Big in Japan - Jan 2-8: 3DS, Mario Kart 7

The start of 2012 looks a lot like the end of 2011, with Nintendo lighting up the sales charts in Japan. Just like the previous week, Nintendo's 3DS games and system topped the Media Create sales charts during the week of January 2 to January 8.

Mario Kart 7 was at first place with 157,188 units sold, while Super Mario 3D Land climbed back to second place with 119,093 units sold. Capcom's 3DS iteration of Monster Hunter went down a notch to third place with 98,355 units sold. In all, eight of the top 10 software sellers appeared on Nintendo systems (four for the 3DS, four for the Wii).

Two PlayStation 3 titles managed to retain spots in the top 10: Musou Orochi 2 from Tecmo Koei and Final Fantasy XIII-2 from Square Enix. The former sold 42,464 units and was placed fifth, while the latter sold 35,325 units and was placed seventh on the charts. As with the previous week, there were no signs of PlayStation Vita titles within the top 20 list.

On the hardware side, the PS Vita sold 42,915 units, a slight increase from the 42,648 it sold for the week of December 26. Nintendo's 3DS was still in the lead, as the company sold 240,819 units for the week. Sony sold 74,459 units of the PS3 and 71,033 units of the PSP.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF JANUARY 2-8

Software
Rank/Title/Publisher/Platform/Unit sales
1. Mario Kart 7 / Nintendo / 3DS / 157,188
2. Super Mario 3D Land / Nintendo / 3DS / 119,093
3. Monster Hunter 3G / Capcom / 3DS / 98,355
4. Inazuma Eleven Go / Level-5/ 3DS / 56,134
5. Musou Orochi 2 / Koei Tecmo / PS3 / 42,464
6. Just Dance Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 37,266
7. Final Fantasy XIII-2 / Square Enix / PS3 / 35,325
8. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 33,174
9. Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Nintendo / Wii / 33,040
10. Wii Sports Resort / Nintendo / Wii / 30,783

Hardware
3DS – 240,819
PS3 – 74,459
PSP – 71,033
Wii – 49,525
PSV – 42,915
DSi XL – 3,971
DSi – 3,565
Xbox 360 – 2,738
PS2 – 1,323