Amazon Japan's Videogame Bestsellers List Has A Bit Of A Splatoon 2 Theme

Buckle up kids, the Splatoon madness is starting all over again

I think it is fair to say Splatoon as a franchise is here to stay

I don't think ARMS will have the same brand power that Splatoon has. Splatoon from its original reveal had a very unique aesthetic and musical style, and was a fresh take on a genre Nintendo has barely even touched. ARMS doesn't really have that going for it. The characters look like they're taken straight out of DreamWorks movies, and as a fighting game it looks pretty clunky. I think Splatoon will continue to overshadow it in the Switch era.

@ShinyLinoone I agree with you. Looking forward to both games but if done right I think Arms will be a great game for those that like motion controls. I'm an older gamer and much prefer to use my thumbs. Splatoon 2 will be great, wish it came earlier in the summer.

Are the amiibo available to pre-order anywhere in the UK yet?

I managed to pick up Callie and Marie recently. Missing the recoloured versions of the others. The collector inside me needs them, but my logical side says they're pointless.

I don't think ARMS will have anywhere near the levels of success that Splatoon has had. There's still no Japanese sales figures for last week on the site. They were released yesterday.

The latest Media Create hardware sales are as follows:

Switch – 24,712
New 3DS LL – 13,643
PS4 – 12,334
PS4 Pro – 4,961
Vita – 4,114
2DS – 2,862
New 3DS – 1,021
PS3 – 325
Wii U – 157
Xbox One – 149

Switch sales are half of what they were for the previous week. Yes, Golden Week is over but that shouldn't matter to the Switch, it's a new handheld.

Here's the software sales:

1. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 36,440 / 411,915
2. [3DS] Monster Hunter XX – 15,002 / 1,466,546
3. [NSW] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 11,916 / 454,783
4. [3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X – 10,547 / 138,938
5. [3DS] Attack on Titan: Escape from Certain Death – 8,599 / NEW
6. [3DS] Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia – 5,713 / 174,868
7. [PS4] NieR: Automata – 5,056 / 325,553
8. [PS4] Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition – 4,016 / 52,678
9. [3DS] Pro Yakyuu Famista Climax – 3,959 / 73,683
10. [3DS] Mario Sports Superstars – 3,486 / 89,964
11. [NSW] 1-2-Switch – 3,410 / 208,856
12. [WIU] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 3,395 / 119,708
13. [PS4] Ghost Recon Wildlands – 3,080 / 177,945
14. [3DS] Pokemon Sun/Moon – 3,062 / 3,259,837
15. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo – 2,939 / 175,948
16. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for 3DS – 2,929 / 1,038,463
17. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (4,990 Yen Edition) – 2,880 / 334,080
18. [PS4] Rainbow Six Siege – 2,527 / 192,045
19. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 – 2,429 / 2,771,420
20. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki – 2,146 / 718,551

Ohhhh crap that Pro Controller is AMAZING

Splatoon 2 in every top 10 slot...
That is one beautiful sight!

ARMS will likely be to Splatoon what Wii U was to Wii, Nintendo's failed attempt to catch lighting in a bottle twice. That almost never works. At least they are putting a lot more effort into marketing ARMS than they did the Wii U. There's also the concern that once Spla2oon releases it does to ARMS what Overwatch did to Battleborn. (You can Google it.)

Still waiting for some Spla2oon themed hardware to come to the US. And ARMS amiibo.

I always liked the look of the first Splatoon but I didn't have a Wii U but seeing as I have a Switch I'm definitely getting this plus those amiibo look cool 😎!

Is that Pro Controller coming to west?

@Nik-Davies Not the Splatoon 2 Amiibo that I can see. But the Callie, Marie and generic boy/girl/squid Amiibo should all be available online.

@Nik-Davies Game have them up for pre-order. Haven't seen them anywhere else yet.

@rjejr I get the analogy and it works to a point, but games can coexist much easier than home game consoles.

