Acquire's newcomer Akiba's Trip on PSP dominated the Japanese software sales charts last week, shifting more than double the number of units Koei Tecmo's new 3DS fighter Dead or Alive: Dimensions could manage.

For the week ended May 22, 2011, Neogaf has posted the charts which also saw two more new releases in the top ten. Atlus' Gungnir: Mayari no Gunshin to Eiyuu Sensou settled for fourth place, while EA's Portal 2 jumped in at number six.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 - Professional's reign over the charts continues, as the title fell only two places to third. SCE's Patapon 3 continued to sell well, staying firmly at position five.  Nintendo's Steel Diver took a hit, dropping to tenth place from third last week, with a 74 percent decrease in sales. Namco Bandai's PS3 title Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuisou fell from the highest, dropping to seventeenth place from second last week.

Elsewhere, Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 continued to sell, with the PSP and PS3 versions at numbers seven and 11 respectively. Pokemon Black and White also jumped up the charts from fourteen last week to ninth this week.

Below is Media Create's top 20 sales chart for the week ended May 22, 2011.

Software and hardware sales have seen an expected slump in Japan, following the Golden Week series of public holidays, as the PSP continues to outsell the 3DS.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional on DS remained the number one selling title, but it achieved this feat with just 20,722 sales - one of the lowest results for a number one title in recent memory. Despite the game now enjoying four non-consecutive weeks at number one it has done so at a slow time of year for Japanese sales and its lifetime total still stands at only 475,503.

The highest new entry of the week was anime tie-in Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuiso, with the PlayStation 3 version at number two with 18,831 sales and the PSP version at number four with 14,953 sales.

Nintendo 3DS title Steel Diver entered the charts at number three with 17,408 units sold, while an earthquake charity edition of the previously released visual novel Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume on PSP debuted at number seven with 9,222 sales.

1. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 - Professional (Square Enix, Nintendo DS) - 20,722
2. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuisou (Bandai Namco, PlayStation 3) - 18,831 (new)
3. Steel Diver (Nintendo, 3DS) - 17,408 (new)
4. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuisou (Bandai Namco, PSP) - 14,953 (new)
5. Patapon 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment, PSP) - 12,959
6. Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami, PSP) - 10,166
7. Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume (Charity Edition) (Prototype, PSP) - 9,222 (new)
8. Final Promise Story (Image Epoch, PSP) - 6,915
9. Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami, PlayStation 3) - 6,586
10. Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Wars Z: Hakai-hen (Bandai Namco, PSP) - 6,290

More data, including the hardware numbers, right after this page break..

With no new releases, there's not much to write home about on the software chart.

Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 came out on top again, with a handful of Nintendo evergreens creeping back into the lower reaches of the top 10.

1. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional (Square Enix, DS): 43,886 (LTD sales: 454,781)
2. Patapon 3 (SCEJ, PSP): 21,546 (70,924)
3. Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami, PSP): 20,090 (141,869)
4. Final Promise Story (Imageepoch, PSP): 18,185 (78,621)
5. 2nd Super Robot Wars Z Hakai Volume (Namco Bandai, PSP): 13,670 (392,674)
6. Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami, PS3): 12,754 (140,478)
7. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 12,433 (1,881,598)
8. Pokémon Black & White (Nintendo, DS): 9,868 (5,172,829)
9. nintendogs + cats (Nintendo, 3DS): 9,643 (214,838)
10. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 9,298 (3,221,200)
11. Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom, PSP): 9,019 (4,466,245)
12. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Nintendo, Wii): 8,944 (892,946)
13. El Shaddai (Ignition, PS3): 8,579 (66,684)
14. Pilotwings Resort (Nintendo, 3DS): 8,260 (54,407)
15. Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (Nintendo, DS): 7,499 (99,485)
16. New Super Mario Brothers Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 6,973 (4,281,175)
17. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii): 6,809 (329,832)
18. Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection (Square Enix, PSP): 6,560 (186,012)
19. Detective Conan: Aoki Houseki no Ronbukyoku (Namco Bandai, DS): 6,253 (34,749)
20. Earth Defense Force 2 Portable (D3 Publisher, PSP): 6,055 (102,261)

More data, including the hardware numbers, right after this break..

Yes, yes, it was a Nintendo DS game that managed to outsell everything else in Japan this week—Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional—but it was the continued strength of PSP hardware in Japan that seemed most impressive.

