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ChartSpot: Big in Japan, 4/3-4/9

The DS continues to dominate the charts across the Pacific, courtesy of the brain-training game craze. (Or is it the other way around?)

49 Comments

If you've been following the game charts in Japan the last few weeks, you know one thing for certain--the Japanese looove to train their brains. Several entries in the brain-training genre made the top 10 list during the week of April 3 to April 9. Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training took the top slot, followed by Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (fourth) and Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (sixth).

Japan's other big obsession, baseball, was also represented in the week's bestsellers. The PlayStation 2 version of Konami's popular baseball sim, Pro Yakyuu Spirits 3, made it to second place, way ahead of its Xbox 360 sibling, which slid into the 42nd slot. Namco's Japanese baseball sim, Yakyuu Netsu Star 2006 (PS2), also did well, landing in fifth place.

Two other PS2 games made the top 10--Sega's soccer sim Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! Euro Championship and Square Enix's long-awaited Final Fantasy XII. The rest of the list was all DS, however, thanks to the huge popularity of the still new-ish DS Lite. In addition to the brain-training games, Animal Crossing: Wild World (third), Pokemon Rangers (sixth), and Mario Kart DS (10th) rounded out the list.

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buffysummer

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Brain Training, I don't know about yhis game, I think I will rent it.

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Briantb_2008

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Not surpising, They have always held the hand held market. But the did lose having the most console sold. Sony one that one.

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thekey

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Nice to sega still a chart topper! Where xbox360 sales at?

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kalabo10688

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need ps3 now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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mr_squibble

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The Brain Age phenomenon just keeps going and going and going...

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ninfan4life

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well duhhhh

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Reetesh

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Cool! only DS and PS2 ames on the Chart :P

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X_59

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It may all be fine and dandy in Japan, but how is Brain-Age going to fair in North America? Some of the puzzles in this game can be found in the morning paper.

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Omega-Ing

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man nintendo reallly knows the handheld industry!!

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777rak

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Glad to know the DS is soing great in Japan.

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greks224

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o my god i want a ds so bad... can't wait till the light to hit US shores

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cyprus646

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Those rice-eaters really really like the Ds it's doin so well in both the U.S and japan Keep up the good wrk Nintendo.

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daqua_99

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Hopefully (as a sheep) the DS craze takes off in America and buries the PSP ... thats a hope though ...

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chrisdojo

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no wonder the japanese are smarter than all the loafs in america, because they train their brains besides just playing video games.

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Naruto-freak

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its too bad brain got bad ranking over here...

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Fallout_red

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They have Final Fantasy XII and instead go buy those stupid (IMO) DS games!!!????

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3ternalsword207

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wow, 4 ps2 games and 6 ds games on the top 10 list in japan. nintendo is really kicking butt over there!!

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eiru

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Oh man don't talk bout sad sega... my first few consoles were all sega.... n i thought i would b sega forever at that time =..="

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mizu_shayan

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i did not expect the PSP to be doing this badly in Japan. i thought the DS would eventually win because of more originality of the games and being heaps cheaper. I wonder how the DS is fairing compared to the PSP in US and UK, prob not as well cuz it seem all they care about is power, not innovation. time will tell. glad to see DS doing well, must admit i thought this was the final nail in nintendos coffin. dont want nintendo to go the same way sega did, remember the 16bit bays of the SNES and megadrive!, best gaming period ever! (eyes swelling up with small tears!!!)

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eiru

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Ds..... pls enough of DS.... can't the Japs play something else Bsides the DS?? DS man..=..=" common what the hell is happening to gaming.....

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Neoyamaneko

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The "perfect" (according to Famitsu) Final Fantasy XII is losing steam faster than its "imperfect" previous incarnations. It'll be interesting to see if the franchaise makes it past the next generation.

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m_machine024

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Hope brain game does as well in US.

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rbarahona

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Nintendo DS Lite is a huge success in Japan. People are eagerly buying those DS Lites. The Train your Brain games are also part of the success. I wonder if they can replicate that phenomenon to America.

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pangitako

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haha brain training trading cards. i like, i like :D

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ghostadv

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I want a DS Lite :(

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pangitako

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joyer...you're genius!!!!!!!!!!!

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joyer

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is brain training the new adult pokemon of japan... gotta have em all... soon we'll have a trading card game

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Maquis_UK

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i my DS Lite. VIVA LA REVOLUTIOOOOOOON !!!!

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EvIlKiNgKoOpA

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For those that love the DS,lets all rejoicy,For those that hate it,i hope you're psp is keeping you happy, :D,any way good to see its doing good,but really can someone send me a message on how or why i should care about final fantasy or kingdom hearts,because when i see those games,i find it to be like a game for girl's,no offence intended,i just find a game like god of war tells a better story then those 2 games,YEA im off topic :P

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NeoJedi

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Wowzers DS! Total domination! Bow down to the King baby!

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dounowhatiam

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animal crossing sold more and is still selling more then the all might final fantasy 12 this carzyness all hail the new *** king tom nook. the quastion is can anything stop the ds if this keeps on going then it might be even out selling rev. then the battle would change to nintendo vs nintendo batller of the nintendos. who will win you descide.

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adolfo845

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Viva NINTENDO. VIVA LA REVOLUTION.

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NightRain

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DS is really unstoppable! I'm really happy to see how it goes really well for Nintendo.

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Orasion_Seiz

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FFXII down to 8th!

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Talduras

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luigimario_64 says: "brain training sounds cool....maybe i should rent it first though..." I believe they will actually have it as a downloadable demo when they get those new DS download kiosks in (note: Downloadable demos only last for as long as the system is on). I've seen Best Buy advertise those in the newspaper about a week ago, but I didn't check if it was in my local store yet. Many retailers should start getting those eventually.

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Talduras

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Dang, the DS is doing better in software sales than I was expecting. I can't remember the last time I saw a PSP game on the Japanese top 10. :o

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mr_gouda

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I think I need to start training my brain. Thanks to television, I can barely remember what I did 5 minutes ago. Uhm.... what was I talking about again?

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luigimario_64

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brain training sounds cool....maybe i should rent it first though...

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lilazn_boi

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cool a new pokemon game :)

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noxian

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kind of unrelated, but i always think its kinda funny how much they love baseball games in Japan. I mean sports games do well in the US too, but baseball games do REALLY well in japan.

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Game13a13y

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when will we get it here??

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harry2k5

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The Ps2 is still a holding its ground. WTG for the Ds too!.

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Yagami-Iori

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Wow, The DS is KILLING over in Japan

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woohooforme

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Indeed TalesOfGazayan. FFXII didn't sell well this week because the stock is virtually gone.

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NiGHTS

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Im happy to see a Sega game in the top 10 :)

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TalesOfGazayan

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wow Final Fantasy is dropping too quickly; maybe because it sold all it was supposed to sell in the first day (they had a big bang). Good to see Mario Kart still there.

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sergioalb64

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

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sergioalb64

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Great! Now let's see how Brain Age does in the US next week.

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