I'm not super excited about Arms as fighting games aren't that thrilling to me, but that genre is still going VERY strong and it could gain some serious support over time. Switch is going to be partly defined by these types of competitive multiplayer games so the right crowd will likely get curious about Arms. I think it will take longer than Splatoon gained traction and probably never get the level of devoted fans Splatoon seems to garner, but there's room for both, I think.

@Nik-Davies Here in Ireland, SCamiibo are thankfully dying. Smyths are clearing them out, they haven't got in any of the new ones. Neither have Argos. Gamestop are the only shop selling some of the newer ones, but only a select few and you have to pre order them.

@Steven_the_2nd yes I know but seriously I already have one. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 12 controllers in draw syndrom

I passed on Splatoon on Wii U. As much as I love the Wii U, I just don't have the opportunity to play home console games often enough, so the Switch is the perfect console for me (other than the fact that it's a little too big, but I wouldn't want to compromise on the screen size/resolution either, so I'm good).

I really enjoyed the Global Testfire, and I reckon that I'll have an even better time with the full version.

That pro controllers cool, i would have loved paint splats all over it though with different coloured analog sticks.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Switch sales this week are obviously a stock issue. They rushed out additional units to take advantage of Golden Week and stock is depleted. They are apparently able to push out 45k or so a week, and the last three weeks still average out to that.

Same thing in NA, where they only had 280k units to sell, with 700k intended for April being rush shipped by plane to be there before the end of March.

The Switch is still sold out everywhere in U.S. and Japan. No idea about your special sliver of Ireland, but the rest of the world is buying whatever Nintendo can get on to shelves.

@BezBot yes

Everything is for Japan. NoA sucks so much.

@ShinyLinoone I disagree! Since the reveal I have been really excited and I think the game will score mostly 8s and 9s and it will be a huge success in Japan and US specifically.

Arms could make a great manga.

@rjejr yes to both; the Spla2oon hardware and the ARMS amiibo.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE amiibo aren't a scam though. The quality of the figures is really great and for a collector like myself they are pretty rad, for eel.

@Lysis yep! This NintenDoom he is trying to paint he should drop it. The Switch is selling amazing and that will only increase with releases such as ARMS and Spla2oon. Plus E3 is around the corner, Nintendo already announce a big focus on Mario and I bet that game will only increase the sell figures.

@Lysis Nonsense. These are the Switch sales for the last 3 weeks.

76,679 ---> 47,911 ---> 24,712

They'll pick up I'm sure for ARMS, they definitely will for Splatoon 2.

Me: "Can a single game dominate half the sales charts via games/bundles/accessories/Amiibos?"

Amazon JP: "Why not??"

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
These are the weekly Switch sales for the last 7 weeks:
45,509 --> 41,193 --> 45673 --> 48,694 --> 76,679 ---> 47,911 ---> 24,712

There was obviously a stock issue.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Will you stop the "I DON'T LIKE THE SWITCH AND I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW IT" thing you are doing everyday? You are becoming very annoying.

@westman98 It's not obviously because of a stock issue. Golden Week is over and all sales are down. It's understandable for the other platforms but the Switch shouldn't have that excuse though as it's new hardware.

My daughter would love a pink joycon!

I know there's a single player but does anyone know if there'll be any sort of bot mode? I never played the first one but really like the look of splatoon 2

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Nintendo did not ship many Switches during the post-Golden Week period, as reports from Famitsu have confirmed. Nintendo really needs to improve their shipments as its starting to get annoying.

@westman98 You keep telling yourself that.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
I dont have to tell myself anything. Sales data and reports tell me all I need to know.

But claiming that "sales dropped so the Switch is screwed" is something I expect you to say, so continue on.

@westman98 I didn't say that. Don't quote something I never said. That's called lying.

@manu0 Yes!!!

@BezBot oh i just saw you're from the US. it's only confirmed for europe so far

@manu0 awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I knew after I posted the comment, but still happy coming to West because I'll import it

@BezBot well in that case you could've also imported from japan

@manu0 You know how much it costs to import from Japan? Way too much for my liking.

