The recently stagnant Japanese sales charts finally saw some excitement last week with the release of three high-profile video games for three different platforms.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Super Street Fighter IV debuted in the top three positions on Media Create's weekly Japanese sales charts for the week ended May 2.

Square Enix's DS game Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 led the rankings with unit sales of 624,000 units. The game is a spinoff of the highly-popular Dragon Quest role-playing franchise, and involves gathering and raising monsters. The original Joker released in Japan in 2006, and a year later in the U.S.

Following Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 was Konami and Hideo Kojima's latest, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP. While the title enjoyed strong sales, it still came in nearly 200,000 units behind Joker 2, with 434,000 units sold during the week, although it did release a day later.

Super Street Fighter IV also debuted during the week, selling 81,000 units on PS3 and 28,000 on Xbox 360. The title is a substantially updated version of the 2008 hit Street Fighter IV.
Last week's number one game, Square Enix and Cavia's Nier Replicant for PS3 dropped to number nine this most recent week.

Games that fell off the list from the prior week were the PSP games Tokyo Mono Hara Shi: Karasu No Mori Gakuen Kitan from Atlus, Falcom's Ys: The Oathin Felghana, Konami's Pro Baseball Spirits 2010, Nintendo's DS game Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Game of the Year Edition for PS3.

Below are Media Create's weekly Japanese charts (thanks this week to andriasang.com):

Weekly Ranking, 04/26/2010 to 05/02/2010

01 Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Square Enix 624000
02 Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker Konami 434000
03 Super Street Fighter IV Capcom 81000 (PS3)
04 New Super Mario Brothers Wii Nintendo 44000 (total 3760000)
05 Super Street Fighter IV Capcom 28000 (XBox)
06 Mario Kart Wii Nintendo 28000 (total 2739000)
07 Friend Collection Nintendo 27000 (total 3157000)
08 Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn! DS Fate of Heat III Yuki no Shugosha Raishu! Takara Tomy 24000
09 NieR RepliCant Square Enix 21000 (total 81000)
10 Wii Fit Plus Nintendo 20000 (total 1867000)

More after the break..

Nier Replicant on the Playstation 3, despite some supply problems in its launch week, was still able to become the best-selling game in Japan for the week that ended on April 25th 2010. This knocks New Super Mario Wii off its pedestal as the top game.

There were a handful of other releases and re-releases scoring top ten showings, including the "Game of the Year" edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the latest Ys role-playing game for the PSP. The rest of the Media Create top ten contains mostly evergreen Nintendo titles, like New Super Mario Bros., edging ever closer to the 4 million mark in Japan, and Nintendo DS game Tomodachi Collection.

You can view the top 30 rankings with the estimated sales data below:

1. Nier Replicant (Playstation 3) – 60,000
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo Wii) – 29,000 (3,715,000 total)
3. Tokyo Mono Harashi: Karasu no Mori Gakuen Kitan (PSP) – 22,000
4. Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo DS) – 20,000 (3,131,000 total)
5. Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PSP) – 16,000
6. Professional Baseball Spirits 2010 (PSP) – 16,000 (118,000 total)
7. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo Wii) – 15,000 (1,848,000 total)
8. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo Wii) – 14,000 (2,711,000 total)
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (Playstation 3) – 12,000
10. Pokémon Ranger: Path of Light (Nintendo DS) -12,000 (409,000 total)

The Xbox 360 counterpart, Nier Gestalt, was the 11th best-selling game of the week. Nier Gestalt was released in North America for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 27th under the simplified title of “Nier.”

We'll have more after a short timeout..

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..

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.

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.

Namco Bandai’s God Eater manages to hold on to the number 1 spot for a second week. The PSP title sells 110 000 copies for the week ending the 14th of February, after having debuted in the top spot with 295 405 copies last week.

Dragon Quest IV: Realms of Reverie continues to sell well in second place with 79 000 copies while New Super Mario Bros. Wii climbs one spot to number 3 with 59 000 copies. Prince of Tennis: Prince of School Festival for the DS debuts at number 4 with 44 000 copies and Friend Collection is still at number 5 with 38 000 copies.

Quiz Magic Academy DS is new at number 6 with 32 000 copies while Wii Fit Plus drops to number 7 with 29 000 copies. Star Ocean: The Last Hope for the PS3 drops to number 8 with 26 000 copies after debuting at number 3 last week with 72 026 copies.

Zangeki no Reginkleiv for the Wii enters the charts at number 9 with 22 000 copies and Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the PS3 is also new at number 10 with 22 000 copies, bringing the total number of Top 10 new entries this week to four.

