Big in Japan Mar. 8-14: Pokemon Ranger returns

Nintendo's Pokemon Ranger spin-off titles may not enjoy the same level of popularity as the full-fledged gotta-catch-'em-up games, but, well, they're still Pokemon. Into its second week on Media Create's Japanese sales chart, Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki sold 65,355 units during the March 8-14 reporting period, securing it back-to-back top-place finishes.

Fully half of Media Create's chart toppers for the week can be counted as new releases. Leading the pack is What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 3D (formerly known as the Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman series), which landed in fourth with 33,920 units sold. Koei's latest beat-'em-up Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 secured fifth place with 31,674 units. Rounding out the PSP trio, Nippon Ichi's Zettai Hero: Modification Plan debuted in sixth, selling 31,447 units.

EA's latest shooter Battlefield: Bad Company 2 managed to crack Japan's sales charts during the second week of March, as the PlayStation 3 edition sold 28,353 units. The final new release, Enterbrain's RPG Maker DS, sold 23,766 units. The remainder of the chart was filled out by the familiar names of Tomodachi Collection, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Dragon Quest IX, and Wii Fit Plus.

The trio of strong PSP debuts again elevated Sony's portable to the top of the hardware charts with 39,125 units sold--though its UMD-less counterpart remained dead last with 1,191 systems. The Wii and PS3 sparred for silver and bronze, selling 31,460 units and 26,481 units, respectively. Nintendo's DS trifecta again remained bunched, as the DSi LL sold 21,604 units, the DSi hit 13,581 systems, and the DS Lite trailed with 3,920. Still, the DS's earliest revision managed to outsell the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2, which clocked in at 2,668 units and 1,825 units, respectively.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MARCH 8-14, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki / Nintendo / DS / 65,355
2) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 35,993
3) New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 34,795
4) What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 3D / SCE / PSP / 33,920
5) Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 / Koei / PSP / 31,674
6) Zettai Hero: Modification Plan / Nippon Ichi Software / PSP / 31,447
7) Battlefield: Bad Company 2 / Electronic Arts / PS3 / 28,353
8) RPG Maker DS / Enterbrain / DS / 23,766
9) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Ultimate Hits) / DS / Square Enix / 22,013
10) Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 21,085

Hardware:
PSP - 39,125
Wii - 31,460
PS3 - 26,481
DSi LL - 21,604
DSi - 13,581
DS Lite - 3,920
Xbox 360 - 2,668
PS2 - 1,825
PSP Go - 1,191