With 2009 done, Famitsu [thanks 1UP] has polled 94 Japanese retailers to evaluate their thoughts on the past year. 70 percent thought that they did as good or better than years previous despite the fact that the Japanese industry declined nearly 7%, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii was named the hottest title of the year by 74 retailers, with Final Fantasy XIII coming in a close second at 69 votes and Phantasy Star Portable 2 placing a distant third at 38 votes.
Retailers were impressed by Nintendo's ability to sell its hardware to all demographics. "Those commercials showing friends and family having fun together were more effective than I predicted," said a Bic Camera PR representative.
"I thought software that appeals to a wide rage of ages, like Mario, Tales of Graces, and PokePark Wii, were the best at moving hardware this year," claimed another retailer.
Retailers also thought Sony fared well too, with the PS3 at 36 votes for the hottest console (one behind the Wii) and the PSP placing third with five votes. "After FFXIII was released, I saw sales of the PS3 triple," noted one retailer in the Aichi prefecture. Famitsu had previously said that the PS3 slim launch was the biggest news in the Japanese games industry last year.