Square Enix's latest Dragon Quest spin-off managed to reclaim the top spot this week against new competition like Patapon 3 and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Last week's champ, the Pikachu teaches typing Nintendo DS game Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS had a short reign at #1, slipping to fifth in its second week.

The Media Create top was dominated by PSP software and represented solely on the console side by two PlayStation 3 games. Not the most exciting of software release weeks, unless you're the maker of Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari.

Anyway! Here are the top 20 games in Japan for the week of April 25 to May 1, 2011.

01. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional (DS) - 73,729 / 410,895
02. Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari (PSP) - 60,435 / NEW
03. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (PS3) - 58,105 / NEW
04. Patapon 3 (PSP) - 49,738 / NEW
05. Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (DS) - 32,623 / 91,986
06. Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Taisen Z Hakai-hen (PSP) - 27,012 / 379,004
07. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2011 (PSP) - 22,584 / 121,778
08. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2011 (PS3) - 16,873 / 127,724
09. Starry * Sky: In Winter (PSP) - 15,389 / NEW
10. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP) - 10,721 / 4,457,225

More...

Pokemon Co. took the top spot in the Japanese software sales chart this week, with the debut of Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS on Nintendo DS.

According to numbers released by tracking firm Media Create (as translated on the NeoGAF forums), last week's robot battler Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Wars Z: Hakai-hen dropped down from first to third place with 44,973 sales, while the Pokemon Typing game sold 59,363 units.

PSP and PlayStation 3 title Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 continued to sell well, dropping only a couple of places to fourth and fifth for the respective platforms.  Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 - Professional jumped up a place, selling 45,397 units to reach second place, but down 47 percent in sales from last week.

Meanwhile, the chart also saw several other new entries, including SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs 4, which only managed to sell 12,613 units, and Otomedius X from Konami, which jumped in at number 10 with 10,502 sales.

Other new additions also include Hudson's Original Story from Fairy Tail: Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Prototype's Clannad and Bandai Namco's Detective Conan: Aoki Houseki no Rinbukyoku.

Media Create's complete top 20 sales chart, covering boxed console games sold in Japan from April 18 through April 24, follows.

The latest in Bandai Namco's long-running Super Robot Wars series made a strong debut in Japan last week, selling over 300,000 units in its first four days on the market according to numbers released by tracking firm Media Create (as translated on the NeoGAF forums).

Another, even older series -- Konami's Pro Baseball Spirits -- also made a strong debut, selling a combined 109,744 units across its PlayStation 3, PSP and 3DS SKUs.

Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 manages to stay in the top three this week, and even sold more copies than it did last week, thanks in part to a new shipment lining store shelves.

Nintendo's big 3DS release for the week was Pilotwings Resort, which debuted in Japan over two weeks after its initial Western release. The game sold 26,554 units.  Nintendo's most popular 3DS game overall, Nintendogs + Cats, drops from 8th place to 15th this week with only 7,421 units sold. This brings the game's lifetime sales to 189,939.

Interesting, THQ's blockbuster Homefront -- a Western-focused shooter brought over to Japan by publisher Spike -- had a respectable debut, selling just under 30,000 units across both its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

Media Create's complete top 20 sales chart, covering boxed console games sold in Japan from April 11 through April 17, 2011 follows.

D3 Publisher's monster-based shooter Earth Defense Force 2 Portable debuted atop the Japanese sales charts during a week with few new releases, reports tracking firm Media Create. For the week ended April 10, Earth Defense Force 2 Portable sold 63,795 units, topping Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 – Professional, which topped the charts last week.

Namco Bandai's DS-based visual novel Kimi ni Todoke: Communicate Feelings launched at number seven, selling 11,229 units in its first week.

The final new release on the charts this week is Idea Factory's Are You Alice? for PSP, which landed at number 16.

A number of Nintendo titles climbed up several places on the charts this week, with Wii Party jumping to number 11, and Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario Kart Wii returning to the top 20 at numbers 17 and 18, respectively.

A number of last week's new releases, including Arc System Works' BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II and the PlayStation 2 version of Kadokawa Shoten's Amagami (EBKore+) fell from the top half of the charts, while titles such as Takara Tomy's Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Era and Namco Bandai's Pro Baseball Family Stadium 2011 dropped from the charts altogether.

Below is Media Create's top 20 sales chart for the week ended April 10, 2011.

