Big in Japan May 3-9: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, MGS: Peace Walker

May 14, 2010 5:07PM PDT

Square Enix RPG spin-off and Kojima Productions' latest retain lock on top two spots; Super Street Fighter IV loses ground to evergreen Nintendo hits; PSP Go dead last...again.

In Japan, the beginning of May was the annual Golden Week holiday, a time during which new game releases are nonexistent. As a result, Media Create's list of the top 10 best-selling titles for the week of May 3-9 looks an awful lot like the one from the week prior.

Snake's latest gets the silver medal for the second week in a row.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 once again topped the list, selling 252,862 copies. As in the week prior, the DS role-playing game's closest competition--Konami's latest PSP stealth action game, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker--trailed significantly, selling 140,591 copies.

The order changed a bit after the top two, as Super Street Fighter IV (the PS3 and Xbox 360 editions of which placed third and fifth the previous week, respectively) slipped significantly. The Xbox 360 version fell all the way to 23 on the charts, while the PS3 version slipped down to seventh, overtaken by a quartet of Nintendo evergreen titles.

The Wii and DS maker dominated the third through sixth spots on the chart with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Tomodachi Collection, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Fit Plus, in that order. Nintendo upped its representation to 60 percent of the top 10 games with Pokemon Ranger at number eight and Wii Sports Resort at number nine.

Nintendo's strong performance continued on the hardware charts as well. All four of Nintendo's current hardware offerings (the Wii, DSi XL, DSI, and DS Lite) increased their sales week-over-week. Meanwhile, every competing system from Microsoft and Sony saw its sales decrease from the week before. Even so, the PSP claimed the top spot with 35,233 sold, beating out the Wii's sales of 21,399. Considerably less popular was the PSP Go, which once again came in dead last with just 1,461 units sold.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MAY 3-9, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 / Square Enix / DS / 252,862
2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker / Konami / PSP / 140,591
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 40,690
4. Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 33,342
5. Mario Kart Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 32,340
6. Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 23,314
7. Super Street Fighter IV / Capcom / PS3 / 20,084
8. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki / Nintendo / DS / 20,007
9. Wii Sports Resort / Nintendo / Wii / 15,902
10. Nier Replicant / Square Enix / PS3 / 15,858

Hardware:
PSP - 35,233
Wii - 31,399
DSi LL - 26,733
PS3 - 26,185
DSi - 15,739
Xbox 360 - 4,278
DS Lite - 3,921
PS2 - 1,491
PSP Go - 1,464

By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Follow Follow @BrendanSinclair

34 comments

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fps_d0minat0r

OMFG! fix the player! i was reading and my speakers were loud and all of a sudden the MGS sound plays (because video started playing automatically).........i got freaked out.......bloody hell. ill try using that sound as a youtube prank lol.

AnelZukic

a second strong week for DQM: Joker 2 :) and yeah for MGS Piece Walker :D I can't wait to get my hands on it :)

Hanzoadam

Metal gear Solid peace walker looks promising

LtReviews

I think all but one of these games are either sequels, or games that came out years ago. There definitely seems to be a lack of variety and innovation in the Japanese market.

razorfett147

This is probably the reason that alot of the bigger firms like Konami and Capcom have turned to smaller western developers to produce titles for the rest of the world while their domestic teams continue producing games that the Japanese market will accept.

razorfett147

The Japanese seem so cut off from the rest of the gaming world in terms of the titles they gravitate towards. I can see why Japanese developers are having a hard time innovating and bringing fresh, modern titles to market: their home market seems largely repelled to most of the concepts that western developers are having big successes with everywhere else in the world.

SILKA_II

Mario Kart Wii was released a long time ago, you might not of known it was released because Nintendo made the mistake of bundling it with the Wheel of Death.

sircyrus

Nintendo sure does well in Japan. Even older titles are still selling strong.

eldin4444

japanese sure know about games

monson21502

ms needs the 360 slim and natal in japan. i think tey might be a big hit over there

diabloakaSAHA

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

lazycomplife

They buy better games than the US.

FoppyOmega

It's called the DSi LL in Japan

supershyguy65

DSi LL Gamespot fail.

essam24

PSP best cell system of gaming cuz: ETC( I cant write the cuzs, cuz it will take me all the day ^o^)

kavadias1981

What the hell is Mariokart Wii doing up there!? I don't even remember when that game was released.

gamebreakerz__

We need a PSP2!

NoLifeGamin

Can't wait for some PEACE next month!

mariokart64fan

declined=less sales , did not mean position

the_real_VIP

@ mariokart64fan: Declined again? It was #1 the last 2 weeks.

mariokart64fan

sony got ran over by a wii you can say theres no such thing as nintendo but me and grandpa we belive sony been drink to much eggnog forgot their meds stagger out into the snow ,,,, lol ,

mariokart64fan

wow wii picked up steam ds did to while ps3 declined again

zzamaro

It's funny some people wants a PSP2...yes, it may have good sales but that just probably at launch and if the PSP is already expensive, does people really think a PSP2 will be cheaper? of course not...i don't know what could it have but it may be even more expensive than the PSP GO anyway, if Sony announces the PSP2 at this E3, time will tell if it will success...I can't really say if it will be a good a move or not...that's up to Sony...

monson21502

the psp go needs to go.... bring on psp2 already!!!!

Phantom_2

well the psp go is advertised as a higher end system, so i guess its understandable. im good with my psp 1000 :D

stashsouza

Will peacewalker be the same day on the PSN and stores?

soul_reaver_vii

I can't wait to get my hands on Peace Walker! good thing June 8th is a tuesday so it can on on PSN the same day! (yes I do have a psp go. sue me.)

g1rldraco7

Weird how the sales go up and down most of the time

kris9031998

LOL both psp's are at the top and bottom

JPH85

PS3 sales are a bit down, 360 sales are a bit up (I mean come on, passing the DS Lite in Japan is a big deal), I don't understand why they don't stop the production of PSP Go if it is always at the end. Even the PSP that is not selling as much in USA as it is in Japan, the PSPs sold in USA are the PSP-3000, not the Go. NPD results of April were 65,000 PSP sold. I bet 60,000 of them were the 3000.

Da4biddenOne

Nope im good.

pete_merlin

Nintendo have been outselling everyone for quite a while. The PSP Go really is the biggest flop I have seen... ;)

wiidsduelpack

DSiLL and DSi actually sold higher than the PSP DS Lite sold higher than the PS2 and PSP GO Wii sold higher than PS3 / This just broke the myth that Sony would out sell Nintendo

smm217

I wish I can get my hands on DQM: Joker 2 already.

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