@aaronsullivan "but games can coexist much easier than home game consoles"

Well, for home consoles it's not a matter of co-existing, Wii was done before Wii U came out. It's more a matter of Wii had the motion gimmick, it took off, Wii U had the tablet gimmick, it took off, but for Apple, not Nitneod.

I think ARMS will do ok, it's a nice game, but Spaltoon is more of a cultural phenomena in Japan. They have Squid Sisters concerts. What is up w/ that? So as much as they are trying to make ARMS into the next Spaltoon, well you can't "make" things into cultural phenomena, they either happen or they don't. Did the people who made Tickle Me Elmo, Pet Rock and Cabbage Patch Kids ever make another fad? (I think it was all different originators.) I just feel like they are trying too hard to force the issue. And having Spaltoon 2 release 6 weeks later, well it doesn't give it a lot of time to germinate and grow.

And if they announce SSB4D at E3 for this holiday or Q1 2018, well then ARMS is pretty much DOA.

I suppose it could catch on, Tekken, MK, SF, all of those other tournament games that "pro" gamers travel the world over playing, it could become 1 of those, but it looks too sloppy to me for that to happen. I think it will do well enough to have a sequel, Injustice and DBXV both recently did, but that's a long way from Splatoonmania. What's the equivalent of "Are you a kid or a squid?" for ARMS?

arble garble....I may have to get two of those amiibo after all.

@rjejr
Hah. Imagine if ARMS came out 6 weeks after Splatoon 2.

Also, that's a good point about SSB and ARMS is one reason Nintendo might keep SSB a secret even if it was coming out this year. With all the local multiplay competitive stuff this year on Switch, Super Smash Bros. news might be better if it waited until the end of this year even for a tease. Balance out the single-player Mario launch with the promise of more multiplayer competitive stuff coming.

On ARMS, though, I think it has a chance to be a breakout hit even if I agree with you that you can't make that happen. Splatoon is great but it's an FPS at heart which is a very different play style than fighting games. And that fighting game genre is maybe ripe for a shake up — well, I don't really know, I don't follow it closely.

As for Nintendo maybe trying too hard to make it a hit... yeah, keep doing that Nintendo. Nothing wrong with that. It's the marketing leaning too much on past success that has partly gotten them in to trouble. So, trying to build hits with new IP alongside the classic franchises is exactly what I want Nintendo to do.

@aaronsullivan "So, trying to build hits with new IP alongside the classic franchises is exactly what I want Nintendo to do."

I guess I just feel like they are trying too hard to copy Spltaoon. Testfire. Check. Free updates. Check. Snazzy colors and motion play. Check and check. They aren't even trying to give it it's own identity. It's practically Splatoon 2 w/ boxing gloves rather than squirt guns. It feels to me like they are trying so hard to make it be the next Spaltoon by trying to make it so much like Splatoon. And then Sapltoon 2 releases 6 weeks later. That doesn't seem like a good plan. It seems like trying too hard and timing too bad.

Don't get me wrong, I like ARMS and think it can work. And yes, Ntinedo needs to market a lot more on Switch than they did on Wii U, but this is a bit too copy and paste, it's practically plagiarism.

Though if it does work, well then at least they have a blueprint going forward.

Splatoon was a hit in Japan without mobile/handheld, which is lord and master there.
A handheld Splatoon? Buckle up, Japan's going crazy with this.

@rjejr Having a testfire and free updates is a good way to manage a new online IP no matter who you are. That doesn't seem to be a concern, but it is something Nintendo didn't really do before Splatoon so it stands out as a copied tactic for sure.

I'm gonna pick some nits here, though.

Snazzy colors and motion play... I'm not seeing those as directly influenced by Splatoon in a significant way.

I mean they do both have bright colors... but this is Nintendo after all. Also, the ARMS gameplay led them down the clever design path of these crazy spiral arms and the different ways characters can integrate them. That type of thing is a design philosophy at the core of Nintendo and making it all a bit cartoony is necessary; realism with that kind of weirdness gets sorta gross.

