers might last more than a few weeks, hyrule warriors is right next for japan, and there's a lot of hype for that game over there

@Sean_Aaron Yet Wii sold over 11 million consoles, and Mario Kart Wii sold several million in Japan alone.

Obviously, your "cultural points" are just excuses for Wii U's poor performance and don't relate to the reality of the situation.

@Mahe no point having a wii u now without the gamepad, as nintendo will be doing nfc for the wii u and games that use more the gamepad, without it you wouldn't even be able to access eshop, off tv screen etc. Your point is incorrect

That's some good game sales, I just hope Nintendo can keep the momentum.

@ScorpionMG Release software updates that allow OS and eShop usage without Gamepad. Sell GP as optional accessory. Problem solved.

Have you seen how little Mario Kart 8 takes "advantage" of the Gamepad?

@Mahe no duh, mk8, Dk, W101, zelda ww hd all have very little gamepad support, that doesn't mean they should drop it out. Right now i'm writing this on my gamepad, would be pointless to do it with a normal control.

@Mahe And, what? Nothing ever changes?

Few franchises have legs as long as Mario Kart. Let's see what happens over the next few weeks, but I imagine this isn't the end of the MK bump.

Not bad... but its time to announce Pokemon for Wii U.

Great numbers for Mario Kart. Unless I'm mistaken, those are the biggest numbers for a Wii U release since launch. The hardware bump isn't that exciting, but given that Japan didn't get the bundle (and the recent downward trend on hardware sales thanks to the new taxes), it's not surprising. Still, #1 is #1.

Good to see a rise in numbers for the Wii U, shocked at the PS4 numbers. Guess the home console market in Japan is really on the way out. Is this the reason behind the Nintendo fusion rumours?

@ScorpionMG I currently have my Wii U on, and I could be writing this with a Wiimote or a USB keyboard. Instead, Nintendo chose to limit their system's functionality in order to try to shove the Gamepad down unwilling consumers' throats. Instead, I'm writing this on my mobile phone.

@Sean_Aaron The phenomenon has existed for a long time now. If Wii U wasn't burdened by the Gamepad and its associated mistakes, people wouldn't be so unwilling to buy and use it despite that.

@Mahe

Why on earth would you want to write something with a Wiimote?

@Mahe - "If Wii U wasn't burdened by the Gamepad and its associated mistakes, people wouldn't be so unwilling to buy and use it despite that."

You know, I've been reading your anti-Gamepad posts for awhile now, well I guess we all have, and I've considered the possibility that at this very moment the higher-ups at Ninty HQ are discussing a SSB bundle WITHOUT the Gamepad. I decided that only after the Gamecube adapter announcement. Why have a Gamepad if you can hook up 4 GC controllers? I don't think they'll do it, but I bet somebody must have brought it up and it's under discussion.

That said, why do you think Wii U sales would improve w/o it? The game line-up is still the same, PS4 is still out there waiting for non PS3 ported games to justify it's own existence, Japan is all about the handhelds. Sure they could drop $50 off the price and replace Gamepad w/ a Pro. So what? Who's going to buy it anyway? Do you know a lot of people sitting around waiting for a Gamepadless Wii U before they buy? I'll agree w/ you Nintendo has made some, no make that many, mistakes, and if the Wii U LAUNCHED w/o the Gamepad as a Wii 2 w/ Sports Club online for $299 it would have sold better, but I think that "if" ship has long sailed.

It could still happen, but I just don't see it helping enough to give up Miiverse, the 2nd screen, of tv-play and NFC. No 3rd party would bother rmaking games for it then, it's just a PS3/Xbox360 6 years late to the party.

the problem isn't the Gamepad, its that Nitnedo chooses to ignore it. They make a few games for it over the next few years, and it's inclusion will, I believe in the end, seemed justified. Well to most anyway. They just screwed themselves royally w/ starting w/ Nitnedo Land. That should have been a 2nd or 3rd year game. It absolutely SUCKED as a launch title.

Hardware wise, Everything Sony went down, everything Nintendo went up, and Microsoft went up too.

