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NPD: The top Best selling Jrpgs of all time (5th & 6th)

(these numbers were right during the 360 launch and includes all titles up till then, late 2005.)

Jrpgs are very popular on GAF, so I figured many would be interested in where Jrpgs stand in NPD. So the following list will be the top best selling Jrpgs on consoles. NOt really far from what I was expecting but some may find a surprise or to. All titles sold over 500k. As of late 2005.

So here are the best-selling Jrpgs on consoles via NPD:

  1. 2,457,962 PSX Final Fantasy VII (SquareSoft)
  2. 2,414,928 PS2 Kingdom Hearts (Square-Enix)
  3. 2,285,433 PS2 Final Fantasy X (Square-Enix)
  4. 1,913,888 PSX Final Fantasy VIII (SquareSoft)
  5. 1,405,354 PS2 Final Fantasy X-2 (Square-Enix)
  6. 1,347,964 PSX Final Fantasy IX (SquareSoft)
  7. 905,924 GCN Pokemon Colosseum (Nintendo)
  8. 823,959 PSX Legend of Dragoon (Sony)
  9. 667,847 PS2 Dark Cloud (Sony)
  10. 580,733 PSX Chrono Cross (SquareSoft)
  11. 502,860 N64 Paper Mario (Nintendo)
  12. 502,010 XENOSAGA Episode I (Namco)
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Happy to see Kingdom Hearts at top but very sad to see no Persona/SMT and Dragon Quest in the list.
 
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Alexios

Banned
Yikes, Legend of Dragoon? I can at least understand the others even if the lack of stuff like Suikoden or previous-gen games is so sad, I guess FFVII with fancy 3D/CG did kickstart the whole thing for the USA.
 
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NahaNago

Member
Cool, the only game I haven't played in that list is Pokemon Coliseum and I haven't beaten X-2 and paper mario.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Unfortunately very few Jprgs sold over 500k. Heck, that's even true today.
Is this only for outside of japan or world wide? Because I Imagine DQ series sells pretty well in japan.

I don't have much knowledge about NPDs.
 
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Is this only for outside of japan or world wide? Because I Imagine DQ series sells pretty well in japan.

I don't have much knowledge about NPDs.
NPD is America's sales.

Happy to see Kingdom Hearts at top but very sad to see no Persona/SMT and Dragon Quest in the list.
Well this list is sales as of 2005, so it's pre-Persona 3. While Persona 3 and 4 did good on PS2, they were still pretty niche couple hundred thousand sellers worldwide, it wasn't until Persona 4 Golden where the series really took off in sales and started selling millions worldwide, and Dragon Quest VIII actually hit 510,000 lifetime in the US after 2005. So it and Kingdom Hearts 2 would have bumped Paper Mario and Xenosaga when it comes to JRPG's released for consoles pre-360.

Edit: Just realized, this list doesn't seem to include stuff pre-PS1 and N64, as Final Fantasy 1 sold 1 million in the US.....
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
NPD is America's sales.


Well this list is sales as of 2005, so it's pre-Persona 3. While Persona 3 and 4 did good on PS2, they were still pretty niche couple hundred thousand sellers worldwide, it wasn't until Persona 4 Golden where the series really took off in sales and started selling millions worldwide, and Dragon Quest VIII actually hit 510,000 lifetime in the US after 2005. So it and Kingdom Hearts 2 would have bumped Paper Mario and Xenosaga when it comes to JRPG's released for consoles pre-360.
That make sense and Shin Megami Tensei series still not really popular in west. I'm hoping SMTV make the series little more popular here.

Edit: Then again, sometimes its better when series doesn't becomes crazy popular. I feel like this why FF suffering these days. The series has become too big and with each game the budget goes up and they have to try to appeal to wider audience.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Well American really have good taste, im happy that shitty Dragon Quest doesn't make it to this list
tenor.gif
 

underberg

Member
If we're considering ALL video games in the same timeframe, there are many more games to account for.

1. Pokémon Blue/Red: 9.85m
2. Pokémon Gold/Silver: 7.6m
3. Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire: 5.6m
4. Pokémon Yellow: 5.10m
5. Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen: 4.24m
6. Final Fantasy VII: 2.46m
7. Pokémon Emerald: 2.44m
8. Kingdom Hearts: 2.41m
9. Final Fantasy X: 2.29m
10. Final Fantasy VIII: 1.9m

Other notable games: Pokemon Crystal at 1.65m; Pokemon Trading Card Game at 1.51m; Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga at 1.46m.

