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Over 50,000 Japanese users vote for their favorite console games in TV Asahi poll – Top 100 announced

Indeed. What I learned looking at this list.
1. Japanese xenophobia is even reflected in their gaming taste.
2. Tradition above all. Only franchises that are at least 10 years old made the list (with some small exceptions).

xenophobia?!?....WTF???

LOL some people here, why can't you accept that people from different country have different taste....it's like me not liking Greek or Arabic food....
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
As a SEGA/NEC/TAITO/NEOGEO kid the western(bunch of crap I don't care about) and japanese(too much Nintendo) lists
I read on the net are so far from my tastes

Glad to see Final Fantasy V on the list that game is insanely underrated in the west simply because it did not release here back in the day

V is hell of a lot better than IV or VIII and those games get a lot love
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Not surprisingly it skews to JRPGs and Nintendo.

But some surprises.

Splatoon - didnt know Japanese gamers liked shooters
Dead by Daylight - Probably the most odd game on the list. Gritty, dark, vicious, gory. A very Western kind of game
SFII - Way down the list
Xevious - Wow. That's out of nowhere. The original arcade game was from the early 80s. Great game though. Right there with Time Pilot and Gyruss
GT4 - I thought it'd be GT3 or one of the PS1 games which got the series up and running. Surprised there's no Ridge Racer
 

Tschumi

Member
With BoTW being at number 1 I am suprised that the list does not include every modern Ubisoft release, since there essentially the same thing.
I did a big poll thing on another forum back in 2010 or something, got everyone to give their top 5 games OAT and added up all the results... Then had semi finals, etc... Portal got, like 2nd place behind Ocarina of Time in the final top 5... I guess I'm saying games of the moment tend to do inordinately well in GOAT polls..

.. not saying portal isn't great, but #2 oat? Nah. Anyway, I think that's why a bunch of switch titles are up there, and a Dragon Quest 5 is a mobile game too... switch is the next thing to ubiquitous here.
 
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wa600

Member
Did every person vote for a single game or how did this poll work?
While there are great games on this list, I am so confused about these placements. Like, Mario 3 is my personal favourite Mario.. but how does it end up on 10th place when Super Mario World almost didnt make it on the list and Mario 64 or Odyssey are nowhere to be seen? I really cant see the people going "Favourite game of all time? Thats got to be Dr. Mario!" At least not to a degree that it would beat Mario 64 / SMW.
 

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
90. Final Fantasy VIII
giphy.gif
 

ranmafan

Member
Did every person vote for a single game or how did this poll work?
While there are great games on this list, I am so confused about these placements. Like, Mario 3 is my personal favourite Mario.. but how does it end up on 10th place when Super Mario World almost didnt make it on the list and Mario 64 or Odyssey are nowhere to be seen? I really cant see the people going "Favourite game of all time? Thats got to be Dr. Mario!" At least not to a degree that it would beat Mario 64 / SMW.
Check out my post #84 which explains how the voting worked points wise.
 

UnNamed

Banned
These polls always tend to result in a list of famous titles than the actual preferences. Most of them are recent titles, and old games that revolutionize the genres are often forgotten.
 

ranmafan

Member
These polls always tend to result in a list of famous titles than the actual preferences. Most of them are recent titles, and old games that revolutionize the genres are often forgotten.

That’s true and it’s also not surprising since it’s asking about people’s favorite titles. And of course there’s going to be a lot of the same games on there and all. What I really liked about this list and the show was how they went and showed how many of the games voted on went by age group. This gave us a nice insight into who voted. But also allowed for many older games to show up in the list too deservingly. And well, many of these people who are voting, which are regular people, aren’t going to be going towards voting the classic revolutionary to gaming stuff. Not in a poll asking what their favorite games ever are.

Honestly I think it’s a fun and great list to discuss. It showcases gamers tastes in Japan from a wide spectrum. And it goes to show that now everyplace views the great games the same way as others do. Sure we could get a bunch of scholars and gaming historians and experts and what not to make a “greatest” games list or what not, but honestly I prefer this type. Brings in the expected and some surprises as we’ve seen many react to in this. No list will make everyone happy but at least this one feels a bit more genuine, at least to me.
 

