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Big in Japan: Monster Hunter spin-off MonHun Nikki

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Capcom game dedicated to feline helpers sells a quarter million in chart-topping debut, doubles PSP sales week-over-week.

The Monster Hunter franchise is practically the embodiment of "Big in Japan," a fact bolstered by Media Create's Japanese sales figures for the week of August 23-29. The latest entry in the series, a PSP spin-off centered around the off-duty exploits of Monster Hunter's catlike helpers, topped the charts with more than four times the sales of the second-place title.

Untrue statement: Monster Hunter's catlike helpers pass judgment on people's souls with their trademark

Untrue statement: Monster Hunter's catlike helpers pass judgment on people's souls with their trademark "Penance Stare."

MonHun Nikki: Poka Poka Ailu Mura sold 256,076 copies for the week and helped move plenty of new PSP systems in the process. Sony's handheld sold almost exactly double its week-over-week sales total, topping the hardware charts with 55,112 units sold. The PS3 came in second despite selling less than half as many systems as its handheld counterpart, with Nintendo's trifecta of the DSi LL (DSi XL in the West), DSi, and Wii once again coming in third through fifth, respectively.

The PSP's hardware performance was no doubt also bolstered by the other two new release games to hit the top 10. Namco Bandai's Ace Combat: Joint Assault flew as high as second place on the charts, finishing the week with sales of 57,785, while Idea Factory's romantic adventure Hakuouki: Zuisouroku Portable landed in fifth with 24,469 sold. The PSP game arrived almost a year to the day after the original PlayStation 2 Hakuouki: Zuisouroku.

As for enduring sellers, Nintendo's Wii Party again showed its legs, coming in third with 54,673 copies sold, easily outpacing the previous week's best-seller, Another Century's Episode R. The Namco Bandai PS3 game was forced to settle for fourth place with 28,354 games sold. The bottom half of the top 10 also featured a number of familiar faces, from Level Five's Inazuma Eleven 3 DS games to Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Capcom's Sengoku Basara 3.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF AUGUST 23-29, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. MonHun Nikki: Poka Poka Ailu Mura / Capcom / PSP / 256,076
2. Ace Combat: Joint Assault / Namco Bandai / PSP / 57,785
3. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 54,673
4. Another Century's Episode R / Namco Bandai / PS3 / 28,354
5. Hakuouki: Zuisouroku Portable / Idea Factory / PSP / 24,469
6. Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! Spark and Bomber/ Level Five / DS / 15,889
7. Super Mario Galaxy 2 / Nintendo / Wii / 11,977
8. Art Academy / Nintendo / DS / 10,301
9. Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X / Namco Bandai / PSP / 9,371
10. Sengoku Basara 3 / Capcom / PS3 / 8,834

Hardware:
PSP - 55,112
PS3 - 25,053
DSi LL - 19,010
DSi - 17,057
Wii - 15,989
DS Lite - 3,925
Xbox 360 - 2,665
PS2 - 1,358
PSP Go - 836

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

38 comments
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riariases
riariases

sony, you f&$(#ed up with the psp go.

eldin4444
eldin4444

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

chupamelpo
chupamelpo

I'm glad i don't live in japan, those games S-U-C-K, i just cant imagine going to a friends house and play those games, or friends coming over and play those games. Good for the Japanese keep buying those lousy games, so that non of those games arrive in the US.

wiidsduelpack
wiidsduelpack

How many sequels/rehashes/iterations can Japanese people take. Anyone remembers why people hate Activision? Because of the constant sequels of Guitar Hero and CoD but in Japan they would make yearly sequels and perhaps like two spin-offs a year

gbrading
gbrading moderator moderator

Brendan Sinclair: Master of amusing picture captions. :P

mariokart64fan
mariokart64fan

nintendo sony =king duo of japan as usual ms should bail shi p

edant79
edant79

Wow! Capcom and Sony made a fat penny this week. Maybe they could use some of their earnings to accommodate the English folk over here in the States.

Malhound
Malhound

The PSP is as strong as the DS. The Japanese make good video games besides they also have visual novels! Why does the PSP Go suck on its home country?

Franzkill
Franzkill

@ pretty much everyone Because the Japanese are intelligent enough to realise that the PSP has many good games thus continually support the system instead of people that come here boasting that their PSPs gather dust due to a lack of good games. So WHY BUY IT THEN? It your money your wasting people! :)

mario-nin-freak
mario-nin-freak

strange, PSP must have some good games over there :P

benleslie5
benleslie5 ranger

Over in Japan the PSP is really popluar and over here in the UK most retail stores don't sell PSP games that much.

Tarfang2
Tarfang2

see all u need to move hardware is gd software psp has near to 0 gd games since its realease so when a gd one comes along ppl are shocked

MAXIM-332971
MAXIM-332971

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

Jeff-Ryan
Jeff-Ryan

obviously Sony is king in land of rising sun

Cillerboy
Cillerboy

wow thats a lot of psp's sold this week lol

Kleeyook
Kleeyook

Wow! PSP Go sold better than last week by 100 units! :D MonHun sold pretty good, but Ace Combat Joint Assault sold pretty bad despite its first debut. I know it shouldn't launch with another big title from the same system. :( ACE R dropped hard. From 200k+ units last week to 20k+ units this week. :(

monson21502
monson21502

only kinectimals can save the 360 in japan. maybe dance central too:shock:

immortal224
immortal224

Week of Sony... [Only in Japan] Weak of Microsoft... [Only in Japan]

Pete5506
Pete5506

And the Go is still slowly selling

MATERAZZI_23
MATERAZZI_23

Pretty good numbers, but just imagine when Monster Hunter 3rd gets release over there....

SillySkeleton
SillySkeleton

Monster Hunters felynes are awesome. I still haven't checked out what that spin-off game exactly is, but I want.

GodsPoison
GodsPoison

Hey Capcom.....how bout a Monster Hunter game on ps3 and 360? Oh and releasing it outside of japan would be nice too.......

exedeath
exedeath

I will import this as soon as possible. If it has Monster Hunter in the title it will be worth it. Now I have to play through it with the old pick and guess play until they bring it out in english.

soulless4now
soulless4now

They sure do like those "cutesy" games over there in Japan.

zzamaro
zzamaro

Xbox 360 - 2,665 Sales are going down again, good ;)

Hizakii
Hizakii

Sengoku basara 3 coming to english next few mths. It better not be renamed Devil Kings 3 and a rescripted storyline

BlackBaldwin
BlackBaldwin

wow... Some people will buy anything won't they...

HungryLuma
HungryLuma

At first, it looked almost like Animal Crossing, to me. Yeah, but it looks pretty interesting

g1rldraco7
g1rldraco7

This spinoff looks very cute and fun. Wonder if it'll come to english.

monson21502
monson21502

why the thumbs down? it was 600 last week. 200 systems jump is a big boast for a system that sells under 1 k each week.

5j3553
5j3553

Psp go is all the way at the bottom of the list...even less sales than the ps2.

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