If there’s any doubt left in your mind that Japan has turned into a nation of handheld gaming addicts, then the latest batch of software sales figures should dispel that in an instant.
According to the latest set of data compiled by Media Create for the 21st to the 27th of May, only two console games were present in the top ten (namely Wii Sports and Wii Play), with the remaining eight being the DS and PSP games. Here’s the list in full:
(NE) 1. NDS - Kekkaishi: Karasumori Ayakashi Kidan (Bandai Namco)
(NE) 2. PSP - Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 (Sony)
(NE) 3. NDS - Lucky Star Moé Drill: Travel (Kadokawa Shoten)
(5) 4. Wii - Wii Sports (Nintendo)
(4) 5. PSP - Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War (Square Enix)
(7) 6. NDS - Brain Training 2 (Nintendo)
(9) 7. NDS - New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
(NE) 8. NDS - Kurikin: Nano Island Story (Nintendo)
(14) 9. NDS - More English Training (Nintendo)
(8) 10. Wii - Wii Play (Nintendo)
Despite widespread apathy towards the Xbox 360, the best selling new console game was Forza 2, which was able to claim the 11th place spot on its first week of release (it came out in Japan on the 24th of May). Super Paper Mario came in at in a respectable 15th place, although ominously for Sony, there were precisely zero PS3 games in the top 20.
Keep an eye out for the hardware sales data soon.
