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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land The Bellics hijacked the top spot on Media Create’s Japanese software sales chart for the week of October 27 to November 2, with Grand Theft Auto IV moving some 168,000 copies. The gross majority of those were of the PlayStation 3 variety, with the Xbox 360 SKU doing about a quarter of the business.
Wii Music, as you may already know, topped Japanese sales charts in its debut week. While the Media Create numbers skew a bit lower than what Famitsu had to say, Wii Music won the sales chart crown handily, pushing Pokémon Platinum back to the number two spot.
With little in the way of new releases from October 5th to the 12th in Japan, Macross Ace Frontier made securing the first place spot on the Media Create sales charts look easy. It might have something to do with the game being rather good and the continued popularity of the PSP.
Pokémon Platinum is back. It beat out one of Japan’s other favourite series, yet another Dynasty Warriors for the PlayStation 2, to return to the number one spot after a week off. There’s little else in the way of exciting new debuts, but we unfortunately see Disaster: Day of Crisis slip further down the charts. Poor Monolith Soft… they worked so hard!
It wasn’t the best first week for Nintendo and Monolith Soft’s Disaster: Day of Crisis in its native land. The Wii survival adventure landed at the number ten spot, trounce by new Super Robot Taisen and Kinnikuman entries on the PlayStation 2. Also beating out Disaster were new PS3 titles Aquanaut’s Holiday and Cross Edge, the multi-publisher fan service-filled RPG that pits Prinnies against Darkstalkers‘ most be-fanged characters. Or something!
While Mistwalker’s Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360 didn’t tear up the sales charts and reverse Microsoft’s fortunes in Japan, it did have a more than respectable 80,000 unit opening week. Blue Dragon Plus for the Nintendo DS didn’t fare quite as well, with a limp showing of just 21,000 units sold through. Granted Blue Dragon for the 360 bowed in December, giving it the holiday sales boost, but we doubt Mistwalker and AQ Interactive are popping the Cristal.
It’s Nintendo whose likely celebrating this week, as Rhythm Tengoku Gold continues its sales chart dominance, with Wii Fit creeping further up the Media Create sales charts. Only two titles appear in the top ten that aren’t on Nintendo hardware: Afrika and J-League Winning Eleven 2008 Club Championship.
01. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 55,000 / 668,000 02. Wii Fit (Wii) – 32,000 / 2,609,000 03. Blue Dragon Plus (DS) – 21,000 / NEW 04. Afrika (PS3) – 19,000 / 57,000 05. J-League Winning Eleven 2008 Club Championship (PS2) – 18,000 / 136,000 06. Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken (DS) – 17,000 / 222,000 07. Dragon Quest V (DS) – 15,000 / 1,164,000 08. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (DS) – 15,000 / 326,000 09. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 14,000 / 1,748,000 10. Inazuma Eleven (DS) – 14,000 / 85,000
Well, Afrika certainly outperformed the Silicon Knights-developed import; the PlayStation 3 safari game nabbed the number two spot, behind another solid week by Rhythm Tengoku Gold. Too Human debuted at #17, higher than the week’s other new Xbox 360 entry, Clannad.
In other news, the latest Fire Emblem for the DS rebounded after an off-week, with Square-Enix’s Sigma Harmonics showing no signs of recovery. Oh, and some people bought Battlefield: Bad Company.
01. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 76,000 / 612,000 02. Afrika (PS3) – 38,000 / NEW 03. J-League Winning Eleven 2008 Club Championship (PS2) – 38,000 / 117,000 04. Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper (PSP) – 34,000 / NEW 05. Wii Fit (Wii) – 31,000 / 2,578,000 06. Inazuma Eleven (DS) – 29,000 / 71,000 07. Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3) – 26,000 / NEW 08. Dragon Quest V (DS) – 23,000 / 1,148,000 09. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) – 23,000 / 618,000 10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 23,000 / 1,734,000
The Japanese love Winning Eleven brand soccer. Specifically, they love J-League Winning Eleven 2008 this week, as the PlayStation 2 game nabs the top spot on the Media Create software sales charts.
Less impressive were new debuts from Level 5 (Inazuma Eleven) and Square Enix (Sigma Harmonics). The pathetic first week sales for the Nintendo DS RPG led by Chrono Trigger vets Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroki Chiba will likely have Square Enix execs pondering “Why should we bother with new IP again?”
The company’s Dragon Quest V remake, by comparison, sits comfortably above its new sibling in its sixth week on the chart.
01. J-League Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2) – 79,000 / NEW 02. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 57,000 / 536,000 03. Inazuma Eleven (DS) – 41,000 / NEW 04. Dragon Quest V (DS) – 32,000 / 1,125,000 05. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) – 31,000 / 595,000 06. Wii Fit (Wii) – 30,000 / 2,546,000 07. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Yumenoukihashi (DS) – 26,000 / NEW 08. Sigma Harmonics (DS) – 23,000 / NEW 09. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 19,000 / 1,711,000 10. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (DS) – 16,000 / 296,000
Nintendo has snagged the top spot for another week, with Rhythm Tengoku Gold — Rhythm Heaven in my neck of the woods — beating out a host of back catalog releases, including Sega’s unsurprisingly popular Phantasy Star Portable. It debuted at #2, dropped to #3, then leapfrogged to #1. That’s Nintendo software for you. Older titles creep higher up the charts in this slow week, as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G threatens to return to the top ten.
Not much in the way of new Japanese software releases for the week of August 11 to 17. Hit the snooze button and save your excitement for next week.
01. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 137,000 / 480,000 02. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) – 74,000 / 564,000 03. Dragon Quest V (DS) – 74,000 / 1,092,000 04. Wii Fit (Wii) – 47,000 / 2,516,000 05. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 36,000 / 1,692,000 06. Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken (DS) – 35,000 / 180,000 07. Band Brothers DX (DS) – 24,000 / 280,000 08. Meccha! Taiko Drum Master DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (DS) – 20,000 / 282,000 09. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 15 (PS2) – 19,000 / 161,000 10. Wario Land Shake It! (Wii) – 18,000 / 76,000
Sure, Namco Bandai’s latest Tales RPG had to settle for a fourth place finish, but it faced strong competition. Phantasy Star Portable, with its Monster Hunter Portable-like appeal, still holds down the number one spot, with the newest Fire Emblem and Rhythm Tengoku Gold placing and showing, respectively, with well over one hundred thousand units sold. Tales of Vesperia‘s 100K-plus debut week is certainly going to move some Xbox 360s in Japan, as gamers there were lining up en masse to secure the 360 exclusive RPG.
Not much in the way of new, notable entries, but it would appear that Metal Gear Solid 4 won’t be returning to the top 30 any time soon. Maybe when that “Best Price” version hits.
01. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) – 148,000 / 490,000 02. Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken (DS) – 145,000 / NEW 03. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 130,000 / 343,000 04. Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360) – 108,000 / NEW 05. Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu No Hanayome (DS) – 73,000 / 1,019,000 06. Sangokushi Taisen Ten (DS) – 33,000 / NEW 07. Summon Night 2 (DS) – 30,000 / NEW 08. Wii Fit (Wii) – 27,000 / 2,470,000 09. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 23,000 / 1,656,000 10. Soulcalibur IV (PS3) – 23,000 / 97,000
