After a few months of lowered sales, Nintendo has fully regained control of the Japanese sales charts with all but one of the top ten titles being for either the Wii or Nintendo DS, six of which are published by Nintendo themselves.
Returning to the top spot weeks after its initial release, Mario Party DS continues its strong run of success, with the franchise in general proving a perennial winter favorite in Japan. The DS version sold 180,000 units this week for a lifetime total in Japan alone of over 800,000.
Falling only one space to number two the much anticipated Wii Fit sold another 124,000 units, with its own lifetime total now well over the half million mark despite only three weeks on sale. As such it was able to hold off Sony’s Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which entered the charts at number three with 116,000 units sold.
The rest of the chart is composed of other recent family favorites, with the Japanese retail cycle always lagging around three weeks behind the West. With the busiest sales weeks still yet to come, Professor Layton, Super Mario Galaxy, Dragon Quest IV and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games are all beginning to show impressive longevity.
The re-entry of Wii Sports and Wii Play into the top ten also point towards especially high Wii hardware sales this week, with exact sales figures due tomorrow. In one of its best ever showings, the Wii has six titles in the top ten this week, including the new entry of what will be known in the West as Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Lost Time at number ten.
TW
LW
Title
Publisher
Format
Weekly Sales
1
2
Mario Party DS
Nintendo
DS
180,000
2
1
Wii Fit
Nintendo
Wii
124,000
3
NE
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Sony
PS3
116,000
4
5
Layton Kyouju to Akuma no Hako
Level-5
DS
74,000
5
9
Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo
Wii
74,000
6
6
Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi
Square Enix
DS
73,000
7
10
Mario & Sonic at Bejing Olympics
Nintendo
Wii
64,000
8
14
Wii Sports
Nintendo
Wii
55,000
9
15
Hajimete no Wii
Nintendo
Wii
55,000
10
NE
Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure No Meikyuu
It's good to see my favorite game innovator regaining their share of the market again. Nintendo is giving the consumers what they want plain and simple.
