Last week's sales champ, Sengoku Basara 3, was soundly defeated by Namco's latest Tales game, which draws upon the powers of a big PSP install base and Japan's love of doe-eyed anime-style characters. How well did Tales of Phantasia do?

Well enough to outsell Wii Party! Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X moved an impressive, first place spot-winning 108,000 copies during its debut week, enough to force Wii Party to settle for second. Not bad for a PSP remake... of a remake? Honestly, I'm thoroughly confused by just how deeply the remakes go for Tales of Phantasia. Any superfans that can provide more insight?

There are a handful of other new entries on this week's chart, including the sexy-sounding StormLover, Tetris Party Premium and the "special edition" release of Assassin's Creed II.

Japan's bestselling games for the week of August 2 to 8, according to Media Create, is below.

01. Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X (PSP) - 108,000 / NEW
02. Wii Party (Wii) - 83,000 / 612,000
03. Sengoku Basara 3 (PS3) - 57,000 / 300,000
04. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd (PSP) - 36,000 / 277,000
05. Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! Bomber / Spark (DS) - 24,000 / 752,000
06. StormLover (PSP) - 20,000 / NEW
07. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 17,000 / 749,000
08. Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu (DS) - 16,000 / 213,000
09. Sengoku Basara 3 (Wii) - 15,000 / 65,000
10. Battle Spirits: Digital Starter (DS) - 15,000 / NEW

More numbers and all the hardware data after the break..

Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 saw a drop in weekly sales in Japan, but was able to lead charts for the third week in a row, followed once again by Konami and Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

For the week ended May 16, tracking firm Media Create said the DS role-playing game Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 sold 126,000 units. That's down from the game's debut week, which saw 624,000 in unit sales, and its second week, which saw 253,000 units.

Coming in second was Kojima's Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP, selling 63,000 units during the week, versus 434,000 when the game debuted and 141,000 units last week.

To date, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 has sold just over 1 million units in Japan, while Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker has sold 638,000 units. Both games launched on April 28 in the country.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii, released in Japan in December last year, continued to hang near the top of the charts with 19,000 units sold during the week. The game has sold over 3.8 million units in Japan.

Games that fell off of the top 10 list include the DS game Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light and Wii Sports Resort, which were ousted from the top 10 by new entries Haku Ouki Yugiroku from Idea Factory and 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa from EA.

Below are Media Create's weekly Japanese charts for the week ended May 16, 2010:

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.. 

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.

PlatinumGames and Sega's Bayonetta kicked her way to the top of the Japanese game charts, moving nearly 200,000 copies during week one, making it the country's bestselling game. So long Pokemons!

It was the PlayStation 3 version of Bayonetta, responsible for 135,000 of those copies sold in Japan, that secured the top spot on Media Create's list. It beat new DS release Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden by more than a hair, forcing Square Enix's latest outing to settle for second. The Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta sold a little less than half of its PS3 counterpart, giving it a second top ten spot.

PlatinumGames saw chart-topping success its previous DS release Infinite Space, which debuted at number one in June.

The week was strong with new releases, including Tekken 6 for the PS3 and 360 - again, the PS3 won that contest - Persona 3 Portable and the "Universal Tuning" re-release of Dissidia Final Fantasy. Starting off slowly were two other new releases, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS and Sin & Punishment 2 for the Wii. Those games charted at spots 16 and 21, respectively.

01. Bayonetta (PS3) - 135,000 / NEW
02. Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden (DS) - 115,000 / NEW
03. Tekken 6 (PS3) - 103,000 / NEW
04. Persona 3 Portable (PSP) - 94,000 / NEW
05. Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS) - 88,000 / 2,844,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 81,000 / 780,000
07. Bayonetta (Xbox 360) - 64,000 / NEW
08. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 53,000 / 1,519,000
09. Inazuma Eleven 2 (DS) - 41,000 / 527,000
10. Super Robot Taisen NEO (Wii) - 27,000 / NEW

More after break.. Stay tuned for the hardware numbers in the UPDATE.