Japan not keen on No More Heroes

By Robert Purchese Published 23 April, 2010

PS3/360 remake struggles in slow week.

Japan hasn't gone wild for Grasshopper's PS3 and Xbox 360 adaptations of No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise.

The game debuted seventh and eighth in Media Create's regional chart, the PS3 version selling 16,000 compared to 15,000 on Xbox 360.

At the top of the software chart ths week was old favourite New Super Mario Bros. Wii with a winning score of 32,000 sales. That's not a lot. However, lifetime sales of NSMB Wii are 3.687m, and that is a lot.

Friend Collection was second, Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 third (PSP) and fourth (PS3), Fist of the North Star: Warriors fifth and Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light sixth. Wii Fit Plus and Yakuza 4 rounded out the top 10.

In hardware, DS took top honours (31,255) followed by PSP (30,550). Sony's PS3 (25,590) was ahead of Nintendo's Wii (24,344), which were both miles ahead of Xbox 360 (2442). Old but not dead PS2 bottomed the piled with 1531 sales.

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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Senate #1 2 years ago

    A so-so game like this was bound to fair better outside of Japan I suppose since it wasn't like we Wii owners were spoilt for choice with great games at its origanal release

  • Stompy #2 2 years ago

    A so-so game... you surely mean "so, so awesome".




    goes to show how as a next gen market and as a creative force japan is essentially finished.

    Huh.

  • toa_boa #3 2 years ago

    apart from the fact, that the conversions sold more than the original on Wii - well never mind :-)

  • macmurphy #4 2 years ago

    @Mickey. You're a tit.

    Japan finished 'as a creative force'. Good work on the sweeping generalisations. Did you miss the bit just above where it sad Mario Bros Wii sold over three million. Guess where that was created.

    Best selling console of all time? DS.
    Best selling games last year? Four out of top five were Nintendo titles (MW2 was the lone westerner).
    Current market leader of home consoles? The Wii.
    Where is the creative force behind the Playstation 3 from?
    6/10 top rated metacritic Wii games are japanese (I'm not counting the two Metroid titles, if I did that would be 8).
    Recently who made Bayonetta, Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Streetfighter?

    The Japanese influence is not what it was, but spent? Honestly?
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/10 @ 09:51

  • Drone #5 2 years ago

    @macmurphy

    I think you're missing the point. No one would argue the merit of Japanese games and consoles but they dont seem to be very progressive in their creativity with new IP's. All the games you mentioned (with the exeption of Bayonetta, which is basically son of DMC) are sequels.

  • mashk #6 2 years ago

    No more heroes anymore?

  • erp #7 2 years ago

    @Drone

    Don't forget Demon's Souls, easily the most progressive (and I would say best) game of the generation. And it's entirely new IP. And, made in Japan.

  • Evolution #8 2 years ago

    @Drone

    "All the games you mentioned (with the exeption of Bayonetta, which is basically son of DMC) are sequels."

    Some anticipated Western games:

    Mafia 2
    Starcraft 2
    Fable 3
    3 more Call Of Duty games
    Halo: Reach

    Creative and interesting games out of Japan can be found on DS, though I would agree they have lost the plot somewhat with their triple AAA titles.

  • macmurphy #9 2 years ago

    @ Drone


    The Japanese have created 2/3 of the current home consoles, 2/2 of the best selling handhelds and loads and loads of the best selling games. I can see what you're saying, but being a creative force can simply mean creating, and they've created a lot.

    I couldn't quickly find anything to date, but I don't see why the proportions should have changed much from 2008.

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/5039966/the-world s-top-selling-video-games-this-year-so-far
    ]http://ko taku.com/5039966/the-worlds-top...[/link]

    You'll see that Mariokart Wii sold 1.6m in Japan, only just behing America's 2.4 million sales. So one of the most popular titles of all time and Japanese buyers are the second biggest consumer of this game. Mariokart is a huge title, designed by the Japanese with Japanese tastes in mind (not exclusively, but they are certainly important). So Japan is a big market, as well as a massive creative force.

    I would be inclined to agree that the Japanese have a prediliction for sequels; I just pointed out that Mickey's statement that 'as a next gen market and as a creative force japan is essentially finished' is a really false generalisation. And it is.

