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Posted Wed, 09 Jul 2008 - By Darren Calvert

Quick! Somebody save Star Soldier R!!

Quick! Somebody save Star Soldier R!!

It’s Wednesday again, time to look at what the most popular games are in the Wii Shop. To check for yourself simply log on to your Wii Shop channel, go into the WiiWare section and then view “Popular Games”.

We are checking the list for the American region, so if you live elsewhere your list will probably be a lot different. Feel free to post your findings below as always.

Here is the list for 9th July:

1 (1) - My Pokémon Ranch
2 (2) - Dr Mario Online Rx
3 (3) - Defend your Castle
4 (4) - Gyrostarr
5 (5) - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
6 (7) - TV Show King
7 (9) - LostWinds
8 (6) - Cocoto Fishing Master
9 (10) - Family Table Tennis
10 (8) - Block Breaker Deluxe
11 (15) - Magnetica Twist
12 (11) - V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
13 (12) - Pop
14 (13) - Toki Tori
15 (N) - SPOGS Racing
16 (14) - Protöthea
17 (16) - Critter Round-Up
18 (17) - Star Soldier R

N denotes a new entry

No real surprises in the ‘most popular’ list this week. The top spots remain quite stable, even Gyrostarr holds its place now that the hype has died down a little. It was good to see LostWinds have a little boost after all this time, it shows the word is out that is it one of the better WiiWare titles.

Strangely Magnetica Twist still isn’t making the impact you might have thought, especially for a Nintendo published game, maybe everyone has decided that it is a load of old balls! SPOGS Racing makes a sneaky entry into the chart, the revealing thing will be how far it manages to get this time next week, with virtually all of the reviews on the web in agreement that it is a turd.

Here is a last minute plea. Save Star Soldier R! It would be really sad to see it be the first to fall off the charts, especially against the likes of Critter Round-Up and Protöthea :-(

As ever, have your say on this week’s findings below.

Posted in Charts.

Have your say about this story

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1. worrybomb United States 10 Jul 2008, 07:43 GMT

Nice to see Gyrostarr still at number 4 and LostWinds up 2 spots from the previous week.

Sad to see Toki Tori slipping one position down and also sad for the people actually buying SPOGS.

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2. Mickeymac United States 10 Jul 2008, 07:50 GMT

What does everybody have against Star Soldier R and Toki Tori! And why does everybody buy that Pokemon Ranch and Blackjack thing!

This world is so unfair!!!

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3. Link79 United States 10 Jul 2008, 08:04 GMT

Oh come on! Spogs Racing actually made the list? That is positively the worst Wii ware game to ever exist. I'm sorry but whoever is playing those games needs to pull their heads out of their asses. this is rediculous. Why isn't hardly anyone playing the good games?

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4. Mr. Cheez United States 10 Jul 2008, 08:07 GMT

OMG IS STAR SOLDIER R REALLY THAT FRICKIN' UNDESIRABLE? I mean, it's behind Critter Roundup and SPOGS for god's sake! speaking of SPOGS, I Can't believe people are actually throwing money away on it. Hopefully it won't outsell Toki Tori. Edit: which it's dangerously close to doing.

ah, it's 3 am, I gotta go to bed. I'll get back to this tomorrow. I'm too tired to think of something good to say anyway.

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5. Virus United States 10 Jul 2008, 08:35 GMT

I wonder why Star Soldier R consistantly ranks in last place. I could've sworn more people would be drawn to it than games like pOp. Could an extra dollar make all the difference? The question is also when that darn Pokemon game is going to fall a few pegs.

And I totally get you Mr. Cheez; I don't even know how I'm up this late on this site...

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6. That Guy from Faxanadu Sweden 10 Jul 2008, 09:13 GMT

I guess 2-5 minutes games aren´t popular in the west. Perhaps we don´t have the same score-challenge tradition as Japan. I doubt I´ll buy Star Soldier R, but that can be said about most Wii Ware titles.

