Big in Japan May 10-16: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, FIFA World Cup

For the third straight week, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 for the DS was the best-selling game in Japan. And for the third straight week, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP was a distant second.

Media Create today released its Japanese sales charts for the week of May 10-16, showing very little turnover in the ranks. There were no changes in the top four games, with the two portable hits followed by Nintendo's evergreen New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Tomodachi Collection for the DS in third and fourth, respectively.

There were only a pair of new releases to make the week's top 10. Idea Factory's Hakuouki: Yuugi Roku was the better selling of the two, reaching fifth place on the charts. The game lets players take control of swordsmen in feudal Japan, alternately keeping the peace through combat and performing menial daily tasks in an assortment of minigames. The only other new release to chart was Electronic Arts' PlayStation 3 edition of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, which made the 10 spot with just over 10,000 copies sold.

It was a difficult week for hardware sales, as every system sold fewer units than it did the week prior. The PS3 made up some ground relative to the competition, as it leapfrogged the DSi LL and Wii to return to second place. While the PSP maintained its position atop the hardware charts, its digital distribution-driven counterpart the PSP Go had a particularly trying week, selling just 871 systems.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MAY 10-16, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 / Square Enix / DS / 126,096
2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker / Konami / PSP / 62,887
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 18,843
4. Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 16,035
5. Hakuouki: Yuugi Roku / Idea Factory / PSP / 15,569
6. Mario Kart Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 12,881
7. Nier Replicant / Square Enix / PS3 / 12,662
8. Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 12,536
9. Super Street Fighter IV / Capcom / PS3 / 12,036
10. 2010 FIFA World Cup / Electronic Arts / PS3 / 10,373

Hardware:
PSP - 24,475
PS3 - 20,463
Wii - 17,570
DSi LL - 15,879
DSi - 9,990
Xbox 360 - 4,370
DS Lite - 2,695
PS2 - 1,293
PSP Go - 871