Board 8 > 50k Japanese gamers choose their favorite games

(+) Yeah! (+)

From TV Asahis National poll

• 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: Majoras Mask
• 79. Metal Gear Solid
• 78. Nobunagas 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. Kirbys 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

Thought it might be worth a pointless discussion

Link Always Wins

Cool list. I dont understand what Japan sees in DQ2 tough.

Ya go my Splatoon 2

Brawl and Smash 64 but no Melee is interesting as hell.

Underleveled posted...

Brawl and Smash 64 but no Melee is interesting as hell.

Are there any Gamecube games on there at all??

Animal Crossing was an N64 game there

Dead By Daylight that high is pretty crazy

Jakyl25 posted...

14. Pokemon Sword / Shield

Jakyl25 posted...

11. Pokemon Diamond / Pearl

Shit taste
Playing BDSP made me realize just how horrible DP are. And them being 88 spots higher than Platinum makes no sense either

Why does every time I play this shit game I always have a Starter/Luxray/Staraptor team

Hell yeah, they got the right Tales on there.

Some decent stuff on it, but also stuff I dont care for being quite high. Could be worse I guess

Nanis23 posted...

Shit taste
Playing BDSP made me realize just how horrible DP are. And them being 88 spots higher than Platinum makes no sense either

Why does every time I play this shit game I always have a Starter/Luxray/Staraptor team

I bet a lot less people played Platinum is probably why, if I had to hazard a guess.

But my 'Dragon Quest V is a world beater game' take has aged incredibly well!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

I bet a lot less people played Platinum is probably why, if I had to hazard a guess.

That and the third versions are just less memorable to people, since it's just the same game over again, even if improved/better. People are more likely to fondly remember the first time they played the games, which is why, when split up, Red and Blue do better than Yellow, Gold and Silver do better than Crystal, etc.

Notice Gold/Silver made it but not Crystal, Ruby/Sapphire but not Emerald, etc. Platinum's the only third version that did.

My three favorite games are all on the list, and one of them is at #2. Though, P5 charting separately and way ahead of P5R feels like some kind of oversight in the process here? Not that it'd likely make a big difference, but still weird.

Good list.

TWO Fire Emblem games and Japan's Holy Grail of Genealogy is topped by Edelgard? Uh-oh!

NBIceman posted...

Hell yeah, they got the right Tales on there.

That's very surprising but very welcome.

Wow at Undertale. I didn't realize that was such a global phenomenon

Also the recency bias seems pretty strong with three houses, sword/shield and acnh. Can't see those standing the test of time that favorably

_stingers_ posted...

Wow at Undertale. I didn't realize that was such a global phenomenon

https://youtu.be/FFIs6LsV0a4

_stingers_ posted...

Also the recency bias seems pretty strong with three houses, sword/shield and acnh. Can't see those standing the test of time that favorably

Three Houses definitely will and already has, and I say that as someone who isn't a huge fan of it

Sword/Shield is absolutely due to recency factor, though

Sword/Shield is probably not, actually. Their releases were only four months apart!

Sword/Shield did a lot of things very well and a lot of its flaws don't matter to a Japanese audience (source: I am basically this list in terms of taste <_<) as they do to an international one. Graphical quality and the dex were the two big things but actually once you kind of just play the game its really fun and enjoyable and the balancing over the years really shines through.

A lot of older games are crippled by really shitty design flaws. I love them all, of course, but yeah SW/SH is not the black sheep of the family people want it to be.

good list overall

missing Mario Odyssey though

They've got a lot of the best games in a series ranked first, so that's good.

Ouch at FFVIII being like 10th place on that list for FF games though

There's no Tactics at all, which is a real shame.

Glad to see XIV so high considering its an MMO.

Bloodborne's on there, nice. Good list overall.

DoomTheGyarados posted...

Sword/Shield is probably not, actually. Their releases were only four months apart!

Sword/Shield did a lot of things very well and a lot of its flaws don't matter to a Japanese audience (source: I am basically this list in terms of taste <_<) as they do to an international one. Graphical quality and the dex were the two big things but actually once you kind of just play the game its really fun and enjoyable and the balancing over the years really shines through.

A lot of older games are crippled by really shitty design flaws. I love them all, of course, but yeah SW/SH is not the black sheep of the family people want it to be.

Yeah this pretty much echoes my thoughts on it.

Chrono Trigger at 8 and yet people kept telling me Crono was too obscure to be in Smash

Paratroopa1 posted...

Chrono Trigger at 8 and yet people kept telling me Crono was too obscure to be in Smash

Whoever said that is incredibly stupid, CT's legacy to gaming as a whole is very secure.

Jakyl25 posted...

Are there any Gamecube games on there at all??

