Mass Effect of Japanese Sales (5/24/2009)

While BioWare's Mass Effect didn't score top placement in this week's Japanese software sales chart—Sloane to MacHale: Nazo no Monogatari did—it had a pretty damn good showing, considering the platform's last place position.

Mass Effect's first week sales were a solid, if not spectacular 18,000, making it the third bestselling game in Japan, according to Media Create. It placed well behind Level 5's new Nintendo DS puzzler Sloane to MacHale: Nazo no Monogatari and Sega's baseball sim Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 but still good for a Western role-playing game.

The top ten is DS heavy, with a few new releases peppered throughout the top thirty. Looks like Nintendo's own Takt of Magic for the Wii is off to an un-magical start.

01. Sloane to MacHale: Nazo no Monogatari (DS) - 44,000 / NEW
02. Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (DS) - 39,000 / NEW
03. Mass Effect (Xbox 360) - 18,000 / NEW
04. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP) - 14,000 / 693,000
05. Bleach: Heat The Soul 6 (PSP) - 13,000 / 54,000
06. Dragon Ball Z: Story Saiyajin Raishuu (DS) - 12,000 / 148,000
07. Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Sora no Tankenta (DS) - 12,000 / 311,000
08. Made in Ore (DS) - 11,000 / 123,000
09. Wii Fit (Wii) - 10,000 / 3,424,000
10. Mario & Luigi RPG3!!! (DS) - 9,000 / 624,000

more after the break..

11. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
12. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Wii)
13. Monster Hunter G (Wii)
14. Growlanser (PSP)
15. Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes (PSP)
16. Winning Eleven Play Maker 2009 (Wii)
17. Pokémon Platinum (DS)
18. Yuuzai x Muzai (DS)
19. Wii Sports (Wii)
20. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
21. Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 (Wii)
22. SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (PSP)
23. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (DS)
24. Rittai Picross (DS)
25. Takt of Magic (Wii)
26. Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 (PS2)
27. Persona (PSP)
28. Rhythm Heaven (DS)
29. Deca Sporta 2 (Wii)
30. ToraDora Portable! (PSP)

Media Create Weekly Software Sales via Gpara

And in the Hardware area

Minor fluctuations in the currently tepid Japanese console race don't make this week's Media Create
chart all that exciting, to be honest. A slightly slinking PlayStation
presence and marginally expanded Nintendo one isn't exactly thrilling.

But neither was the software contest, which saw a pair of Nintendo DS titles beating out the Japanese release of Mass Effect. The Xbox 360 game gave Microsoft's console a slight bump in sales, but not enough to push it past PlayStation 2 sales.

Wii sales are slightly up, PS3 sales slightly down. And that's about as heated as it got. The numbers are after this.