Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire (Nintendo, GC) [437,352 / 2,812,148]
Nintendo's already shipped over three million copies combined, and there's almost no way they won't sell them all by next week. Scary.
Unlimited SaGa (Square, PS2) [190,614 / NEW]
Square's latest RPG is something of an "experiment," as anyone who's read the previews knows. And even Japanese gamers know what a Square "experiment" can be like: Unlimited SaGa only sold about half of its first shipment of 375,000 copies.
Mario Party 4 (Nintendo, GC) [132,468 / 551,670]
Jissen Pachisuro Hisshouhou: Majuuoh S (Sammy, PS2) [106,343 / NEW]
Sammy's combination of "play popular slot machines for free" and "really cheap PS2 title" usually spells six-figure sales for nearly every slot-sim they publish in Japan.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, GC) [84,869 / 372,215]
Speaking of games not selling their shipments, Nintendo's manufactured nearly 700,000 copies of the Japanese Wind Waker and sold just a little over half of them so far. If next week doesn't heat up, then it's doubtful they'll meet their Zelda sales projections for the year.
Ratchet & Clank (Sony, PS2) [83,900 / 194,483]
Once again, this figure includes copies sold via the PS2 pack-in offer. Insomniac has to be happy with how the game's doing so far.
World Soccer Winning Eleven 6: Final Evolution (Konami, PS2) [79,833 / 342,589]
An update of Konami's million-seller from last spring with better animation and a download service for updated stats. Once again, there's little stopping it in the sports genre right now.
Mega Man Battle Network 3 (Capcom, GBA) [73,564 / 225,317]
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Konami, PS2) [64,867 / NEW]
Yeah, it's already out on the PS2 in Japan. In fact, the Xbox version still has no Japanese release date, leading to speculation that Konami's leaving Microsoft's console in the dust forever as far as Asia is concerned.
Momotaro Densetsu 11 (Hudson, PS2) [57,260 / 176,607]
King of Colosseum Red (Spike, PS2) [50,448 / NEW]
If you think the U.S. has a lot of chintzy wrestling leagues fighting it out at 2 a.m. on public access TV, wait until you get a load of Japan's enormous wrestling industry. This one features 250 wrestlers from four different groups; the next volume (Blue) will have folks from two more leagues I've never heard of.
Taiko no Tatsujin (Namco, PS2) [43,485 / 245,195]
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (Nintendo, GBA) [42,856 / 430,934]
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 9: Ketteiban (Konami, PS2) [30,197 / NEW]
Every year, Konami releases two Power-Pro games in Japan: an "opening day" version in the spring and a "final" version in the winter with new stats and such. This is 2002's "final" game.
Mirumo de Pon (Konami, GBA) [29,985 / NEW]
A cutesy manga-based adventure for "the little ones".
Tales of Destiny 2 (Namco, PS2) [29,692 / 632,936]
Sonic Advance 2 (Sega, GBA) [28,974 / NEW]
Will THQ pick this one up? Or will they pass and let Sega of America deal with it themselves when their GBA deal expires later this year?
Panzer Dragoon Orta (Sega, Xbox) [28,171 / NEW]
Xbox users in Japan are kind of like their U.S. counterparts—whenever something cool and exclusive comes to the market, they buy nothing but that particular title in droves, ignoring most everything else. This 28,000 will likely be nearly all Sega sells in Japan.
GI Jockey 3 (Koei, PS2) [26,211 / NEW]
Yep, another horse-racing sim.
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (Nintendo, GBA) [24,515 / 322,103]
Shinobi (Sega, PS2) [21,240 / 133,829]
One Piece: Nanatsu-to no Daihihou (Banpresto, GBA) [21,147 / 82,036]
Resident Evil 0 (Capcom, GC) [19,127 / 287,037]
SD Gundam G-Generation Neo (Bandai, PS2) [18,851 / 457,234]
Gallop Racer 6: Revolution (Tecmo, PS2) [18,278 / 67,349]
Densetsu no Stafy (Nintendo, GBA) [17,875 / 268,949]
Clock Tower 3 (Capcom, PS2) [17,841 / 63,177]
Kamen Rider Ryuuki (Bandai, PS) [17,326 / 80,078]
One Piece: Treasure Battle (Bandai, GC) [17,141 / 164,105]
Dark Cloud 2 (Sony, PS2) [16,451 / 186,972]