Also, there are some missing games. Paper Mario on GC sold 1,23m units in US; Final Fantasy Tactics sold close to a million; and Star Ocean 3 sold 740k units.

Hence, the list is not reliable.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Another weird list without source I guess.

Any Pokemon game will enter in the TOP10 even so you didn’t see it here and the numbers for the others games didn’t seen accurate.

Why people are creating these threads without actual accurate data?
 

underberg

Member
Another weird list without source I guess.

Any Pokemon game will enter in the TOP10 even so you didn’t see it here and the numbers for the others games didn’t seen accurate.

Why people are creating these threads without actual accurate data?

I think they wanted to include only home console games.

Even considering that, the list is not accurate.

For example, Yu-gi-oh's PS1 entries sold over 1m each.
 

PSFan

Member
Well American really have good taste, im happy that shitty Dragon Quest doesn't make it to this list

That's because here in America, they buy shitty Final Fantasy games like sheep. I can't believe X-2 is up there when there are many, MANY better jrpgs.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
It breaks my heart that Xenogears, Suikoden, Vagrant Story, Grandia, Tales of Symphonia, Phantasy Star and a couple of hundred more quality jrpgs didn´t make it on the list.
 

Breakage

Member
Not surprised to see Square-Enix domination. I remember FFX doing crazy numbers during its first few days in Japan (I think it sold over a million over the first four days).
 

Silvawuff

Member
I feel like a few on the list only sold well because there weren't very many other options when they were released on their respective hardware. This is strictly conjecture on my part.
 
Topic " Best selling JRPG of all time "
Content " Only on consoles "

Pokemon is the biggest JRPG ever OP.

The OP is pretty clear what this thread is about and that these are NPD numbers.

I think they wanted to include only home console games.

Even considering that, the list is not accurate.

For example, Yu-gi-oh's PS1 entries sold over 1m each.

The list is accurate, and it's from NPD.

Paper Mario 653,839 only buy the end of the year of 2005 which is a bit later than this threads cut off point. That's why it's not on the list.

Star Ocean 3 sold 514,967 late at the end of 2005 so would also be after the cut off date.

Numbers are correct.

Only one Yu Gi Oh game sold 1 million+, and t's also the only one that appears on the entire NPD PSX chart list: Forbidden Memories. and is not an rpg, they are trading card games that play by the real life card game rules. How is that an rpg?

NPD numbers are valid.
 

danielberg

Neophyte
Dragon quest always gets robbed also console jrpgs may be the only genre in which i agree with the best sold game also being the best lol
 
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woigemok

Banned
Thread title needs to be changed

" The top best selling JRPG excluding the biggest JRPG of all times POKEMON "
 

kevin_trinh

Member
Weren't you the guy who called the series outdated after only trying one game?
Yep, and it the newest game in the series. When the newest game is outdated, i can imagine the rest.

That's because here in America, they buy shitty Final Fantasy games like sheep. I can't believe X-2 is up there when there are many, MANY better jrpgs.
Coz FF shit still better than Dragon Quest? It's so simple. X-2 story is meh but the gameplay was top notch, and its predecessor is X, so i can understand why it sell.
 
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Hulk_Smash

Banned
The OP is pretty clear what this thread is about and that these are NPD numbers.



The list is accurate, and it's from NPD.

Paper Mario 653,839 only buy the end of the year of 2005 which is a bit later than this threads cut off point. That's why it's not on the list.

Star Ocean 3 sold 514,967 late at the end of 2005 so would also be after the cut off date.

Numbers are correct.

Only one Yu Gi Oh game sold 1 million+, and t's also the only one that appears on the entire NPD PSX chart list: Forbidden Memories. and is not an rpg, they are trading card games that play by the real life card game rules. How is that an rpg?

NPD numbers are valid.

That means VGcgartz are full of shit. Numbers are way lower than I expected.
 

ExpandKong

Banned
It breaks my heart that Xenogears

Xenogears is thematically interesting but technically and narratively broken as hell, we all know this. I enjoyed the game but never understood the fanatical love it gets, considering. At least Xenosaga made the cut.
 

underberg

Member
The list is accurate, and it's from NPD.

