2020’s Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban has sold over 4 million in Japan

It’s been making tracks

Konami has announced that their 2020 game, Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban, has passed 4 million units sold. What’s important about that? Well, a few things.

Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban has never been released outside of Japan. That’s not entirely surprising, as Momotaro Dentetsu is a long-running series that started back on the Famicom back in 1988. Back then, it was produced by Hudson Soft, but after Hudson went bust, all its assets were bought out by Konami in 2012. However, in all that time, Momotaro Dentetsu has never been localized. Not one game. It has always stayed in Japan.

Furthermore, 4 million sales in Japan is a crazy number. To put this into perspective, Famitsu reported last month that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a lifetime sales number of 2,208,705. It’s not quite the numbers of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (5,211,237) or Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (5,328,989) and not even close to touching Animal Crossing New Horizons (7,477,507). Still, for a non-first-party Switch exclusive, it’s a rather insane number.

So, does this mean we’ll see it over here? Failing that, will the West get the upcoming Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru!? It’s not impossible, but I wouldn’t exactly count on it. The Momotaro Dentetsu games are steeped in Japanese culture. They’re in the style of board games, and are largely about traveling Japan’s legendary rail system to buy up as much of it as possible. It’s sort of like Monopoly but for public transportation.

The point is, I found this very fascinating, and if you’re reading this paragraph, chances are you’ve fallen victim to my eclectic enthusiasm. You’re welcome or I’m sorry. Take your pick.