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Man Japan is just gone...

Awful country.
I don't know how much you really know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it.
It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by voting in an inconsequential poll. If you screw up your poll votes in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance or even Hari-Kari.

What this means is the Japanese public, after hearing about this poll, is not going to want to purchase GOW for PS5, nor will they purchase any of Sony's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Sony has alienated an entire market with this poll.
Sony, publicly apologize and cancel this top 100 list or you can kiss your business goodbye.
 

SEGA_2012

Member
I am REALLY SALTY with this list. I can understand Sonic and Shenmue being out of the list but,
No Virtua Fighter ?
No Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) ?
This is the WORST LIST of all time.
 
I am REALLY SALTY with this list. I can understand Sonic and Shenmue being out of the list but,
No Virtua Fighter ?
No Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) ?
This is the WORST LIST of all time.

My only guess for Yakuza series is that fans split the vote too much across multiple games. It's not like the West where everyone seems to gravitate towards 0 being the best.
 

Honey Bunny

Member
Very Nintendo heavy. Sony's hardware sold well once upon a time in Japan, but the software on their platforms didn't leave as big a mark as it should have.

This is also a way better list to me than most western top 100 lists from broad surveys, but then I'm a weeaboo. I'm wondering if there are westaboos in Japan who think this list is casualized garbage and love our regular top 100 lists instead.
 
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...... care to explain?
You titled your thread with "their favourite games".
Poll is about their favourite console games.

I mean, it's Japan we're talking about, so I doubt it makes a real big difference, although the market there has changed quite a bit in the recent years, and the poll probably also excludes many PC-only visual novels (which are quite big in Japan).
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
You titled your thread with "their favourite games".
Poll is about their favourite console games.

I mean, it's Japan we're talking about, so I doubt it makes a real big difference, although the market there has changed quite a bit in the recent years, and the poll probably also excludes many PC-only visual novels (which are quite big in Japan).

The guy is acting like I'm trying to push some kind of agenda and intentionally mislead people.
What it says is not what the link says.
Some use subtle slickness.

Subtle slickness by not specifying these are console games? Bizarre take.
 
So I was watching my recording of the special last night again today and thought I would add some notes that I’ve noticed many sites haven’t posted about the list. Games were limited to video games on home and portable consoles, and so it looks like cell phone games were not allowed. Which would’ve been interesting had they had as I bet a few games would’ve made it on the list. Every game had at least 30000 units in sales. People voted their top five games and it was on a point system:

1st -10 points
2nd - 7 points
3rd - 5 points
4th - 3 points
5th - 1 point

Final rankings were done by point totals. For example the first title shown number 70 (71-100 were annouced a week before online) monster Hunter world had 660 points. Zelda had 74000 points.almost 20000 points more than second place dragon quest 5.

Some extra information. Undertale was very popular in the lowest age group, 6th place for boys, 5th for girls. Smash Bros for switch was number one for boys in the kids/teens and twenties group, and girls was not far behind. They also showed a clip of the Nintendo New York showing of the unveil with all the people going crazy to show how popular it is abroad. Dragon quest 3 was number one in the 40s age group with both men and women and almost number one for the 50s and 30s as well. Dq5 was number one in both men and women for the 50s group. Splatoon two was big with kids and twenty. Year olds. Was first place among the girls kids/teens group, and 3rd for girls in the twenties group. The program did not present info on how Zelda breath of the wild did in each group surprisingly. They did show an interesting number though. They interviewed the singer of the mazinger z theme song and showed he had played the game for 3155 hours!

Overall the show was fun to watch. Lots of interviews with game personalities. And even the “talent”’on the shows panel were surprisingly well versed in games.
This is an incredibly helpful post and should be added to/hyperlinked in the OP.

I like the concept of the event (polling a large number of people for favorite game rankings), even if I massively disagree with the end result. The list has a serious lack of variety in both genre and publisher categories.

If JRPGs and Nintendo games are the only things Japanese gamers seemingly prefer, so be it. It's just not what I personally prefer, so to me this end list is pretty bad.
 

Mozza

Member
Zelda breath of the wild at the top and it deserves every single vote, took the original games promise of a magical world full of adventure, then made it a reality, just begging to be explored.
 

