May 2010's NPD results revealed an overall 5 percent decline for the U.S. console retail game industry -- but a 4 percent gain in software helped offset a big 20 percent year-over-year hit to the hardware market. Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption was the big winner -- thanks largely to it and Super Mario Galaxy 2, software revenues came in at a total $466.3 million.
Now, the NPD has revealed the full Top 20 for the month in data released to Gamasutra. Outside of the previously-released Top 10, newcomers to the charts are revealed in Capcom's Lost Planet 2 on Xbox 360 in 11th place, as well as Sony's PS3-exclusive ModNation Racers down at 18th place.
Some chart mainstays held in the overall Top 20 but took major plummets: it's revealed that Pokemon HeartGold fell from fourth to 13th position, and God of War III tumbled from fifth to 14th.
In addition, Nintendo's mainstay Wii Sports Resort fell all the way from sixth position to 20th -- Nintendo started bundling the game, along with the Wii MotionPlus and the original Wii Sports with Wii hardware in May.
The full top 20, courtesy of the NPD Group, is as follows:
1. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego/Take-Two, Xbox 360)
2. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego/Take-Two, PS3)
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii)
4. UFC 2010: Undisputed (Yuke's/THQ, Xbox 360)
5. UFC 2010: Undisputed (Yuke's/THQ, PS3)
6. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii)
7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
8. Alan Wake (Remedy/Microsoft, Xbox 360)
9. Pokemon SoulSilver Version (Game Freak/Nintendo, NDS)
10. Skate 3 (EA Canada/Electronic Arts, Xbox 360)
11. Lost Planet 2 (Capcom, Xbox 360)
12. New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, DS)
13. Pokemon Heartgold (Nintendo, DS)
14. God of War III (Sony Santa Monica, PS3)
15. Just Dance (Ubisoft, Wii)
16. Mario Kart, with wheel (Nintendo, Wii)
17. Super Street Fighter IV (Capcom, PS3)
18. ModNation Racers (United Front/Sony, PS3)
19. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward/Activision, Xbox 360)
20. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii)
Further down the chart, Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV bucks the trend of multiplatform titles tending to chart higher with their Xbox 360 versions. Apocryphal gamer sentiment online often suggests the experience of play, often highly dependent on precise arcade-style combinations, is ideal with a joystick peripheral -- and preferable on PlayStation 3 than on its rival. A month after launch, the PS3 version of SSIV hangs onto the charts, the Xbox 360 version has fallen off -- a similar pattern to the launch of Street Fighter IV.
United Front's ModNation Racers is a spiritual successor to Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, continuing Sony's "play, create, share" user-generated content initiatives. Although it launched near the end of the month, on May 25th, it barely manages to top the monster Modern Warfare 2, still a chart mainstay half a year after launch.
[UPDATE: Noted that Wii Sports Resort's chart decline is likely due it being bundled with new Wii hardware in the U.S. starting in May.]
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@ Homer: In general, 2D Mario sells FAR SUPERIOR to 3D Mario. It won't be long before NSMBWii is outselling SMG2 - maybe as early as June or July NPD.
Also, it is a bit disappointing that SMG2 didn't explode out of the gates on release, it's such a good game... Ken has a point about 2D-styled Mario games, but I'm hoping SMG2 will stick around the charts for a while.