(Saving space for Mega Man 9 and Shantea)

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7. Corbie United States 10 Jul 2008, 10:26 GMT

It's absolutely embarrassing that Star Soldier R is in last place. A good example of the state of gaming nowadays with My Pokemon Ranch at #1. Would someone please hurry up and invent a time machine so I can go back to the 16-bit era and stay. :P

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8. aceattorney United States 10 Jul 2008, 10:52 GMT

good to see such a seemingly terrible game near bottom of the chart when it's only been out for 3 days. ( Spogs Racing)

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9. BlackFira Canada 10 Jul 2008, 11:13 GMT

The top ten wiiware games i want to get are from wanted to not so most wanted as in likely get a game id actually get money worth.

-Megaman 9
-Toki Tori
-Lost Wind
-Star Solder R
-Spogs Racing
-Gyrostarr
-Defend My Castle
-Protothea
-My Pokemon Ranch

hmm i guess theres only nine games out of all the wiiware games i want but i have no need to get the ranch game as i stoped playing diamond for long now. i bet others will have a good laugh and be pleased that it is at the bottom of list lol

my first wiiware game i got is final fantasy my life as a king and my second one is Dr. Mario Rx

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10. Deep4t United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 11:30 GMT

Pokemon sells crap

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11. Terranigma United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 11:57 GMT

Games that are higher than they should be
1: SPOGS Racing
2: My Pokemon Ranch
3: Cocoto Fishing Master

Games that are lower than they should be
1: Star Soldier R
2: Toki Tori
3: Actionloop Twist

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12. Tony United States 10 Jul 2008, 13:54 GMT

I agree give Star Soldier a chance

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13. Objection_Blaster United States 10 Jul 2008, 14:02 GMT

Yay, LostWinds moved up! Damn straight!
Boo! SPOGS is ready to overtake Toki Tori! I knew not enough people were buying TT! (T.T)

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14. Kidpit United States 10 Jul 2008, 14:03 GMT

I think the reason why Star Soldier R is doing so poorly is that people would rather buy Star Soldier for the NES and/or Super Star Soldier on the TG-16 off the VC. They're cheeper (500 for NES and 600 for TG-16), they use less blocks, and have more then two levels.

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15. Terranigma United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 14:16 GMT

Spot on Kidpit. Now, bring on Vanishing Earth

16. Jupiter Adept Canada 10 Jul 2008, 14:27 GMT

Toki Tori keeps getting lower. :_

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17. Negative_Zero Canada 10 Jul 2008, 15:13 GMT

See alot of younger kids who see Pokémon Ranch want it on first sight, having no idea what you do and all that, so thats why ts so high is because of younger kids who freak over PKMN so much

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18. DEMON212 United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 15:40 GMT

*cries*

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19. WarioFan63 United States 10 Jul 2008, 16:05 GMT

How could SPOGS Racing NOT make the list? The list shows the Top 20 and there are only 18 WiiWare games right now, so even if it were in last it would still be there.

And is it so hard to believe that some people can ENJOY My Pokemon Ranch?

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20. tehub United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 16:05 GMT

Nice, LostWinds is moving up.

21. supermario2 United Kingdom 10 Jul 2008, 16:11 GMT

Shame that's exactly where pokémon ranch in Europe is first place come on they only buy because it has pokémon in it this world just makes no sense why r the rubbish ones at the top while all the brilliant ones r losing (e.g. LostWinds) there positions.

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22. SmaMan United States 10 Jul 2008, 16:52 GMT

My little brother is one of those younger kids who buy anything with Poke'mon taped on it. He even bought Pokemon Ranger. (Woo hoo, lets draw circles around Poke'mon! Yay!) Luckily I managed to convince him in time that this isn't worth it.

You know if it was called Poke'mon Star Soldier then it would be at the top.

