After a burst of activity in the last few weeks, following the release of several high profile game and the ceramic white PSP handheld, the Japanese game retail market has receded somewhat, to 38 percent below the weekly average.
The release of five new PSP titles has helped the format’s hardware sales, however, although only one of them has breached the top ten, with 2D beat ‘em-up Guilty Gear XX #Reload garnering 16,350 sales. The highest new entry was also a beat ‘em-up, albeit a more expansive 3D one, in the form of Namco’s Urban Reign, with 27,954 unit sales.
Rather than new releases, it is the performance of the latest re-release of Super Mario Bros. which is of the greatest note, as it rises to the top of the charts for the second time this year, after it was originally released as part of the Famicom Mini (aka NES Classics) series. Already the best-selling video game in history, the title’s success in Japan this year puts it on course to add another 1 million units to its historical total of 40 million units sold worldwide.
In hardware sales, the Nintendo DS has dominated as usual, with a market share of 30.33 percent and 43,362 units sold. Combined Game Boy Advance sales accounted for 28.83 percent of the market (30,065 Game Boy Micros, 10,751 Game Boy Advance SP and 397 original Game Boy Advance), followed by a 22.17 percent share and 31,702 units sold for the PSP. The PS2 earned a 17.23 percent market share, while the GameCube accounted for just 1.37 percent and the Xbox 0.08 percent.
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LW
Title
Publisher
Format
Release Date
1
3
Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. (20th Anniversary version)
Nintendo
GBA
2005.09.13
2
1
Tamagotchi no PuchiPuchi Omisecchi
Bandai
DS
2005.09.15
3
NE
Urban Reign
Namco
PS2
2005.09.29
4
2
Shin Sangoku Musou 4 Moushouden
Koei
PS2
2005.09.08
5
5
DS Training For Adults: Work Your Brain
Nintendo
DS
2005.05.19
6
9
Gentle Brain Exercises
Nintendo
DS
2005.06.30
7
NE
Guilty Gear XX #Reload
Sega
PSP
2005.09.29
8
8
Super Robot Taisen J
Banpresto
GBA
2005.09.15
9
11
Dr. Mario/Panel de Pon
Nintendo
GBA
2005.09.13
10
4
World Soccer Winning Eleven 9: Ubiquitous Edition
Konami
PSP
2005.09.15
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