This week's Japanese sales charts has Sega's J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J scoring big.

The PSP game kicked its way to the top of the Media Create sales charts, pushing past Nintendo's still strong Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, which are destined to cross the 3 million sold mark any day now. The PlayStation Portable's software dominance gives the PlayStation brand more than just a first place showing. It helped games on Sony's trio of platforms score 17 of the top 30 spots this week. (One PlayStation 2 title managed to chart.)

New PlayStation 3 debuts like Dragon Ball: Raging Blast and Need for Speed: Shift helped Sony's ratio, but it was the PSP that scored the most spots, with 10 games for the portable platform showing this week. Not all of them showing well, mind you, but enough to secure a top 30 spot.

And look, there's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, getting the usual Crystal Chronicles response...

01. J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J (PSP) - 85,000 / NEW
02. Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS) - 63,000 / 2,980,000
03. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (PS3) - 58,000 / NEW
04. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 56,000 / 1,639,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 53,000 / 903,000
06. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3) - 49,000 / 267,000
07. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire/Blizzard (DS) - 37,000 / 607,000
08. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers (Wii) - 35,000 / NEW
09. Mega Man Battle Network: Operating Shooting Star (DS) - 23,000 / NEW
10. Persona 3 Portable (PSP) - 17,000 / 158,0000

More after the break..

It's been a very slow week in terms of software sales in Japan. Besides the latest Pro Evolution Soccer game (which is a PS3 exclusive in Japan), new releases haven't really ignited the passion of the Japanese gamer. After a shocking knockback to fifth position last week, Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver dart up to #2 in the charts this week, but it's not through blazing sales.

The latest Japanese game sales have hit, and once again, the PS3 is the top home gaming console.  Surprisingly, with no new releases, the PS3 hardware dropped only 5,000 units.  This is likely due to Silver Week being last week, which is a new 3 day holiday in Japan started this year. 

The release of the newer, cheaper PlayStation 3 gave Sony's console a massive boost in the hardware battle in Japan last week. This week, two chart topping Pokemon games give the DSi the number one spot.

In the second week of the slimmer PS3's existence at retail, the console sold another 55,000 units. So things appear to be lookin' up for the PS3, but we'll wager that the console's bestselling days aren't yet here.

Sometime around December and early January should see the Media Create hardware chart drowning in bright PS3s.

Super Star Ultra outsells everything else combined!

November 14, 2008
- Kirby took over the Media Create sales charts covering November 3 to November 9, selling more units on its own than all other games in the top ten. Meanwhile, the DS managed to do the same in hardware.

Known in Japan as Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe, the remake of the classic SNES entry in the Kirby series debuted at 265,654 units. For reference, the last Kirby game, 2006's Hoshi no Kirby Sanjou! Dorocche-dan, debuted at 166,000 units, and went on to top the million mark.

Everything else in the top ten was old. Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo, DS) took second with 39,891 units. Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (Nintendo, DS) sold 37,411 units for third place. Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon, DS) managed fourth place with 36,670 units.

01. [NDS] Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo) 266,000 / NEW
02. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 40,000 / 1,129,000
03. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (Nintendo) 37,000 / 154,000
04. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon) 37,000 / 1,890,000
05. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom) 36,000 / 169,000
06. [NDS] Valkyrie Profile: Toga o Seoumono (Square Enix) 32,000 / 112,000
07. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 19,000 / 44,000
08. [NDS] Personal Trainer: Walking (Nintendo) 18,000 / 45,000
09. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (SCE) 17,000 / 52,000
10. [PS3] LittleBigPlanet (SCE) 17,000 / 69,000

There’s a new No.1 in the Japanese Software sales this week - Super
Robot Wars Z for PS2 knocked Pokemon Platinum down from its perch to take the top spot with 366 000 copies sold. Pokemon Platinum still sits comfortably at No. 2 with 195 000 copies sold this week, which helps its total copies sold climb to 1,474,000.

Last week’s No. 2, Dragonball Origins for DS, falls down to No. 6 with 30,000 units sold this week, while Rhythm Tengoku Gold, also for DS, is a non-mover at No. 3 with 65,000 in sales for the week. The only other non-new entry to the Top Ten, Wii Fit, remains content with a respectable No. 8 and 21,000 sold, down from No. 6 last week.

There are five other new entries this week, all making a suitable impression, but their numbers may seem a little disappointing to those looking forward to their western releases. More after the break...

Judging by the latest Media Create figures a Pokémon craze swept across Japan this past week. Nintendo’s Pokémon Platinum for the DS debuted at the top spot with a whopping 963 000 copies. Known as Pocket Monsters Platinum in Japan, the third game in the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl series was released in Japan on the 13th of September, which means that it sold almost one million copies in its first two days on sale.

There are a total of five new entries this week and with sales figures bolstered all around, the hardware chart is sure to be a cracker tomorrow.  Charts and more to read after the break..

It should come as no surprise that Metal Gear Solid 4 was Japan's best-selling game last week, as publisher Enterbrain already chimed in with the PlayStation 3 game's first four-day sales. Fortunately for Konami and Kojima Productions, Old Snake didn't have much competition, as the only new title to crack the top ten was an Evangelion pachinko game for the Nintendo DS.

Tecmo will be less happy to see that Ninja Gaiden II has already dropped off the charts after an unimpressive showing last week.

01. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) - 465,000 / NEW
02. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 38,000 / 1,444,000
03. Wii Fit (Wii) - 37,000 / 2,227,000
04. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3 (PSP) - 27,000 / 187,000
05. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 26,000 / 2,203,000
06. Hisshou Pachinko*Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series DS Vol. 2: CR Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shito, Futatabi (DS) - 22,000 / NEW
07. Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit (PS3) - 18,000 / 111,000
08. DS Bimoji Training (DS) - 17,000 / 285,000
09. DS Yamamura Misa Suspense: Maiko Kogiku - Kisha Katherine - Sougiya Isa Akashi - Koto ni Maru Hana Sanrin: Kyoto Satujin Jinken File (DS) - 17,000 / 56,000
10. Fushigi no Dungeon - Furai no Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki no Nemuri Hime (Wii) - 14,000 / 73,000

More after the break..

With over two million copies under its belt, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G had a good run. It's sales chart domination was dealt a blow, as Sega's Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! claims first place for the week of May 19 to 25.

Now on to the boring err.. I mean the Japanese sales numbers for the week.

01. Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! (DS) - 59,000 / NEW
02. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 51,000 / 2,096,000
03. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 48,000 / 1,317,000
04. Wii Fit (Wii) - 36,000 / 2,110,000
05. Hercules no Eikou: Tamashii no Shoumei (DS) - 23,000 / NEW
06. DS Bimoji Training (DS) - 15,000 / 233,000
07. Hiiro no Kakera DS (DS) - 15,000 / NEW
08. Battalion Wars 2 (Wii) - 15,000 / 39,000
09. Meccha! Taiko Drum Master DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (DS) - 14,000 / 161,000
10. Link's Crossbow Training (Wii) - 12,000 / 168,000

And the rest after the break..

This week saw a massive sell-through of the second most popular monster fighting game in Japan (after Pokemon) with Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G taking last week's top spot.

This shows that the defection of Monster Hunter 3 (currently in production) from PlayStation 3 to Wii, could turn out to be an important strategic move for Nintendo.

This week also saw Brawl finally hit the 1.5 million sales that North America managed in a fraction of the time. Charts and more after the break...