Japan's software sales numbers for the week of October 13-19 say that Nintendo's Wii Music sold 92,000 copies in its first week in Japan. Did you see that coming?
It even passed up the relatively hot Pokémon Platinum, which has already racked up 1.75 million sales in Japan. New titles like Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2, Kidou Senshi Gundam 00: Gundam Meisters, and Culdcept DS all rank in the top 10 this week, but they're no match for the mighty casual Wii title.
One of my favorites, Rhythm Tengoku Gold, continues to sell well, coming in at no. 4 this week with 51,000 units moved and just over a million copies total sold. Finally, Wii Fit is still charting, still going strong with 2,740,000 silly scales sold.
Top ten listed after the jump, courtesy of Chart Get!
01. [WII] Wii Music (Nintendo) 92,000 / NEW
02. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon) 72,000 / 1,754,000
03. [PSP] Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 (Sony) 59,000 / NEW
04. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 51,000 / 1,010,000
05. [NDS] Culdcept DS (SEGA) 50,000 / NEW
06. [PS2] Kidou Senshi Gundam 00: Gundam Meisters (Namco Bandai) 43,000 / NEW
07. [PS2] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special (KOEI) 27,000 / 184,000
08. [PSP] Macross Ace Frontier (Namco Bandai) 26,000 / 130,000
09. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 18,000 / 2,740,000
10. [PS2] Super Robot Wars Z (Namco Bandai) 13,000 / 462,000
If RTG ends up being more successful than Wii Music, that will hopefully send the message to Nintendo to make more games like RT, and less like Wii Music.
Personally, I don't see Wii Music and GH:WT as being in the same genre, not in the same that RTG and Wii Music are.
I haven't played Wario land: The Shake Dimension (name of the game in the UK) but if Wario Land 4 has taught me anything, then it would be nowhere near as awesome as the first 3 Wario Land games were.
I haven't seen many amazing games on the Wii, except for Metroid Prime 3, Zelda - Twilight Princess and Brawl, but I think Nintendo is focusing a bit too hard on the casual market, especially with the DS.
Also, in case you were wondering, Wario Land: Shake It! sold 20,000 copies in the US. Grand total. The game is good, but a commercial failure.
But hell, the little "game" is fun. It's not what you've come to expect from a videogame, but it's so lighthearted and surprisingly addictive in a weird way that the apparently inexist replay value acquires an infinite multiplier.
It's not the kind of game you LONG to play, but once you pop it in, it's bound to be a blast. Specially in a big group. Things get frantic and even if the result is abominable everyone will laugh when the drummer goes nuts and tosses the whole music down the drain. It happens quite often.
There's an easygoing sense of freedom that detaches the game from rhythm games, that actually are all about hitting notes quasi-randomly most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I love Guitar Hero and Rock Band just as much as anyone who cares for good music, but that's what those games are all about, good music. Sure, it's 80% of the fun, but it actually annoys when people complain about Wii Music's waggly gameplay and harken to the greatness of gameplay depth of other rhythm games that surpass nothing but those falling numbers games from old cellphones, like someone said.
Wii Music feels like a MUSICAL game. Not a game that revolves around music. And that's a very ingenious thought from Miyamoto, that ceases not to amaze us. The game's presentation at E3 was a mess only because of inapt players, for the game plays much better than it would appear. The music list is VERY underwhelming, which is a huge hit to overall quality, as well as a hefty price tag for what's offered, but the game grows on you. There's room for improvement and I surely would like to see a sequel in Wii2.
In my honest opinion, it's worth a 7. But Nintendo has shown that it may be difficult to quantify a game's worth considering both single player and multiplayer experience. Besides, it's deffinitely not for rhythm-capped people. Don't even bother trying if your definition of "rhythm" is plucking coloured circles as they appear. You will get frustrated. Seriously. My grandma did. Although she had a blast strumming her guitar aimlessly.