Paper Mario 653,839 only buy the end of the year of 2005 which is a bit later than this threads cut off point. That's why it's not on the list.

Star Ocean 3 sold 514,967 late at the end of 2005 so would also be after the cut off date.

Numbers are correct.

Only one Yu Gi Oh game sold 1 million+, and t's also the only one that appears on the entire NPD PSX chart list: Forbidden Memories. and is not an rpg, they are trading card games that play by the real life card game rules. How is that an rpg?

NPD numbers are valid.

Numbers are not accurate.

Paper Mario released on GameCube in October 2004. If the game was at 653,839 by the end of 2005, it couldn't have sold below 502,010 by November 2005 (Xbox 360 launch). That would mean the game sold 150,000+ units in December 2005 which is not true. The game sold around 190,000 during its launch in October 2004. Can you see why your numbers are off?

Also, on PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics sold 750,000+ units. Another game I forgot is Parasite Eve, which also sold above 700,000 units.

You're right about Yu-Gi-Oh: there's only one game on PS1 which was released in the US and that sold above 1m. One PS2 game also sold above 1m. Usually, card games are clustered within the jRPG genre.

Also, both Pokémon Stadium games are missing and they definitely sold more than 1m.

The list is inaccurate and/or very old.
 

mango drank

Member
Wait a minute. Chrono Cross sold more than Chrono Trigger? And more than Xenosaga? How the hell did they not make a Chrono 3?

Xenosaga got two sequels ffs. (Yeah, I know, different dev. Although now I'm wondering what a Monolith-developed Chrono 3 would've been like.)
 

PSFan

Member
Yep, and it the newest game in the series. When the newest game is outdated, i can imagine the rest.


Coz FF shit still better than Dragon Quest? It's so simple. X-2 story is meh but the gameplay was top notch, and its predecessor is X, so i can understand why it sell.

Well, I think DQ beats FF every time, even the SNES entries which are my most favorite FFs and the last good games in the series. The series went to shit with FF VII and just continued going down with each new entry in the series since. The only decent game since VI has been FF IX.

Thread title needs to be changed

" The top best selling JRPG excluding the biggest JRPG of all times POKEMON "

Pokemon isn't really a JRPG though, it's more the monster collecting/raising genre.
 

woigemok

Banned
Pokemon isn't really a JRPG though, it's more the monster collecting/raising genre.
Xenoblade 2, SMT series, DQM series and etc aren't JRPG going by your logic since they were collecting the same shit as Pokemon.

Please expand your JRPG dictionary

Monster collecting Genre with RPG element from Japan = not jrpg
A tactical game with RPG elements like FE and FFTT from Japan = not jrpg
An Action game with RPG elements like Dragon Dogma and Soul Series from Japan = not jrpg

Dragon Quest(inspired by Wizardry series) copycat like Final Fantasy = JRPG :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

kevin_trinh

Member
Well, I think DQ beats FF every time, even the SNES entries which are my most favorite FFs and the last good games in the series. The series went to shit with FF VII and just continued going down with each new entry in the series since. The only decent game since VI has been FF IX.



Pokemon isn't really a JRPG though, it's more the monster collecting/raising genre.
Not liking gameplay = "outdated"?

tumblr_mt8s1xQ1xW1rd0hfdo1_400.gif
Whatever u guys say does not change the fact that DQ is outdated and a shitty series. That series should stop from 2008.

Ff>dq by all means, thats another fact
 
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PSFan

Member
Xenoblade 2, SMT series, DQM series and etc aren't JRPG going by your logic since they were collecting the same shit as Pokemon.

Please expand your JRPG dictionary

Monster collecting Genre with RPG element from Japan = not jrpg
A tactical game with RPG elements like FE and FFTT from Japan = not jrpg
An Action game with RPG elements like Dragon Dogma and Soul Series from Japan = not jrpg

Dragon Quest(inspired by Wizardry series) copycat like Final Fantasy = JRPG :messenger_grinning_sweat:

Tactical=srpg
Action=arpg

I've been playing jrpgs since probably before you were born, and they are mainly what I play. Perhaps you need to expand YOUR dictionary. And using that emoji tells me you are probably a millenial or similar age.
 

