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Posted Wed, 11 Jun 2008 - By Darren Calvert

WiiWare gamers can't get enough of Defend Your Castle!

WiiWare gamers can't get enough of Defend Your Castle!

It is always interesting to find out what the most downloaded games are on the WiiWare service. Reviews can only guide people so far, it seems that sometimes what people actually end up buying is a bit random, or a first party Nintendo game of course!

We did a report on this last week so this week we have data to show how games have moved in a 7 day period. This list only applies for the USA region however, if you live somewhere else in the world, to check for yourself why not log on to your Wii Shop channel and view “Popular Games” and post them below?

Here is the list for 11th June:

1 (1) - Dr Mario Online Rx
2 (2) - Defend your Castle
3 (N) - My Pokémon Ranch
4 (3) - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
5 (4) - TV Show King
6 (6) - Family Table Tennis
7 (5) - LostWinds
8 (11) - Toki Tori
9 (7) - Pop
10 (12) - Protöthea
11 (8) - V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
12 (9) - Star Soldier R
13 (10) - Critter Round-Up

N refers to new title

There are no surprises that Dr Mario held its position, and indeed Pokemon Ranch appearing in third place so soon after it got released. The Virtual Console top 20 is dominated by first party Nintendo titles so why would WiiWare be any different?

It is great to see Defend Your Castle hold its own for another week. It just shows that even a more basic game can succeed at the right price point, for 500 points it is hard to argue with this entertaining game.

It is also good to see Toki Tori rise three places since last week, the word is obviously getting out there in Internet land. Poor old Critter Round-Up is last this week, oh what a shame!

What are your thoughts on this week’s “most popular” games?

Posted in Charts.

Have your say about this story

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1. AlexSays United States 11 Jun 2008, 20:29 GMT

My Pokemon Ranch, TV Show King, and Table Tennis in the top 6?
Toki Tori, Pop, and Lost Winds (highest scored games on this site) are 7th, 8th, and 9th?
oh god. :o

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2. Roboto Mexico 11 Jun 2008, 20:35 GMT

pokemon ranch??
well i think all the kids hae downloaded
my favs are in the 1 & 2 :D

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3. Roboto Mexico 11 Jun 2008, 20:37 GMT

sorry i forgot mm where i can see the EU and japan top 10 lists?

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4. Corbie United States 11 Jun 2008, 20:54 GMT

I'm still surprised Star Soldier R is ranked so low. But I always remember that Axelay didn't sell very well back in the Super NES days either and look how fantastic it was. Shooters have always been a very unappreciated genre. :(

5. poggydude United States 11 Jun 2008, 21:03 GMT

lost winds placing makes me sad

so worth the download

it is very easy and they could have done more but its better than tv show king at least

6. Chipmunk777 United States 11 Jun 2008, 21:12 GMT

Lostwinds... 7? Toki Tori... 8?? My Pokemon Ranch... 3!?!?!

WTH.

7. ttplayer92 United States 11 Jun 2008, 21:15 GMT

IDK why everyone is so shocked with this list. Pokemon is popular and games dont have to have good quality to sell. Oh and x.SuperMario.x dont forget the bet. ;)

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8. XCWarrior United States 11 Jun 2008, 21:21 GMT

I just wish they would get Gyrostarr and the Tetris game out already. Every week I wait and every week I'm disappointed.

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9. Peznaze United States 11 Jun 2008, 21:30 GMT

Pokemon Ranch was #7 after 12 hours, #4 after 36 hours, and now, 48 or so hours after release, it's #3. It's a meteoric rise to #1.

Family Table Tennis is actually doing better than most, holding its position. (It was #4 at one point in the week.) Casual and 500 points = Epic Win, apparently.

I'm baffled that Protothea is beating Star Soldier R. Star Soldier's cheaper and has online high scores. But Protothea, you can play for more than 5 minutes... So it wins?

The price points are interesting too. 500 point games make the top 5 (er, 6.. :P ), while 700 and 800 point games make the bottom 5.

Nice chart and analysis!

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10. Dazza United Kingdom 11 Jun 2008, 22:09 GMT

I suspect Protöthea is only beating Star Soldier R because it was released much more recently. I am sure by next week we'll see it edging back towards the bottom. Let's wait and see! :D

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11. AlexSays United States 11 Jun 2008, 22:15 GMT

@ Corbie-
the VC is filled with SHMUPs.
so i suspect most people interested would have bought one from the VC long before WiiWare rolled around.

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12. Objection_Blaster United States 11 Jun 2008, 23:14 GMT

I am sad that Pokemon Rnach is so high, even though i expected it. I am happt yo see Toki Tori move up and Critter round Up move down though! ;)

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13. Wiireview123 Canada 11 Jun 2008, 23:25 GMT

#12 star soldier R
#8 Toki Tori
#3 My Pokémon Ranch!?!?!?!?!

14. Jupiter Adept Canada 12 Jun 2008, 00:30 GMT

More people need Toki Tori. Oh well, that's their problem.

15. dbolt Mexico 12 Jun 2008, 02:37 GMT

It disgusts me that Pokemon Ranch got to #3 so fast.