Mozza

Member
Very Nintendo heavy. Sony's hardware sold well once upon a time in Japan, but the software on their platforms didn't leave as big a mark as it should have.

This is also a way better list to me than most western top 100 lists from broad surveys, but then I'm a weeaboo. I'm wondering if there are westaboos in Japan who think this list is casualized garbage and love our regular top 100 lists instead.
Sony had their chance, then took the more western route of development to get the biggest markets, you can't normally have it both ways.
 

GeorgPrime

Banned

100. Persona 3
99. Pokemon Platinum Version
98. Persona 4
97. Super Mario World
96. Romance of the Three Kingdoms
95. MOTHER
94. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
93. Persona 5 Royal
92. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
91. Street Fighter II
90. Final Fantasy VIII
89. Super Mario Galaxy 2
88. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
87. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
86. Monster Hunter
85. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
84. Final Fantasy XI
83. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
82. Legend of Mana
81. Dragon Quest Builders 2
80. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
79. Metal Gear Solid
78. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Zenkokuban
77. Mario Kart Wii
76. Kirby Air Ride
75. Animal Crossing: Wild World
74. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
73. Gran Turismo 4
72. Kirby Super Star
71. Dr. Mario
70. Monster Hunter: World
69. Super Mario RPG
68. Pokemon X / Y
67. Bloodborne
66. Ghost of Tsushima
65. Suikoden
64. Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver
63. Final Fantasy III
62. Xevious
61. Super Smash Bros.
60. Pokemon Black 2 / White 2
59. Dead by Daylight
58. Animal Crossing
57. Super Donkey Kong
56. Super Mario Galaxy
55. Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits / Fleshy Souls / Psychic Specters
54. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
53. Tales of the Abyss
52. The Legend of Zelda
51. Final Fantasy IV
50. Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire
49. Kingdom Hearts
48. NieR: Automata
47. Final Fantasy XIV
46. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line
45. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land
44. Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online
43. Xenoblade
42. Persona 5
41. Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa Heisei Reiwa mo Teiban!
40. Xenogears
39. Dark Souls III
38. Puyo Puyo
37. Final Fantasy IX
36. Pokemon Gold / Silver
35. Xenoblade 2
34. Final Fantasy V
33. Final Fantasy VI
32. Biohazard
31. Tactics Ogre
30. Apex Legends
29. Okami
28. MOTHER 2
27. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
26. Pokemon Black / White
25. Tetris
24. Pokemon Red / Green / Blue
23. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
22. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
21. Splatoon
20. Minecraft
19. Suikoden II
18. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
17. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
16. Kingdom Hearts II
15. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
14. Pokemon Sword / Shield
13. UNDERTALE
12. Super Mario Kart
11. Pokemon Diamond / Pearl
10. Super Mario Bros. 3
9. Final Fantasy X
8. Chrono Trigger
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
6. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
5. Splatoon 2
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. Final Fantasy VII
2. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild


Recency bias is wild but man there are some curveballs in here. Apex? Undertale? Kirby?


edit - added context thanks ranmafan ranmafan

Uff not the best Zelda on 1? Its not even in my top 5 lol
 

Woopah

Member
Not surprisingly it skews to JRPGs and Nintendo.

But some surprises.

Splatoon - didnt know Japanese gamers liked shooters
Dead by Daylight - Probably the most odd game on the list. Gritty, dark, vicious, gory. A very Western kind of game
SFII - Way down the list
Xevious - Wow. That's out of nowhere. The original arcade game was from the early 80s. Great game though. Right there with Time Pilot and Gyruss
GT4 - I thought it'd be GT3 or one of the PS1 games which got the series up and running. Surprised there's no Ridge Racer
Splatoon 3 is likely to sell more in Japan next year than any other game. Its a massive massive franchise.
Man Japan is just gone, awful list. Gaming in Japan went the way of anime and manga, just a bunch of kids shit because adults aren’t allowed to be anything other than working bees over there. Awful country.
People of all ages were polled, not just children.,
 

Pejo

Member
Other than disagreeing with the top 10, it's a good mix of new old and different genres. Better than CoD FIFA GTA that we'd get from the west.
 
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