woigemok

Banned
Tactical=srpg
Action=arpg

I've been playing jrpgs since probably before you were born, and they are mainly what I play. Perhaps you need to expand YOUR dictionary. And using that emoji tells me you are probably a millenial or similar age.
Oh, wait FF XV is no longer JRPG :messenger_face_screaming:. Tales series :messenger_face_screaming:, Shining force series :messenger_face_screaming: Mana series :messenger_face_screaming: Xenoblade series:messenger_face_screaming: Ogre tactics series :messenger_face_screaming:

:messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

Mihos

Gold Member
Tactical=srpg
Action=arpg

I've been playing jrpgs since probably before you were born, and they are mainly what I play. Perhaps you need to expand YOUR dictionary. And using that emoji tells me you are probably a millenial or similar age.

So basically you only count turn based....
 
Numbers are not accurate.

Paper Mario released on GameCube in October 2004. If the game was at 653,839 by the end of 2005, it couldn't have sold below 502,010 by November 2005 (Xbox 360 launch). That would mean the game sold 150,000+ units in December 2005 which is not true. The game sold around 190,000 during its launch in October 2004. Can you see why your numbers are off?

Also, on PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics sold 750,000+ units. Another game I forgot is Parasite Eve, which also sold above 700,000 units.

You're right about Yu-Gi-Oh: there's only one game on PS1 which was released in the US and that sold above 1m. One PS2 game also sold above 1m. Usually, card games are clustered within the jRPG genre.

Also, both Pokémon Stadium games are missing and they definitely sold more than 1m.

The list is inaccurate and/or very old.

FInal Fantasy is an Srpgs.

The PS2 Yugioh game has nothing to do with your PS1 claim and no it didn't sell over 1 million until after 2005.

Pokemon Stadium is not an rpg.

Paper Marios' NPD numbers are accurate. You're trying to make up a time frame. The report was as of the 360 launch, which means that it was "BEFORE" the console actually came out (late october). Also not sure where you're getting those other numbers from.

Parasite even did not sell over 500k at this time.

Nothing is inaccurate.
 
Wait a minute. Chrono Cross sold more than Chrono Trigger? And more than Xenosaga? How the hell did they not make a Chrono 3?

Xenosaga got two sequels ffs. (Yeah, I know, different dev. Although now I'm wondering what a Monolith-developed Chrono 3 would've been like.)

Are you talking about PSX Chrono Trigger? Than yes.
 

underberg

Member
FInal Fantasy is an Srpgs.

The PS2 Yugioh game has nothing to do with your PS1 claim and no it didn't sell over 1 million until after 2005.

Pokemon Stadium is not an rpg.

Paper Marios' NPD numbers are accurate. You're trying to make up a time frame. The report was as of the 360 launch, which means that it was "BEFORE" the console actually came out (late october). Also not sure where you're getting those other numbers from.

Parasite even did not sell over 500k at this time.

Nothing is inaccurate.

Your data are inaccurate and very limited.

The PS2 Yu-Gi-Oh game was released in 2001 in the US. It had sold 950.000 units by July 2006. There's no way it'd sold below 500.000 units by October 2005 and sold almost half a million between October 2005 and July 2006 so late in its lifecycle.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a jRPG; tRPG are a sub-category of RPG as a whole and Final Fantasy is a Japanese brand. Its exclusion is completely arbitrary.

Pokémon Stadium is a jRPG unless you want to arbitrary exclude it as well.

Paper Mario numbers are not accurate. Basically you're saying that the game sold 150.000+ units in October and November 2005 when the game launched in October 2004 and sold 190.000 in its launch month. It doesn't make any sense. The game sold much of its LTD in the first months and it's literally impossible it sold 150.000+ so late in its lifecycle.

Look, these numbers are very old and they've been around since forever; see, from 2004 on this very forum: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/gigantic-north-american-videogame-sales-figures.7640/ you can check PS1 FF numbers: they're the same. And the same source list Parasite Eve at almost 750.000.

Also, Square shipped 1.9m units of Parasite Eve around the world, that is Japan + North America. The company shipped around 1m in Japan so the rest must be somewhere else... North America you say? Discount unsold copies and Canada and you get a realistic estimate at 750.000 units (which is what NPD had, indeed).

Please, stop spreading incomplete and inaccurate information based on old data they've been around since forever.
 
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