    Also to add to the above posters - Western markets love sequels too. The Japanese offer some of the most intriguing and creative titles out there, No More Heroes being a case in point.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/10 @ 10:18

  • Toothball #10 2 years ago

    Ah good, the NHM Xbox version is in the wild. I've been wanting to finish this after getting halfway through on the Wii and losing my save file.

  • Drone #11 2 years ago

    @erp
    Good point, I've not played or seen it but I've heard lots of good things about it

    @Evolution
    I never said there were no sequels in Western development.

    @macmurphy
    I see your point. I suppose im compairing the Japanese gaming industry of 10-15 years ago (or more maybe) to today. There was a time when Japanese games seemed to the most original and exciting out there. I am probably in the minority but i just dont look forward to another mario game or a run of the mill DS title.

    I seem to remember some Japanese developers saying pretty much the same recently

    I have a feeling I'm going to get flamed into oblivion for this!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #12 2 years ago

    @Drone: You wanna try Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey for the DS - it rocks.

    But seriously, the game probably sold badly because most people have already played it on the Wii. Sure it is a little bit different on the Xbox/PS3, but how many of you have bought a tarted up version of a game you already own? Most people will see the new version and ignore it. Too many good new games to play to bother about playing new versions of a game you only played a year or so ago right?

    As for Japan being creatively bankrupt... there is some merit in that assertion. Certainly a lot of big name japanese devs have been quoted as saying the same thing recently. However, when it comes to my own games buying habits, I could count the number of western games I have bought in the last year on one hand, whereas the number of Japanese games far exceeds that number. Then again, I don't like most western games... no charm, no character, nothing special. With the exception of Uncharted ;)

  • djed #13 2 years ago

    Japan hasn't lost its creative force, it's just that the video game market has grown so large that there are room for a lot more than they can churn out.

    my 2 pennies.

  • Crunchers #14 2 years ago

    Probably came out too late following the release of the Wii version(?). As JohnnyWashnGo notes, the majority of people who had an itch to play it probably did so on their waggle box. I certainly wouldn't go so far to say that Japanese developers are creatively shot; certainly not compared to their Western counterparts.

    Bad timing I reckon.

  • TonyHarrison #15 2 years ago

    There was me thinking that the reason NMH didn't sell millions of copies was that the audience for such games isn't on Wii, but it is on 360/PS3. By that logic the game would only just be reaching its potential audience, and so it should have sold tens of thousands more copies on each console.

    Of course if that isn't the case, then it just means that it's selling about as well as the Wii version and thus the audience for such games is identical over the three consoles, but then if HD games sales in general are anything to go by, it won't have the legs of the Wii version.

  • Bangaioh #16 2 years ago

    I wouldn't even bother commenting the likes of Drone. Waste of time. Let him enjoy ex-japan development while who know's better can still dig into the best of both (JP and ex-JP development).
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/10 @ 13:26

  • rudderless #17 2 years ago

    I might be wrong, but I think those NMH sales are better than the Wii version. Combined they certainly represent Suda's biggest first-week sales in his homeland to date.

  • Cappy #18 2 years ago

    The Japanese PS3 version of No More Heroes is censored, hence the sales being pretty close between PS3 & 360.

    Hopefully somebody at Marvelous is getting a stern talking to over the decision to make a PS3 version that was saleable to a broader age range of gamers. The sales clearly show that as usual, people don't want games with bits missing.

  • TRUTH #19 2 years ago

    Most of the games in Japan's top 10 are actually mostly average games (not inc NMH).

  • alcides #20 2 years ago

    Based on the very few japanese games I could be bothered to play on the PS3 (Metal Gear Solid 4 and FF13 and that's it) I understand completely that Japan could be considered a dying industry subsisting on tired degenerating soulless sequels. At least old snake was like a metaphore...

    Based on what I played on the DS and Wii... Pretty much the same thing, only that Japan's output still feels fresh on these plateforms! (to me at least)

  • Mr_Bogus #21 2 years ago

    There's at least 15,000 Xbox 360 owners in Japan? Wow.
    Edited by 1 at 25/04/10 @ 10:54

  • knightmt #22 2 years ago

    I did not like NMH on the Wii, I may be the only one but I will try it on the PS3 to see if I like the controls.
    I think mickey2010 is a massive exageration but Drone's point is pretty applicable to most commercial entertainment not specifically the japanese.
    I would guess that most behemoths find it hard to adapt?