LW TW Title Publisher Platform Weekly Sales NEW 1 Earth Defense Force 2 Portable D3 Publisher PSP 63,795 1 2 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 - Professional Square Enix DS 42,397 2 3 Amagami (EBKore+) Kadokawa Shoten PSP 23,849 3 4 Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection Square Enix PSP 19,392 4 5 Dynasty Warriors 7 Koei Tecmo PS3 17,002 7 6 Monster Hunter Freedom 3 Capcom PSP 12,060 NEW 7 Kimi ni Todoke: Communicate Feelings Namco Bandai DS 11,229 11 8 Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends Nintendo 3DS 10,997 8 9 Dissidia: 012 (Duodecim) Final Fantasy Square Enix PSP 9,484 10 10 Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity Sega PSP 8,822 16 11 Wii Party Nintendo Wii 8,501 13 12 Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle Level 5 3DS 7,351 14 13 Pokemon Black / White Pokemon Co. DS 7,158 5 14 BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II Arc System Works PSP 6,398 12 15 Crysis 2 Electronic Arts PS3 5,814 NEW 16 Are You Alice? Idea Factory PSP 5,764 21 17 Donkey Kong Country Returns Nintendo Wii 5,120 23 18 Mario Kart Wii Nintendo Wii 5,019 17 19 SD Gundam G Generation: World Namco Bandai PSP 4,889 6 20 Amagami (EBKore+) Kadokawa Shoten PS2 4,810

More after the break, including the hardware numbers..

The latest Media Create software figures are out and are sure to have Sony executives smiling. Indeed, 8 out of the top 10 games are for a Sony platform.

There’s a plethora of RPGs this week, including a new Dragon Quest game for the DS (in first place with 163,008 units) as well as some older titles such as Monster Hunter Freedom 3 and Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity.

There are five new entries in the top ten this week, including a new Japanese dating sim called Amagami (EBKore+) which enters the charts at number 2 and 6 for the PSP and PS2 systems respectively. Only one 3DS title is able to crack the top ten and that game is Pro Baseball Family Stadium 2011 - it managed to shift 12,851 copies during the last week.

Nintendo is in dire need of some triple A releases for their new handheld (such as a new Super Mario game) which should provide the catalyst for the platform’s overall success in Japan.

Software Chart

01. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional (DS) – 163,008 / NEW
02. Amagami (EBKore+) (PSP) – 69,221 / NEW
03. Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection (PSP) – 31,382 / 135,554
04. Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3) – 26,493 / 383,606
05. BlazBlue Continuum Shift II (PSP) – 23,808
06. Amagami (EBKore+) (PS2) – 17,261 / NEW
07. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP) – 15,864 / 4,417,517
08. Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy (PSP) – 15,223 / 419,135
09. Pro Yakyuu Famista 2011 (3DS) – 12,851 / NEW
10. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP) – 12,002 / 312,419

More after the page break.. including this weeks' hardware data.

This week’s Japanese bestsellers list will likely be filed under “Why We Should Continue To Re-release Remakes of Final Fantasy Games” at Square Enix. The latest collection, the PSP release of Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection – containing Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years – is this week’s top game in Japan.

More than 100,000 copies of the FFIV collection sold during week one in Japan. (PSP owners in North America get it on April 19, by the way.) That’s more than enough to best the week’s other new debut, Gundam the 3D Battle for the Nintendo 3DS.

That software victory for Square Enix gave the PSP a boost this week, coming within spitting distance of the newly launched 3DS.

For the rest of the top 20 best-selling games in Japan for the week of March 21 to 27, courtesy of Media Create, read on.

01. Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection (PSP) – 104,173 / NEW
02. Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3) – 36,548 / 357,113
03. Gundam the 3D Battle (3DS) – 23,500 / NEW
04. Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy (PSP) – 21,741 / 403,912
05. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP) – 16,444 / 4,401,653
06. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) – 16,294 / 242,649
07. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP) – 14,403 / 300,418
08. nintendogs + cats (3DS) – 13,219 / 160,742
09. SD Gundam G Generation World (PSP) – 10,160 / 283,802
10. Pokemon Black / White (DS) – 10,025 / 5,127,678

More, including hardware data, right after the page break..

Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors 7 held the top spot on the Japanese software sales charts this week despite a notable sales decline, reports tracking firm Media Create. For the week ended March 20, Dynasty Warriors 7 saw a 75 percent sales drop with 67,475 units sold. This period marks the first full week since Japan was struck by devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, and nearly all titles on the charts saw a notable dip in sales.

Square Enix's Dissidia: 012 (Duodecim) Final Fantasy and Level 5's Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle rounded out the top three, with their rankings left unchanged from last week.