Nintendo's side-scroller for the Wii clearly has legs. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been in the top ten since its launch in Japan this past December. But kudos to Mario, Luigi
and those Toads for getting back into first after a three-month break.

This week's bestsellers look like last week's bestsellers, with beat 'em up Fist of the North Star, baseball sim Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 and role-playing game Sekaiju no Meikyuu III: Seikai no Raihousha sticking around in the top ten.

Read on for the weekly ranking and to see the singular game that made its debut appearance on Media Create's top thirty.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 37,000 / 3,655,000
02. Fist of the North Star (PS3) - 34,000 / 491,000
03. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 (PSP) - 31,000 / 82,000
04. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010 (PS3) - 31,000 / 88,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 23,000 / 3,090,000
06. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki (DS) - 20,000 / 381,000
07. Sekaiju no Meikyuu III: Seikai no Raihousha (DS) - 19,000 / 107,000
08. Yakuza 4 (PS3) - 18,000 / 519,000
09. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 15,000 / 1,818,000
10. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP) - 11,000 / 246,000

More after the break..

March 2010 NPD numbers (US) are out..

According to NPD analyst David Riley, "March 2010 is the third best
non-holiday month on record behind March 2008 and June 2008."

Oh, and God of War III sorta lost to Pokemon.

Combining Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold sales, the Nintendo powerhouse title sold 1.8 million units, while God of War III only sold 1.1 million. The actual ranking, however, pulls to two version apart to get this top 10 list of bestselling video games for March 2010:

Etrian Odyssey III: Caller of the Starry Seas for the DS has debuted at the top of the Japanese software chart with 88,000 copies for the week ending the 4th of April. The latest title from Atlus knocks Fist of the North Star: Warriors into second place with 72,000 copies, after the PS3 version debuted at number 1 last week with 385,000 copies.

Koei’s Fist of the North Star: Warriors for the PSP debuted at number 1 on the Japanese software chart for the week ending the 28th of March, selling 385,000 copies in its opening week. It knocks Yakuza 4 for the PS3 into second place, selling 83,000 copies this week after debuting at the top with 384,000 copies last week.

Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light for the DS continues to sell well in third with 51,000 copies while New Super Mario Bros. Wii hangs on to fourth with 51,000 copies. Friend Collection for the DS is a non-mover at number 5 with 44,000 copies.

The PS3 exclusive God of War III debuts at number 6 with 43,000 copies, Sony no doubt will be happy to earn a spot in the Top 10 at all. Meanwhile Fist of the North Star: Warriors for the Xbox 360 is new at number 7 with 30,000 copies.

Gundam: Assault Survive for the PSP drops six places to number 8 with 27,000 copies while Wii Fit Plus moves down to ninth position with 21,000 copies. Saki Portable for the PSP is also new at number 10 with 20,000 copies.

A few Top 10 regulars drop out of the spotlight this week: Dragon Quest IX is at number 15 (last week’s number 9), God Eater at number 17 (last week’s number 10), Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 at number 19 (last week’s 6) and Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman at number 20 (last week’s number 8).

There are also a number of new entries in the Top 30 this week. Pro Baseball Family Stadium DS 2010 is new at number 11, Chaos: Head – Love Chu Chu! For the Xbox 360 debuts at number 13 and God of War Trilogy for the PS3 enters the charts at number 16.

Software Chart

1. Fist of the North Star: Warriors (Koei) - PS3 - 385 000 (New)
2. Yakuza 4: Heir to the Legend (Sega) - PS3 - 83 000
3. Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light (Pokemon Co.) - NDS - 51 000
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) - Wii - 51 000
5. Friend Collection (Nintendo) - NDS - 44 000
6. God of War III (SCE) - PS3 - 43 000 (New)
7. Fist of the North Star: Warriors (Koei) - Xbox 360 - 30 000 (New)
8. Gundam: Assault Survive (Namco Bandai) - PSP - 27 000
9. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) - Wii - 21 000
10. Saki Portable (Alchemist) - PSP - 20 000 (New)

The rest of the charts and hardware after the break.. 

Yakuza 4 has debuted at number 1 on the Media Create Japanese software charts for the week of March 15 - 21, 2010 with a whopping 384,000 copies. The PS3 exclusive just managed to beat the opening sales for its predecessor, Yakuza 3, which sold 372,301 copies.