@Nintendofan83 Welcome to the comments.

@unrandomsam I'd be all over that, unless it was download only...then eh. :-l

@Nintendofan83 : Interesting. Nintendo is back to rolling in the dough. I expect some crazy stuff at E3.

@rjejr

I find pointless having a Wii U without the Gamepad. Besides splitting the fanbase and crippling Gamepad centric games, all of the features of a normal controller are already in the Gamepad: D Pad, twin sticks that can be pressed, buttons, triggers, etc. Plus so much more a normal controller can't do.

Price is not a factor either. Wii U has probably the best game line up right now. If you don't care about a Wii U because it has no appealing games to you, it is not powerful enough, lacks third party support or it is not a multimedia hub, a $100 price tag won't make you get one.

@rjejr nah, if you had the Wii U launch without the Gamepad and Wii Sports Club HD and online people still would have said "I got one of those already." There is no magic difference that would have made Wii U a massive seller. Let's face it, the days of mass-selling game consoles as we grew up with are over. Just enjoy what you got.

@rjejr @MoonKnight7 I don't think Japan got any MK8 bundle and they probably won't get one. Personally, I guess Nintendo will put their efforts on making the Wii U more attractive to handheld (such as 3DS) owners in Japan.

Another issue for the Wii U has been the lack of advertising by both Nintendo and major retailers like Gamestop, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Amazon etc. Playstation advertises everywhere; on buses, billboards, non-gaming stores, malls, and websites to name a few examples.They are even willing to pay top dollar for TV time. In Canada, there is no bigger time slot than the hockey playoffs and for weeks i've seen commerical after commerical for Watch Dogs. Where the $)%# is Nintendo's advertising? I almost never see anything from them. Their displays in stores are really poor. When I was a kid, I remember there being a life-sized cardboard cut out of Link for Ocarina of Time. I remember taking a picture next to it with my copy of the game. Now, I go into Gamestop and Nintendo is always stuffed in the corner of the room with the smallest display, the least demos and the least advertising. I rarely see Nintendo advertise on TV. It's almost as if Nintendo went into a shell for a few years and were "resting on their laurels" and past successes. Well, 2012 and 2013 sucked for Nintendo and they finally started to realize they need to have more of a media footprint to appeal to a larger base of potential customers. Nintendo should dominate advertising in places like Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and other places frequented by familes. However, I rarely see anything. The Club Nintendo promo, and the MK8 bundle were the most I've seen from Nintendo in years in terms of advertising, promos and giving their fans what they crave. They simply can't rely on people finding their website or waiting for E3. How many casual fans even know E3? Nintendo needs to ramp up the advertising in all formats and areas. 2014 could have been massive for them with DKTF, MK8 and SSB but it's summer time and Nintendo is just getting their momenteum going. There should have been a nonstop media/adverising blitz since SM3DW to say "Hey! We know the Wii U is struggling so we are going to roll out a huge line up of AAA games for you".

@sinalefa - You used "you" 3 times in your 2nd paragraph. I'm hopeing that was a generic "you" as in "everybody" and not just aimed at me b/c I'm pretty sure you know I bought mine last August for Pikmin 3 and I'm on it almost every day. And the Gamepad is actually useful for booting Wii U w/ the newly updated "quickstart" menu. I already love that feature.

My thoughts about no Gamepad was if Nintendo wanted to make a rock n rolling SSB "Tournament edition" Wii U w/o the Gamepad but instead w/ that silly adapter and 4 GC controllers for ~$400 and SSB obviously. My kid goes to a high school tournament every few months and they have 4 Wii's set up w/ 4 Wiimotes each but everybody brings their own GC controller. A SSB tourney ed. Wii U might sell to college dorms and frat houses and such. It would be a collectors set, not the main Wii U, that would still have a Gamepad.

I also wonder if they would offer something like that due to the 3DS getting the game first and maybe they would feel the need to market the Wii U version in some crazy way. No Gamepad Wii U would get people's attention I think.

