Japan game charts: October 2-8

Japan's software sales continued to be bullish this week, according to the rankings released by Japanese digital entertainment analysts Media Create. Although the sales figures have settled somewhat after last week's huge Pokémon Pearl and Diamond debut, this week's numbers were still impressive, with the top 100 games moving a total of 1,301,313 units.

In at number one with 263,897 copies sold was Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (called Dragon Ball Z Sparking! Neo in Japan), the latest in a long pedigree of Dragon Ball Z fighting games from Namco Bandai. The success of this game comes on the heels of June's Super Dragon Ball Z, which did far worse in retail than expected according to the pundits at Media Create.

Neo managed to bump the mighty Pokémon down, pushing Diamond and Pearl to the second and third positions. Nonetheless, these two titles have kept their momentum from last week. Diamond moved another 254,080 units, while Pearl sold 212,193. The popularity of the new games seems to have sparked a resurgence of interest in Pokémon Emerald. This Game Boy Advance title, which debuted in Japan on September 16, 2004, resurfaced on the top 100 this week in the number 33 position.

Yet another anime-based Bandai Namco title, Gundam Battle Royale for the PSP, captured the number four slot. The game largely follows the career of Amuro from the original One Year War story arc and includes mech designs from the 1985 Zeta Gundam and from the Mobile Suit Variations.