Big in Japan Mar. 22-28: Fist of the North Star Warriors

The PlayStation 3 edition of Koei's Fist of the North Star Warriors topped Sega's Yakuza 4 in terms of opening-week performance on Media Create's weekly sales chart, but not by much. With Yakuza 4 selling 383,972 a week prior, the PS3 installment of Koei's latest Dynasty Warriors-inspired beat-'em-up sold 385,295 units during the March 22-28 reporting period.

With the PS3 version of Fist of the North Star Warriors topping the chart, the Xbox 360 edition sold an additional 30,306 units, enough for seventh place. That figure was slightly less than fellow newcomer God of War III, which opened to 43,181 units in Japan. Sony this week said that the game sold 1 million units within its first few days on the market, though it remains unclear whether that figure is a global tally. The final new entrant to crack Media Create's top 10 during the period was Alchemist's Saki Portable for the PSP, which sold 20,165 units.

Otherwise, the chart was populated by a number of familiar faces. Yakuza 4 dropped a slot to second, following up its opening week performance with an additional 83,187 units sold. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki edged out New Super Mario Bros. Wii to take third, selling 51,233 units to the side-scrolling platformer's 51,214 copies. Other chart toppers included Tomodachi Collection, Gundam: Assault Survive, and Wii Fit Plus.

As with Yakuza 4 the week before, the PS3 appears to have gotten a lift out of Fist of the North Star Warriors. Sony's console finished atop the hardware chart with 50,448, which outpaced the PSP's 46,449-unit weekly haul. Nintendo's hardware followed, as the Wii sold 36,849 units and the DS family shifted a combined 45,559 units. The Xbox 360 sold 3,002 units, though that slim figure was enough to put it ahead of the PSP Go and PlayStation 2.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MARCH 22-28, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Fist of the North Star Warriors / Koei / PS3 / 385,295
2) Yakuza 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono / Sega / PS3 / 83,187
3) Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki / Nintendo / DS / 49,548
4) New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 51,214
5) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 43,997
6) God of War III / Sony / PS3 / 43,181
7) Fist of the North Star Warriors / Koei / X360 / 30,306
8) Gundam Assault Survive / Bandai Namco / PSP / 26,885
9) Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 21,150
10) Saki Portable / Alchemist / PSP / 20,165

Hardware:
PS3 - 50,448
PSP - 46,449
Wii - 36,849
DSi LL - 23,188
DSi - 17,376
DS Lite - 4,995
Xbox 360 - 3,002
PSP Go - 1,874
PS2 - 1,785