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16. WarioFan63 United States 12 Jun 2008, 04:30 GMT

Im not really bothered by Pokemon Ranch being so high. Pokemon is still popular and regardless of whether or not the players Diamond and Pearl boxes were filled, a few fanatic fans can still have fun with it.

17. vrakelmirakel Norway 12 Jun 2008, 10:45 GMT

The european list for comparison:

1) LostWinds
2) Final Fantasy CC: My life as king
3) Tv Show King
4) Dr. Mario & Germ Buster
5) Toki Tori
6) Star Soldier R
7) Actionloop Twist

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18. Dazza United Kingdom 12 Jun 2008, 12:28 GMT

Aww c'mon Toki Tori, you can surely beat TV Show King?!!

Is this just the Norwegian list, or does everyone in Europe see this?

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19. DEMON212 United Kingdom 12 Jun 2008, 14:31 GMT

Poor Toki Tori. This is why NA are getting crapped on, because devs are sick of them not buying quality games and only going for the hyped up stuff.

Bring on 7 WW games tonight, WE'LL BUY THEM! :D

20. vrakelmirakel Norway 12 Jun 2008, 16:41 GMT

I changed my settings to UK and got a slightly different list with Tv Show king in 2nd place.

So I would guess there is one NoE list and one for the countries supplied by Bergsala. (Norway, Sweden, FInland, Denmark and Greece)
Bergsala also has it's own region on Mii Contest Channel, looks like it's treated like a separate region.

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21. DEMON212 United Kingdom 12 Jun 2008, 16:50 GMT

Odd, I wonder why. Because it surely can't be a language thing. Because then pretty much every country in Europe would require its own list.

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22. Vortex99 United Kingdom 12 Jun 2008, 17:24 GMT

Totally agree with Dr Mario's position, but Pop and Lostwinds should have been higher...

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23. konkerdoodle United States 12 Jun 2008, 23:10 GMT

That's about right, and I have no problems with the list. There's bound to be a few games misplaced from our perspective, and these offenses aren't so bad. Of course My Pokemon Ranch is number 3! I'm surprised it's not 2 or 1. But that'll come with time.

24. dbolt Mexico 13 Jun 2008, 00:47 GMT

Pokemon Ranch is now #2 according to the Wii Shop. Will it beat Dr. Mario next week? who knows.

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25. Objection_Blaster United States 13 Jun 2008, 00:57 GMT

@dbolt
Damn...who keeps buying it? Curse you, "???"!! Now Nintendo will make "Pokemon Ranch 2: Now With Some Interaction!" instead of another Zelda or Mario.

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26. Serpent United States 13 Jun 2008, 01:24 GMT

3 (N) - My Pokémon Ranch
Not Surprised with this one...its a pokemon game nuff said, they always sell alot.

5 (4) - TV Show King
Die!!!!!!!

8 (11) - Toki Tori
:(

7 (5) - LostWinds
:(

27. quakster Finland 13 Jun 2008, 05:04 GMT

I think the ranking gets lower if not enough people buy the game in a while.

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28. StarDust United States 13 Jun 2008, 05:36 GMT

I was a big Game Boy Color fanatic when I was in high school, but whenever I went to Walmart to look for games, it royally ticked me off that OVER HALF OF THE GAMES ON THE SHELF WERE POKEMON GAMES!!!

I hated Pokemon. Walmart was the only shop I had access to at the time. I probably missed out on a whole lot of great games [like Toki Tori, for instance] due to the limited shelf space being crowded with junk. Blame this as the reason the US got the bloated N64 Pokemon Puzzle League instead of the awesome SNES Tetris Attack. Pokemon is attractive to little kids and pre-teens, and that is why it sells so big. Kid's perspective: "If all my friends at junior high have pokemon trainers, then by gosh, I'm gonna beg my mommy and daddy to go to the store and buy it." My perspective: "Most of my current peers at work and in school are playing stuff like GTA4 and Halo3, but I do not like those games, and furthermore, Sony and Microsoft are evil, greedy empires, so I will get my fix with with wholesome Nintendo goodness."

Well, Ninty is evil too, but Mario is where my heart lies, so I've got to stick with it.

But please, no Pokemon. Urg, just when I thought it was over, Pokemon is going one decade strong and making a comeback! Pass the trashcan plz, if Pokemon Ranch beats DrMario for the #1 slot, I just may need to hurl!

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29. konkerdoodle United States 14 Jun 2008, 20:54 GMT

@ StarDust

Not evil. It's just business.

30. CastlevaniaTest United States 15 Jun 2008, 17:43 GMT

Here's the list, as of June 15:

1. My Pokemon Ranch (improved by 2)
2. Dr. Mario Online RX (fallen 1)
3. Defend Your Castle (fallen 1)
4. FFCC: My Life as a King (same)
5. TV Show King (same)
6. LostWinds (improved by 1)
7. Family Table Tennis (fallen 1)
8. Toki Tori (same)
9. Protothea (improved by 1)
10. Pop (fallen 1)
11. V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack (same)
12. Critter Round-Up (improved by 1)
13. Star Soldier R (fallen 1)

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