Big in Japan Mar. 29-Apr. 4: Etrian Odyssey III

Into its second week on Media Create's Japanese sales charts, Koei's Fist of the North Star Warriors logged another strong performance, selling 71,629 units on the PlayStation 3. However, that total wasn't enough to retain top billing during the week of March 29-April 4. That seat went to Atlus' turn-based role-playing game Etrian Odyssey III: Caller of the Starry Seas for the DS, which opened to sales of 87,765 units.

Triples aren't often come by, but Konami performed just such a feat with Pro Baseball Spirits 2010. The PS3 edition of its professional baseball sim led off with 57,136 units sold, followed by the PSP edition's 50,726 units. The PlayStation 2 version cleaned up in 10th with an additional 21,002 units sold. Tecmo's sexually charged minigame compilation Dead or Alive: Paradise for the PSP represented the only other charting debut, landing in the ninth slot with 32,271 units sold.

The week also saw the return of Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Tomodachi Collection, and Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki. The three titles were separated on the chart due to the continued success of Sega's Yakuza 4, which sold 33,936 units to take the seventh position.

Though Etrian Odyssey III topped the software chart, it didn't do much to move DS systems. Instead, Sony's PS3 led hardware sales on the week with 38,877 units, a figure followed closely by the PSP's 37,445 unit sales. The Wii posted sales of 30,938 and was followed by the DSi LL (21,583 units), DSi (15,526 units), and DS Lite (4,110 units). The Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PSP Go again occupied the remaining three slots on Media Create's hardware sales chart.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MARCH 29-APRIL 4, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Etrian Odyssey III: Caller of the Starry Seas / Atlus / DS / 87,765
2) Fist of the North Star Warriors / Koei / PS3 / 71,629
3) Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 / Konami / PS3 / 57,136
4) Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 / Konami / PSP / 50,726
5) New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 42,415
6) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 35,551
7) Yakuza 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono / Sega / PS3 / 33,936
8) Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki / Nintendo / DS / 33,510
9) Dead or Alive: Paradise / Tecmo / PSP / 32,271
10) Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 / Konami / PS2 / 21,002

Hardware:
PS3 - 38,877
PSP - 37,445
Wii - 30,938
DSi LL - 21,583
DSi - 15,526
DS Lite - 4,110
Xbox 360 - 2,676
PS2 - 1,815
PSP Go - 1,803