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23. Wiireview123 Canada 10 Jul 2008, 17:37 GMT

[grabs shotgun]

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24. strade32 United States 10 Jul 2008, 18:04 GMT

[puts shotgun to head] lol. :D

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25. Mr. Cheez United States 10 Jul 2008, 18:16 GMT

@Smaman. I actually thought about getting Pokemon Ranger, despite it's stupid premise, since you can get that Manaphy pokemon that way. I'm trying to find it for cheap; $15 tops. :)

I'm kinda repeating what Kidpit said (cool name by the way), but I think people would rather get Soldier Blade than SSR, because they think SSR is basically a glorified version of SBs bonus modes. I fall into that camp unfortunately. SSRs just 200-300 points over my ideal price. It still shouldn't be wiiware's whipping boy though.

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26. Dokenzz Canada 10 Jul 2008, 19:04 GMT

I'm amazed that DYC has kept up with the oncoming list of wiiware titles

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27. Mr. Cheez United States 10 Jul 2008, 19:17 GMT

I think Dr. Mario Online Rx should be at #1. Best wiiware game imo. It was too, until those stupid pokemon appeared. I'm also surprised that DYC & Gyrostarr have still held their positions.

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28. Shiryu Portugal 10 Jul 2008, 20:05 GMT

I don't get it, Star Soldier R is my most played Wiiware game to date. Why all the hate/indiference to such a top class (2 level) shooter? Im still #1 in my country, too... I hope Hudson released a full fledged game out of it, I seriously love the game.

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29. Roboto Mexico 10 Jul 2008, 21:30 GMT

i allready have star soldier and te critter one
i dont play them anymore but i hate critter it sucks konami!

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30. SmaMan United States 10 Jul 2008, 21:32 GMT

You'd think that contest they were having would help it go up too.

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31. Peznaze United States 10 Jul 2008, 21:44 GMT

You have to understand - most WiiWare shoppers clearly only have the little blurb in the Wii Shop to go by when deciding. They don't know any better, and never see reviews. Thus you see SPOGS doing better than it should. And also, you see Star Soldier R, which tells you right on its info page that it's at most a 5-minute game, doing the worst of all. Maybe if they linked Nintendo Channel ratings to the Wii Shop things would change.

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32. AlexSays United States 10 Jul 2008, 21:44 GMT

List seems about right.
Sure, some games are better than others, but that doesn't mean people will enjoy them more.

SSR targets the SHMUP fans, which don't make up a large portion of the Wii's fanbase anyway.
And even some of those SHMUP fans are turned off by the 2 and 5 minute modes, turning them away from SSR and making them buy a VC game such as Soldier Blade.

Toki Tori is a point-and-click puzzle game. Most people are probably looking for a good multiplayer experience, and not the single player challenge Toki Tori presents. TT requires a lot of thinking, not many people wish to solve complicated puzzles during their free time.

As for MPR, some people enjoy it. Sure, it probably sells a lot because of the name, but I know a few people that get a kick out of interacting with their Pokemon.

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33. SRPirate United States 11 Jul 2008, 01:38 GMT

yeah spogs racing shouldnt even be in 15th, they should be in last, and toki tori should be way in front, its sad to see spogs right below toki tori :(

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34. MasterMario United States 11 Jul 2008, 01:47 GMT

I guess people these days don't like shooters anymore. Instead, they would buy shovelware that costs 200 wii points more. To all gamers in the U.S., buy Star Soldier R. You won't be disapointed.

35. Chipmunk777 United States 11 Jul 2008, 05:51 GMT

Star soldier :( I love that game.... I'm surprised sales didn't go up during their tournament thing... btw, how is spogs ahead of ssr within the first week of its release...? :(

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36. SRPirate United States 11 Jul 2008, 23:32 GMT

@chipmunk
yeah i know spogs racing sucks star soldier i played at my friends and is a great game, i need 300 points to get it, time for another point card...

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37. Aardvark Soup Netherlands 12 Jul 2008, 10:10 GMT

Conclusion:

People have no taste.

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