Big in Japan April 2-8: Super Robot Taisen, PS Vita slump

Sony's portable systems have experienced both highs and lows in the recent Media Create Japanese sales update. While the top spot for software sales went to a PSP title based on a long-running strategy RPG franchise, the publisher's new portable system did not fare well.

Last week's darling Kingdom Hearts 3D was bumped down by Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Taisen Z Saisei-hen, which sold 265,439 units, while Square Enix's action RPG sold an extra 42,231 units. The PSP and PS3 versions of Konami's new baseball title, Pro Baseball Spirits 2012, sold 26,908 and 26,886 units, respectively. One other notable debut was Kinect Star Wars, which made its motion-controlling debut in Japan at 12th place, with 6,010 units sold.

The usual 3DS suspects like Kid Icarus: Uprising, Monster Hunter 3G, and the two Mario titles were still clinging onto the top 10. Kid Icarus: Uprising sold 25,710 and was at fifth place, while Super Mario 3D Land sold 21,996 and was in the sixth spot. Capcom's 3DS action RPG was at eighth place, with 16,770 units sold, while the recent entry in the Mario Kart series was at ninth place, with 16,024 units sold.

Getting back to hardware sales, the PS Vita plunged below the 10,000 sales mark; the device's sales numbers went from 12,105 to 8,931 in this week's update. The rest of the consoles save the Xbox 360 saw a drop in sales from the previous week. Microsoft's numbers went up to 3,764, possibly due to Kinect Star Wars' release.

Top Japan game sales of April 2-8

Software
Rank/Title/Publisher/Platform/Unit sales
1. Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Taisen Z Saisei-hen/Namco Bandai/PSP/265,439
2. Kingdom Hearts 3D/Square Enix/3DS/42,231
3. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012/Konami/PSP/26,908
4. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012/Konami/PS3/26,886
5. Kid Icarus: Uprising/Nintendo/3DS/25,710
6. Super Mario 3D Land/Nintendo/3DS/21,996
7. Pokemon Conquest/Nintendo, Pokemon Company/DS/17,989
8. Monster Hunter 3G/Capcom/3DS/16,770
9. Mario Kart 7/Nintendo/3DS/16,024
10. Mario & Sonic at the 2012 London Olympics/Nintendo/3DS/10,364

Hardware
3DS - 72,115
PS3 - 19,370
PSP - 14,804
PS Vita - 8,931
Wii - 7,099
Xbox 360 - 3,764
PS2 - 1,355
DSi XL - 793
DSi - 743