And... if Nintnedo would ever getting around to announcing a 2nd Gamepad controller game - heh Sports club boxing uses 2 Wiimotes 7 years after that game came out so it's possible - therefore they would HAVE to sell the Gamepad separately, then people buying the SSB bundle could always pick up a Gamepad if they wanted to later. But I don't think the frat boys would.

Good to see! Glade the Wii U is finally getting recognition for being a good console.

@Sean_Aaron - ""I got one of those already.""

I beg to differ. My parents and both sisters have Wii. Have for many years. Used mostly for Sports and Sports Resort. We all live far enough apart that an online mode for Sports would have at least tempted them to rebuy the games and the systems. As it is now I'm not sure any of them know it even exists. My mom might have bought one just to vidoechat w/ her grandkids. To me the biggest let down of the Gamepad is a built in camera that I can't recall ever being used in a game. OK, Wii Fit U for fat photos, but I mean videochatting. Every single game should have video chat. One of if not THE single biggest complaint against the PS3 was lack of cross-game chat. Nintendo should have gone them one better w/ cross game videochatting. W/ all the talk on here about the lack of NFC usage nobody ever talks about the camera, speakers and microphone never being used. At least Pokemon Rumble U had 5 or 6 toys. We own 1 we got free w/ the game at Gamestop.

Wow, hardly a hardware sales bump worth mentioning. Essentially 2 weeks worth instead of 1. That's not good. And no other WiiU software in the top 20. Also no good.

@rjejr

Yes, I was not pointing you with those "yous". I know the Wii U was meant to be bought during holidays for SM3DW but you decided to go to the store and get it, with the W101 demo being also a reason for picking it up sooner than expected. And your birthday, too.

My guess is that selling individual Gamepads is still too expensive so they won't bother with 2 Gamepad games yet.

I have a few games that use the camera rjejr, just because you don't have them doesn't mean they don't exist. And given the network overhead I don't think you'll be seeing in-game video chat anywhere for years. And whilst it's great your family is clued in, given people apparently thought a Wii U was an add-on a Wii U without Gamepad would be practically indistinguishable from the Wii to the avg consumer.

Can nintendo keep this momentum up for me thats the question of the year.

Wow, the PS4's momentum in Japan has completely bottomed out. Those are like typical Wii U numbers.

@sinalefa - Yeah, that's what I thought, just checking.

Considering how underutilized the Gamepad is, software is probably more of an issue than price for a 2nd Gamepad right now. It would need a must have game like Advance Wars or Madden that would be included free w/ the Gamepad. Maybe Wii Party U 2. Unless Bono sues them.

@Mahe I thought the gamepad issue was discussed thoroughly a few months back? Dropping the gamepad is a bad move. Period.

Guys at least there was a boost in Wii U sales. Sure it wasn't huge like we were expecting but that is due to several reasons: 1) the new tax on video game consoles in Japan and 2) Japanese gamers aren't all that interested in console gaming! It'll be more interesting to see how the game boosted hardware sales in western markets, since Japan only accounted for 25% of the total game copies sold this past weekend.

Wii U was the best selling console in Japan. The console market just isn't as healthy as it used to be.

@Peach64 Personally, I'm interested in the NPD results more for the 3DS than the Wii U. After the piss-poor NPD results for 3DS hardware in both March and April (as bad as they were in 2011 before the price cut), I'm wondering if the 3DS was just in a sales slump, or if there really is a reason to be concerned. If Mario Golf World Tour and Kirby Triple Deluxe didn't make an impact, then I will be concerned. Funny how most people have been brushing it off like its no big deal.

@noctowl maybe because, and I'm just guessing here, it's got A LOT of good games for it?!?

@noctowl They are probably American GIs who stationed there.

Whelp, I guess that's to be expected from the Japanese market. If they really wanted to shift Wii U consoles over there, they only need announce three games.
Pokemon.
Dragon Quest. (single player, offline)
Monster Hunter.

Do a Ubisoft and announce Mario Kart 9 for a Summer of 2015 release!

Those are pretty good Mario Kart 8 sales, but it stinks that the hardware division over there has gotten kind of stale. I miss seeing big hardware sales numbers each week.

That's really good when you realize that's almost more than everything else combined that week.