During this year’s Tokyo Game Show, this one Japanese dude I met kept going on and on about the game he was looking forward to most. That game was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. He was not alone.

For a foreign game, heck for a domestic game, Skyrim posted an impressive entry in the Japanese sales charts, debuting at number four and selling 75,865 copies. That’s the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version sold another 37,037 copies.

Coming in at third on the sales chart was Super Mario 3D Land at 89,743 copies, Mario Kart 7at 183,834 copies, and Monster Hunter 3G at 521,959 copies. Skyrim is in good company.

Role-playing games are traditionally popular in Japan. Its Japanese success is a bit of a no-brainer. The game is getting stellar reviews in Japanese publications, online and offline.

One thing that has helped the title in Japan could be that Skyrim allows players to switch between first-person and third-person views. Third-person games are more popular in Japan as, someone at Capcom once told me, Japanese gamers prefer to see the character. No wonder Bethesda’s Fallout games have a sizeable following.

Another thing that helped Skyrim in Japan is that it’s a great game.

http://kotaku.com/5868301/skyrim-japan-likes-you