More, including the charts along with hardware data, after the break..

Namco Bandai's God Eater for the PSP is off to a good start in Japan, giving 295,000 PlayStation Portable owners another taste of Monster Hunter-like hack and slash action.

God Eater's number one debut pushes last week's software winner, Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi for the Nintendo DS to second place, beating out the PlayStation 3 port of Star Ocean 4. That leaves long-legged bestsellers New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Tomodachi Collection settling for lower spots on the chart, but both titles are still selling like the Japanese equivalent of hotcakes.

This week's new debuts, Pop 'n Music Portable and Kunio-kun Nekketsu! Daiundoukai, didn't make much of a stir, but they've got some decent competition.

For Media Create's top 30 games for the week of February 1 to 7, 2010, read on.

01. God Eater (PSP) - 295,000 / NEW
02. Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS) - 190,000 / 1,096,000
03. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International (PS3) - 72,000 / NEW
04. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 62,000 / 3,263,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 38,000 / 2,780,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 27,000 / 1,610,000
07. End of Eternity (PS3) - 25,000 / 144,000
08. Pop 'n' Music Portable (PSP) - 19,000 / NEW
09. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 15,000 / 730,000
10. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 13,000 / 1,735,000

Much more, including hardware data, after the break..

It was a big, big week for the role-playing game in Japan, with the release—and immediate success—of Dragon Quest VI for the Nintendo DS and, to a lesser degree, Sega's latest effort End of Eternity.

Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi debuted to more than 900,000 copies sold in Japan this week, according to Media Create. Its nearest competitor was Sega's aforementioned futuristic RPG End of Eternity (known as Resonance of Fate around these parts) with more than 145,000 copies sold across the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku also repped the RPG genre, debuting in the top ten with 82,000 units sold.

The PlayStation 3 was thrice represented in Media Create's top ten by Zipper Interactive's MAG, adding another 19,000 players to the war. Top software sales in Japan for the week of Jan 23 - Jan 30, 2020 are as follows:

01. Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS) - 906,000 / NEW
02. End of Eternity (PS3) - 118,000 / NEW
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 84,000 / 3,201,000
04. Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku (PS3) - 82,000 / NEW
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 45,000 / 2,742,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 33,000 / 1,583,000
07. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 30,000 / 713,000
08. End of Eternity (Xbox 360) - 27,000 / NEW
09. Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP) - 24,000 / 118,000
10. MAG (PS3) - 19,000 / NEW

Full listing and hardware data after the break..

After giving up the first place spot to Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for a couple weeks, Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii returns to the top of the weekly Media Create sales charts.

It was still a pretty good week for PSP software, however, with Sega's Valkyria Chronicles debuting in second place with 94,000 copies sold, followed by Namco Bandai's Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces. Kingdom Hearts and Monster Hunter helped the PlayStation Portable snag four of the top ten spots, the rest occupied by Wii and DS software.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 debut, by the way, was better than that of its PlayStation 3 predecessor. While the Japanese install base for each PlayStation platform was markedly different for each game's release, I wouldn't be surprised to see future Valkyria games sticking to a handheld platform.

Here are the top thirty games in Japan, according to Media Create, for the week of January 18 to 24, 2010.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 111,000 / 3,117,000
02. Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP) - 94,000 / NEW
03. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces (PSP) - 76,000 / NEW
04. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 60,000 / 683,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 45,000 / 2,696,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 34,000 / 1,550,000
07. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) - 23,000 / 96,000
08. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) - 16,000 / 102,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 16,000 / 1,707,000
10. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 14,000 / 1,047,000

More, including hardware numbers, after the break..

Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep managed to maintain its bestselling status in Japan this week, fending off the triple platinum seller New Super Mario Bros. Wii in it second week.

The newest Kingdom Hearts for the PSP didn't have much in the way of competition, with the exception of top ten debuts Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Wii, Tekken 6 for the PSP and Last Window: Mayonaka no Yakusoku for the Nintendo DS.

A handful of games already released in the West managed to secure top thirty spots on Media Create's weekly sales chart. The Japanese debut of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising can be spotted on this week's chart.

For the bestselling games in Japan for the week of January 11 to 17, 2009, look no further..

01. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 177,000 / 623,000
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 139,000 / 3,006,000
03. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) - 73,000 / NEW
04. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 55,000 / 2,651,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 42,000 / 1,516,000
06. Tekken 6 (PSP) - 25,000 / NEW
07. Last Window: Mayonaka no Yakusoku (DS) - 25,000 / NEW
08. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 22,000 / 489,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 22,000 / 1,691,000
10. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 22,000 / 1,033,000

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