Japan Would Like to See Mario in 3D

A new survey conducted among Internet users in Japan has shown that the Super Mario franchise is the one that the respondents would like to see make the jump to three dimensional gaming, with the Super Mario series itself taking the first spot in preferences while Mario Kart took second.

The survey was conducted by the Goo Research firm and translated by What Japan Thinks and targeted 1,072 Internet users in Japan, with the group being dominated by females, with 68 percent of the sample.

Interestingly the only Japanese role playing series to make the list was the well known Final Fantasy, with Resident Evil, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Dynasty Warriors, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter and Dragon Ball making up the rest of the top ten.

The first console to make the jump to three dimensional gaming is the PlayStation 3 from Sony, which will get a firmware update enabling the new capabilities.

Nintendo is also moving into the emerging market but not with its Wii home console.

The company is preparing to launch the 3DS handheld in late February 2011, allowing gamers to experience three dimensional games without the use of any specialized glasses, with an initial line up which includes Zelda, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid games.

Here's the complete wish chart as determined by Japanese gamers:

1. Super Mario
2. Mario Kart
3. Final Fantasy
4. Resident Evil
5. The Legend of Zelda
6. Super Smash Bros.
7. Dynasty Warriors
8. Monster Hunter
9. Street Fighter
10. Dragon Ball
11. Gran Turismo
12. Winning Eleven
13. Tekken
14. Metal Gear Solid
15. Tomb Raider
16. Ace Combat
17. Silent Hill
18. Virtua Fighter
19. Love Plus
20. Ridge Racer
21. F-Zero
22. The House of the Dead
23. StarFox
24. Siren
25. Medal of Honor
26. Call of Duty
27. Virtual-On
28. Need for Speed
29. Panzer Dragoon
30. Space Harrier