Animal Crossing was an N64 game there

i just realized Kirby Air Ride is maybe the one Gamecube game

and apparently the third best Kirby game

I have never heard anyone talk about Kirbys Return to Dreamland, either positive or negative. How did it even make this list, let alone top fifty and ahead of Super Star

The Wii was very popular and people preferred 4 player local multiplayer to Epic Yarns 2 player?

KamikazePotato posted...

Sword/Shield is absolutely due to recency factor, though

I mean, it only came out like four months after Three Houses. I think the vocal minority on the internet makes Sword/Shield seem less loved than it is, but a lot of the big flaws are things your common player doesn't actually care about. A majority of people don't transfer Pokemon and just play with what's in each game, for instance, and Sword/Shield is full of things that make it easy to get into for casuals. Raids to play with friends, the easiest entry into competitive battling pretty much ever, etc. Hell, a loooot of people just love running around the wild areas catching Pokemon. It was kinda a nearly perfect game to catch the hearts of the casual masses.

Sword and Shield is bad because the story completely gave up halfway through the game.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Sword and Shield is bad because the story completely give up halfway through the game.

Yeah, but pretty much nobody cares about the story in Pokemon games. Which is sad, and a product of the series literally never having even a decent story, but it is what it is.

I get my story fill out of Mystery Dungeon. They need to make more of those.

It almost did this time!

Pokemon Black had a decent story

By Pokemon standards it was practically Chekhov

Zylothewolf posted...

Cool list. I dont understand what Japan sees in DQ2 tough.

There's an entire demographic of Japanese 40/50-somethings ojisans that grew up playing DQ on the Famicom and quit gaming (or became very casual) after they started working in the 90s. Most of them are probably voting for DQ3 or 4 but there's enough of them that DQ2 can squeeze on the list.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

It almost did this time!

Actually, yeah, this did make it somewhat disappointing, since the story almost seemed interesting. I think I just got distracted by having fun with stuff like raids and later dynamax adventures that I forgot about it.

XIII_rocks posted...

Pokemon Black had a decent story

By Pokemon standards it was practically Chekhov

This is true, but even decent by Pokemon standards is still practically non-existent.

It's not just the stiry in a vacuum that gave up either, the game on the whole seemed to give up halfway through. Routes became more empty, time between gyms shorter, the actual content of said gyms becoming more and more empty until finally just not actually have a last gym period.

Its like they made the game in order and ran out of time. Which...I woul believe.

To be clear, my point isn't that Pokemon shouldn't have better stories, it's just that the average player doesn't care when they don't. They've become used to enjoying Pokemon for other reasons.

I love the Suikoden representation for sure. And Persona 3 just barely sneaking in.

Surprised Momotaro Dentetsu made it over Pawapuro.

Wonder how the list changes with mobile and arcade.
Pretty Derby would probably have placed top 50 with that.

If it was eligible then the lack of Kantai Collection is somewhat surprising that game used to have a huge population for a long time.

Although high I'm somewhat surprised Apex and Dead by Daylight aren't even higher as those were major hits with casuals.

Sad Mother 3 noises.

voltch posted...

If it was eligible then the lack of Kantai Collection is somewhat surprising that game used to have a huge population for a long time.

Huh, that's right. I don't think mobile games are represented at all.

I think the question was only for console/handheld games?

I mean mobile games are handheld but dedicated handhelds I mean

From what I understand, Japan didn't like Mother 3 much for whatever reason.

It does cut a huge number of potential entrants though that might be a good thing.

Ghost of Tsushima ranking well is a huge positive in my mind. Locals must have really enjoyed the western take.

It beats the Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku series in the process!

Raka_Putra posted...

I love the Suikoden representation for sure. And Persona 3 just barely sneaking in.

As much as I love the series, Its strange to me that Suikoden 1 would be some significant chunk of gamers favorite game of all time <_<

Is that stranger than the total lack of Sonic/Castlevania/Metroid/Rockman representation?

The only non-Japan-developed games on the list are:

66. Ghost of Tsushima
59. Dead by Daylight
30. Apex Legends
20. Minecraft
13. UNDERTALE

Congratulations to Toby Fox.

I find it really weird that Dr Mario made this list

I speedrun Dr Mario and it's not even in my top 100 games of all time, who the hell are these Dr Mario fanatics in Japan?

I heard Japan wasnt really into Metroid

Thus it kinda makes sense that they arent as into the metroidvania Castlevanias?

are there any metroidvanias on here at all?

With Suikoden 1, its odd to me because 2 is seemingly universally better in literally every aspect, plus its on the same console so thats not a barrier. Who played Suikoden 1, thought it was the greatest game ever, then never played Suikoden 2?