[Gematsu] Over 50,000 Japanese voted for the top 100 games

And here it is:

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

Source

Dominated by JRPG's. Quick glance suggests they make up over 50% of the selections. Probably about 10 games made by non-Japanese devs. None of the iconic western franchises like Halo, Half-Life, Uncharted, GOW, GTA, or TES. Also, not a single FPS in the list I believe.

The one that surprises me is Dragon Quest V being number 2.

Looks like a decent list tbh. BOTW and FFVII two of my favourite games in the top 3. Never played Dragon Quest, might have to do that.

A lot of fantastic games in there.

Also, I was wrong. Apex Legends of all things is 30.

Not my list. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Fantastic list.

Only surprise/disappointment is that they don't have any of the Souls games in their to 100 and the Souls franchise created an entire sub-genre of games.

The Souls franchise is without question the single most influential (copied, rebranded, inspired from) game series in the last decade, but it's not given any credit from the country that birthed it.

They have Dark Souls III at 39 and Bloodborne at 67. I would personally invert them but they're here.

Nice list except Xenoblade 2 being so high, or on the list at all.

It seems that the TV Asahi list has a large number of current-generation games, but was surprised that Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the #1 game.

OK, I didn't see them.

Diddo

Otherwise, list apprived

What the heck is splatoon and why is it number 3??

A lot better than most lists I've seen but still bad.

Funny, 70% of that top is what I call garbage.

Splatoon 2 at the 5th place? Now you know they have shit taste🤢

Oh look, Westerners judging the tastes of Japanese gamers! Are the tastes of Westerners any better?

Really, it would be best to avoid judging the views and tastes of people who culture is different from ours.

@adsparky: Dragon Quest V is one of the greatest games of all time, so I'm glad to see that at number two.

@onesiphorus: That list is literal garbage though.

Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Dragon Quest, splatoon and other garbage.

And no, of course I am not suggesting shitty western Halo Gears Forza games but Japanese games that are actually good.

Where's Metal Gear Solid 4? Metal Gear Solid 2? Metal Gear Solid 5?

Where's Sekiro? Resident Evil 4?

It's like they didn't even include the best Japanese games. And not having The Last of Us 1 & 2 both in the top 10 is war crime, and they didn't even include either of them in the top 100.

Its the worst list I have ever seen and usually I can understand most lists/preferences.

You should try that yourself as nowhere did I judge others.

Good to see Super Mario Kart on there, I was just playing it the other day.

Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart Double dash are still fan favourites for when I have friends and relatives visiting.

@Mozelleple112: Japanese people don’t buy that trash.

@mesome713: Instead, they list 100 games of which 70 are trash and leave out some of the greatest games of the century.

@Mozelleple112: Like I said, Japan don’t buy that trash. They don’t Xbox and PS5.

And how would you know he's from the west to begin with? Plus, I didn't see him judging other people's taste other than the list only which is why we are here to judge, not the users here.

On topic. Not really my list but I do question as why gamers keep saying BOTW is JRPG when clearly the Legend of Zelda franchise isn't JRPG to begin with. It's always been action-adventure.

MGS and MGS3 are there. 4 is just a garbage game with hours-long cutscenes and a bad story.

You complain about these games but then have the nerve to suggest TLOU belong anywhere near a Top 10 lol.

Japanese people really don't care for these story-driven games with elementary school-tier writing.

For his part, Shigeru Miyamoto has always rejected the "RPG" label for Zelda... But then again, he doesn't really like RPGs in general.

Action-adventure applies to most games. It's loosely defined. So is RPG for that matter. Nobody really agrees on what defines an RPG. For my part, I don't consider most JRPG's RPG's to begin with.

I'm pretty sure that more people voted in for the TGA, still doesn't make it any better.

While I'm disappointed at the lack of Metal Gear Solid 2, the list did at least have MGS 1 & 3, so the series got a fair amount of representation.

Sekiro and Resident Evil 4 are way more popular outside of Japan than they are within Japan. They prefer more Monster-Hunter-like games over Souls-like games, and third-person shooters weren't that popular there until recent years (after Splatoon, PUBG and Apex came along).

In some ways, The Last of Us reminds me of Dragon Quest V, the number-two game on the list. While they're two different genres, they both involve similar plot elements, i.e. an adult who loses his family and goes on a journey with a child who holds the key to saving humanity. Except DQV did it better.

Nah. The Splatoon games are great. They don’t get the credit they deserve in the west.

Sigh…

It's not about the quality of the game it's because the public tends to put the newest on top; case in point pokemon diamond/pearl & sword/shield being near the top, but i guess the rereleases in mobile have helped Square's older titles.

Perhaps. But it's Dragon Quest, which is arguably the most famous video game franchise in Japan. I'm not at all surprised to see a Dragon Quest game in the top 5... The only thing that does surprise me is it's DQV instead of DQIII. Japan has way too much nostalgia for DQIII, because that was the moment RPGs went mainstream in Japan (like what Final Fantasy VII is to Western audiences). So I'm glad DQV is finally getting recognition as the best DQ game.

Interesting to note that with the exception of Super Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country), every single western game there is a recent one. Maybe Japan is opening up to more foreign games.

And I agree, Dragon Quest 3 was charming in a first run, but it was nowhere near as mechanically interesting as DQ5, and the story was nowhere near as strong.

I would argue Dragon Quest 9 was better in every area, except for the world map. Also why is DQ2 rated so highly? That one sucked.

