Yes, yes, it was a Nintendo DS game that managed to outsell everything else in Japan this week – Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional – but it was the continued strength of PSP hardware in Japan that seemed most impressive.
Square Enix’s latest Dragon Quest spin-off managed to reclaim the top spot this week against new competition like Patapon 3 and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Last week’s champ, the Pikachu teaches typing Nintendo DS game Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS had a short reign at #1, slipping to fifth in its second week.
The Media Create top was dominated by PSP software and represented solely on the console side by two PlayStation 3 games. Not the most exciting of software release weeks, unless you’re the maker of Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari.
Anyway! Here are the top 20 games in Japan for the week of April 25 to May 1.
01. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional (DS) – 73,729 / 410,895
02. Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari (PSP) – 60,435 / NEW
03. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (PS3) – 58,105 / NEW
04. Patapon 3 (PSP) – 49,738 / NEW
05. Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (DS) – 32,623 / 91,986
06. Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Taisen Z Hakai-hen (PSP) – 27,012 / 379,004
07. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2011 (PSP) – 22,584 / 121,778
08. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2011 (PS3) – 16,873 / 127,724
09. Starry * Sky: In Winter (PSP) – 15,389 / NEW
10. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP) – 10,721 / 4,457,225
11. Wii Party (Wii)
12. nintendogs + cats (3DS)
13. Pilotwings Resort (3DS)
14. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (Xbox 360)
15. Detective Conan: Aoki Houseki no Rinbukyoku (DS)
16. Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection (PSP)
17. Otome wa Oanesama ni Koi Shiteru Portable: 2-Jin no Elder (PSP)
18. GachiTora! Abarenbou Kyoushi in High School (PSP)
19. Hakuouki: Yuugi Roku DS (DS)
20. Pokemon Black / White (DS)
On the hardware front, this was a big week for the PlayStation Portable. Sony’s six year old platform more than doubled sales of its closest competitor, the Nintendo 3DS, last week. It might make one wonder if Sony should consider launching the PSP’s successor, the NGP, outside of Japan first to invigorate handheld sales elsewhere. Maybe not.
On the console side, the PlayStation 3 sold twice what the Wii did and the Wii sold more than twice what the Xbox 360 did. Here are the raw numbers.
- PSP – 76,974
- Nintendo 3DS – 28,413
- PlayStation 3 – 23,954
- Wii – 10,889
- Nintendo DSi LL – 9235
- Nintendo DSi – 7584
- Xbox 360 – 4082
- PlayStation 2 – 1582
- Nintendo DS Lite – 319
- PSP go – 251
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