>>54722419It has a lot to do with timing. DP were some of the most hyped games of all time and hit right when the DS was an absolute sensation in Japan in a way it wasn't even in the US.
Conversely, Gen VII hit at a time when there were a lot of competing handheld/mobile franchises at the height of their popularity, but SM's multiplayer features were absolute garbage. You couldn't succeed in Japan at that time without robust coop and online, and SM had no coop features and the online was laughable and broken. This is why SwSh and SV leaned heavily into coop and raids.