Gundam: Assault Survive for the PSP is also new at number 2, scoring slightly less sales of 91,000 copies while Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light for the DS, falls to third with 49,000 copies after a number of weeks spent in the number 1 spot.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii drops one place to number 4 with 37,000 copies while Friend Collection slips three places to fifth with 35,000 copies. Dynasty Warriors for the PSP is at number 6 with 19,000 copies and Wii Fit Plus climbs three spots to number 7 with 19,000 copies.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman for the PSP drops to number 8 with 18,000 copies after debuting in fourth last week, while Dragon Quest IX for the DS remains at number 9 with 15,000 copies sold this week. God Eater for the PSP re-enters the Top 10, selling 15,000 copies to earn tenth place. It’s interesting to see that God of War Collection for the PS3 debuts at number 13.

Software Chart

1. Yakuza 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono (Sega) - PS3 - 384 000 (New)
2. Gundam: Assault Survive (Namco Bandai) - PSP - 91 000 (New)
3. Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light (Pokemon Co.) - NDS - 49 000
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) - Wii - 37 000
5. Friend Collection (Nintendo) - NDS - 35 000
6. Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 (Koei) - PSP - 19 000
7. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) - Wii - 19 000
8. Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 3D (SCE) - PSP - 18 000
9. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Ultimate Hits) (Square Enix) - NDS - 15 000
10. God Eater (Namco Bandai) - PSP - 15 000

Source: Media Create

More after the break.. 

Just like last week, Nintendo's latest Pokemon spin-off, Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki for the Nintendo DS, tops Japan's weekly software chart, fending off a long list of newcomers, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

To Bad Company 2's credit, the PlayStation 3 version of DICE's shooter managed a top ten spot, wedged between Japanese fare like RPG Maker DS and the customization heavy role-playing game Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku. (The Xbox 360 version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 scored a spot at 14.)

Other new bestsellers on the Media Create chart include Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 3D, part of the Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! series, now known as What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? in English speaking areas of the world. And way down near the bottom of the list? Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the PSP, which debuted slightly better in its DS incarnation late last year.

For the top 30 games for the week of March 8-14, 2010, according to Media Create, look below..

01. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki (DS) - 65,000 / 226,000
02. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 36,000 / 2,953,000
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 35,000 / 3,487,000
04. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 3D (PSP) - 34,000 / NEW
05. Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid 2 (PSP) - 32,000 / NEW
06. Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku (PSP) - 31,000 / NEW
07. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) - 28,000 / NEW
08. RPG Maker DS (DS) - 24,000 / NEW
09. Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito (Ultimate Hits) (DS) -
22,000 / 63,000
10. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 21,000 / 1,741,000

All the rest as well as hardware data right after the break..

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a
thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

During February video games sales dropped 15% in the United States. Most credit goes to a large drop in sales of Nintendo Wiis after their post-holiday shortage, and therefore a continuation of the normal post-holiday gloom in the video game market as a whole.

Even with big name titles like Bioshock 2, market performance did not meet expectations. Bioshock 2 arguably helped Xbox 360 sales take the lead in February. The down and dirty information is below.

Here’s the February 2010 hardware sales breakdown, with growth compared to February 2009.

Sales - Item - % change

Media Create Japanese Software Sales for week ending 07 March 2010: New Pokemon Ranger tops with 161K

Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light for the DS has debuted at the top of the Media Create Japanese software chart, selling 161,000 copies for the week ending the 7th of March.

.hack//Link for the PSP is also new at number 2 with 60 000 copies while Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the DS enters the chart at number 3 with 41,000 copies.

Four new games arrived in Media Create's top 10 weekly sales rankings, including Spike's action game Kenka Bancho 4: Ichinen Sensou and Namco Bandai's Super Robot Taisen OG: Saga Endless Frontier Exceed.

The PSP action game Kenka Bancho 4: Ichinen Sensou debuted at the top spot, selling 72,000 units for the week ended February 28, Media Create said Thursday. The game took the lead from Capcom's Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition for PlayStation 3, which dropped from number one to three, selling 48,000 units this week.