5 > 11 > 8 > 4 > 9 > 3 > 6 > 7 > 1 > 2

Please localize this to the west Yoshi-P: 10

They seem very racist.

Never going on holiday there.

That's not the only old foreign game... there's also the age-old classic Tetris (from Russia with love). But yeah, there's a lot more foreign games this time compared to older Japanese polls (where you'd be lucky to find one or two foreign games). The Japanese market is gradually opening up to foreign games, that's for sure. It certainly helps that games like Undertale and Ghost of Tsushima managed to tap into Japanese nostalgia (for old-school JRPGs and Akira Kurosawa movies, respectively).

Dragon Quest 2 & 3 are both credited with popularizing RPGs in Japan (especially DQ3). So that's why they're both ranked so highly. They've both aged quite badly though (especially DQ2), but they still hold a lot of nostalgic value over in Japan. Whereas in the West, the early DQ games flopped in America and never released in Europe, so much of the Western DQ fanbase was introduced through later games (DQ4 onwards). So DQ 1-3 just look old and dated to Western fans.

Dragon Quest X may actually be better than FFXIV, seriously. Its narrative is the most forward thinking and ambitious in the series. The ports of DQ2 are actually good, while one of the weakest in the series, its still a great game for its time, and DQ Builders 2 is a great homage to it.

Its Dragon Quest XII that is the JRPG to closely watch. That game could change the genre.

I thought Dragon Quest X was never released outside of Japan. How did you play it? And what did you think about the other DQ games, like DQ 4-11?

Perhaps. DQ11 managed to sell more than 2 million in the West, which is unprecedented for the series. If done well, DQ12 could end up reaching Persona 5 or Nier Automata sales in the West.

There is a good narrative overview series on youtube for the main game and the expansions, and from what I heard from players, DQX is great. It ranks higher here than FFXIV with Japanese players.

And DQ12 is actually bringing narrative choice and consequence as a major focus point. That alone could bring not only sales in the West, but turn the genre away from linearity without choice in its mainstream. I am surprised that Final Fantasy still refuses to go this direction.

4-11 are all amazing, 9 needs a remake though.....and the DQ series as a whole, is stronger than the FF series.

Pretty much what I expected from topic title.

What's a good YouTube story walkthrough for DQX?

DQ has always had some limited choices. Like the choice of who to marry in DQ5, or the ending choice in DQ8. But good to know DQ12 is expanding on those choices.

Regarding DQ vs FF:

• 1986-1992 - DQ 1-5 > FF 1-5
• 1994-2002 - FF 6-10 > DQ 6-7
• 2004-2020 - DQ 8-11 > FF 12-15

...Not including MMO games.

@revengeance:

You sound a bit too harsh lol, but I get it to some extent. This list is very valuable as a reminder that Western standards are by no means universal. The world where everyone watches the same crappy superhero movies and eats McDonald's burgers that taste like poop is just dystopia. It is important to have countries like Japan that offer different values/cultures than the West.

Speaking of culture, it applies not only to Japan but to other countries in Asia as well. If you look at the box offices in China, South Korea, India, where they have their own film industries, almost all of them are domestic films, except for some Hollywood blockbusters. That's because they have independent cultures and don't have to heavily rely on Western's one.

Honestly?

Maybe. Most of the Japanese list was Japanese. Good games or not, it's a pretty narrow slice of what is out there.

You ask a "Westerner" what their favorite games are, you'll probably get a pretty large spectrum of American, Japanese, Asian, and European games. AAA and independent, large and small studios.

You would probably get a lot more variety in genres as well.

Also WTF is "Western" these days? Isn't that like half the world at this point? Most of Europe, North America...I imagine some would include Russia and those states in there as well since they're white folks and, let's be honest, when you say "Western" you pretty much mean "countries that are predominately white" lol.

Not even sure why I am debating at this point, it's all very subjective. Also if we are being honest here @ghost_of_phobos would have said that about most lists probably :P

wow the Japanese don't like Western games. Didn't know the divide was this big.

They are wrong to put Genealogy there but not Thracia 776. Thracia 776 is a better game than genealogy. Genealogy has a strong narrative, but the gameplay is a slog. Thracia 776 keeps the strong narrative of Genealogy but has much better gameplay.

@texasgoldrush:I wouldnt mind paying SE a bit extra in an optional subscription model, if it came bundled with DQ10 (and FF11). Like SOE used to do with their station pass.

And yeah, DQ9 could use a port or a remake. Much of its best content is now permanently gated, and its MP focus could benefit heavily from switch's online play. They have teased a remake or port of that game for a long time now.

@Maroxad: I am quite surprised that Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 were never released in the West, as I feel that Western gamers who played the Fire Emblem mobile spin-off Fire Emblem Heroes wonder who the characters from these games are. Perhaps these games can be remade like how Fire Emblem Gaiden was remade for the Nintendo 3DS as Fire Emblem Echos: Shadows of Valentia.

@onesiphorus: It depends if Nintendo are fine with a getting a high age rating on their games.

Among other things these games contain pretty explicit references to Child Abuse, Incest, Genocide, Sexual Assault.

Does not exactly go with the squeaky clean image Nintendo has been running with in the west.

Typical asian list... JRPGs everywhere. I mean, I like some JRPGs but c'mon, thats close minded to say the least...

I stopped reading when i saw XBC2, even for Japan standards the list is suspect