Big in Japan Apr. 27-May 3: Persona pumps up PSP

Although it has gained increasing notoriety and acclaim from Western audiences in recent years, the Persona series is the very embodiment of "Big in Japan." The PSP remake of the original Persona role-playing game drove that point home when it debuted at the top of the Media Create Japanese sales charts for the week of April 27 to May 3, leading all comers with 79,200 copies sold.

Persona wasn't the only new release to make the charts that week, given that the top four slots were all taken up by just-launched games. Namco Bandai's Nintendo DS RPG Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu was a close second with 74,300, trailed by Nintendo's make-your-own-WarioWare-game WarioWare Myself (56,200), and Konami's MLB-licensed baseball game Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 for the PlayStation 2 (43,000). Other new releases included Namco Bandai's ToraDora Portable for the PSP (38,400), and a Wii version of Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 also managed to squeak into the top 10, rounding out the list with 16,600 in sales.

A few older games also clung to the top of the sales charts for the week. The latest installment in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Sora no Tankentai managed to make fifth place with 43,000 sold, followed by Monster Hunter G for the Wii in sixth (40,300) and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in eighth (26,200). The last catalog release to make the charts was Nintendo's Mario & Luigi RPG 3, which placed ninth with 22,000 sold.

On the hardware front, the PSP once again led all comers with 49,600 sold, but it barely outpaced Nintendo's DSi handheld, which moved 49,100 units for the week. As in previous weeks, Nintendo actually topped Sony's portable hardware sales when the DSi and DS Lite are both taken into account.

Of the home consoles, Sony's PlayStation 3 maintained a similarly narrow edge on the Wii, selling 23,600 systems to the Nintendo product's 21,500. Despite a handful of new releases placing in the charts in recent weeks, Microsoft's Xbox 360 remained locked in the current-generation cellar, selling only 7,300 systems for the week.

Week of April 27-May 3, 2009
Software:
1) Persona (PSP) - 79,200
2) Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (DS) - 74,300
3) WarioWare Myself (DS) - 56,200
4) Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 (PS2) - 43,000
5) Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon (DS) - 43,000
6) Monster Hunter G (Wii) - 40,300
7) ToraDora Portable! (PSP) - 38,400
8) Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP) - 26,200
9) Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (DS) - 22,000
10) Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 (WII) - 16,600

Hardware:
PSP - 49,600
DSi - 49,100
PS3 - 23,600
Wii - 21,500
DS Lite - 7,500
Xbox 360 - 7,300
PS2 - 5,500