Nobody in Japan Wants GTA 6 More Than Rhythm Heaven

207 votes. That's where Grand Theft Auto 6, the most hyped game in the Western hemisphere, lands on Famitsu's latest most wanted chart. Eleventh place. Rhythm Heaven Groove, a Switch game about tapping along to music, more than doubles it at 472 votes and fourth place, according to the latest chart published by Famitsu and reported by Nintendo Everything. Votes were collected between April 29 and May 12.

I love this chart every time it drops because it's a perfect snapshot of how differently Japan's core gaming audience thinks about hype. Pokemon Winds and Waves dominates at 784 votes, followed by Splatoon Raiders at 551 and Persona 4 Revival at 530. All three are either Nintendo-platform exclusives or Japanese-developed RPGs. GTA 6 doesn't just lose to Rhythm Heaven; it loses to Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo (435 votes), Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (272), Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 (270), and even Powerful Pro Baseball 2026-2027 (223). A baseball sim. Rockstar's biggest release in over a decade can't beat baseball.

What the Full Top 10 Looks Like

The chart is overwhelmingly Nintendo and Japanese-developed. Eight of the top ten titles are either Switch or Switch 2 games, and the only PS5 entry in the top five is Persona 4 Revival at #3. Onimusha: Way of the Sword sits just above GTA 6 at #10 with 212 votes. Below GTA 6, you'll find Professor Layton, Kyoto Xanadu, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, and Genshin Impact, all of which are either JRPG franchises or puzzle adventures. The entire top 30 contains exactly one Western-developed game.

None of this should be read as GTA 6 being unpopular in Japan. Famitsu's reader polls skew heavily toward the magazine's core audience, which has always leaned Nintendo and JRPG. But even accounting for that, the gap is striking. Rhythm Heaven Groove has nearly 130% more votes than GTA 6. A game about flicking wrists to a beat is generating more raw anticipation among Famitsu readers than the sequel to one of the best-selling entertainment products ever made.

Rhythm Heaven Groove is currently listed for a July 2 release on Switch. GTA 6 is a PS5 title with no confirmed Japanese release window beyond the global launch. Pokemon Winds and Waves, the runaway leader, is slated for 2027. The chart also confirms that Switch 2 titles are already pulling serious vote numbers, with Splatoon Raiders, Fire Emblem, FF7 Rebirth, and Professor Layton all placing in the top 12 on the new platform before it even has a massive installed base.