Motion play is very different between the games, too, and I don't see that as a copied tactic rather than a reason for ARMS to exist in the first place. What can we do with two JoyCon that everyone gets with a Switch to utilize the motion controls. It's awesome in Splatoon to aim with motion but it's additive. Point is I don't see Nintendo adding motion controls to ARMS to be like Splatoon.

As much as they are close together and that might be a problem for ARMS, it's an important original game for Switch. No doubt the initial lineup had to feel a bit uncomfortable for Nintendo to showcase and ARMS was the only big completely original looking exclusive in the Switch launch lineup. It also speaks to Nintendo's intention to give motion controls another push (besides tilt to aim).

Also, would anyone mix up Splatoon Squid Kids and ARMS fighters? I feel like the styles are pretty distinct, myself.

Anyway, as concerns go, I just want Nintendo to get more NS on the shelves! Let's see how far this goes. We probably won't have any idea if ARMS would have moved NS units because they are probably stockpiling for the Splatoon 2 release and then the Mario release.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I live in Japan. It's sold out everywhere save for those places on Amazon which sell it for 40000+ yen.

@rjejr I think you have to play Arms to appreciate its brilliance... kind of like Splatoon. It is accessible, innovative,well designed and great fun. That is a recipe for success.., though we'll have to wait and see what happens.

@roboshort "I think you have to play Arms to appreciate its brilliance"

You could be right. I never thought much of PSVR until I tried it and was blown away. Not enough to spend $400 on it, but if I was at a friends house and they had it Id' play it. And I never played online until Spaltoon.

So while I do think I would like ARMS, not sure I'd play it much. I'm the guy who buys all the Mario Kart games, comes in first on every race at 50cc and then never plays it again. I don't like replaying things.

My personal feelings aside, I feel like people who want to play fighting games want precision, not waggle, even HD rumble waggle. I do think this will be played by people who own it a lot more than Snipperclips or 1 2 Switch when friends are over, I'm just not sure it's another cultural phenomena like Spaltoon. I'll play and enjoy a few matches w/ my son somewhere down the road I'm sure.

@aaronsullivan "What can we do with two JoyCon that everyone gets with a Switch to utilize the motion controls."

You mean besides milk a cow?

Maybe ARMS fighters dont' look like squid kids, but they certainly have a similar feel, like Dragon Quest and Dragonball. Something about the pop of the pastel colors. They could have gone more muted and subdued like Punch Out. AMRS has always reminded since day 1 of Pokken tournament, but that has an overall darker look, these ARMS battle arenas could be stages in Spaltoon.

Had AMRS been a release title I'd like it better than 6 weeks before Spaltoon and having tournaments for both at E3. It is better than 6 weeks after Spaltoon 2, that could have been trouble.

Stock? I'm not looking to buy 1 yet but I certainly haven't seen 1 in my twice weekly trips to Target, and you know I look in all the cases just because. I saw a Tweet about Toys R Us getting more in stock but that's about it.

And I really don't see ARMS as a system seller. Even if Switch sells that week I'm just going to assume it's b/c Nintendo is having a great showing at E3, more stock came into stores and people still want a Switch for Zelda and MK8D and Spaltoon. Every Switch sold in Japan is in preparation for Spaltoon 2. Oh, and people buying them to sell on eBay of course.

I think it would take a whole lot of stock for them to be collecting dust on store shelves at this point. And Nitneod wont' make nearly that many this early. It may even be troublesome to buy 1 this holiday. I'm already thinking the Wednesday night before T-Day will be the perfect time to trade in my X1 at Gamestop, currently $150, but it still might be sold out even then. Wii was sold out for 2 full years downstate.

@rjejr If you waggle your Arms, you'll get killed... At least so far as I could tell.
But yeah, it won't be for everybody and we will have to see if it has the secret sauce to really be a hit.