Fri, Oct 28, 2011 | 00:30 BST

Japanese Charts – Macross tops, Western shooters respectable

Media Create’s sales tracking data for the week of October 17 to October 23 shows a mixed bag dominated by a popular and long-lasting anime franchise.

Software
Gekijouban Macross F: Sayonara no Tsubasa made a strong debut – you may know the franchise by its Western adaptation, Robotech. This one’s based on the movie of the same name, apparently, and is the sequel to Macross Frontier: Itsuwari no Utahime.

After last week’s storm, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon sales dropped off sharply, but maintained a more than respectable level.

Sports surged back to dominance after a post-summer lull, perhaps triggered by the release of FIFA 12, which in its first week only just pipped sales of Winning Eleven – Pro Evolution Soccer – months after launch.

A couple of new Western first person games appeared, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution proving a little underwhelming and Dead Island, of all things, even managing to pull a chart entry on the Xbox 360.

New releases accounted for almost half of the software charts, with perennial favourites dying back a little; hopefully the holiday release crunch will refresh things a little.

Top 20 Software Chart by Platform

PS3 – 7
Wii – 5
3DS – 3
PSP – 3
Xbox 360 – 1
DS – 1

Gekijouban Macross F: Sayonara no Tsubasa (PS3) – 142,607
Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Impact (PSP) – 53,148
Go Vacation (Wii) – 47,209
Just Dance (Wii) – 45,580
Dead Island (PS3) – 39,945
FIFA 12 (PS3) – 25,640
World Soccer Winning Eleven 2012 (PS3) 22,902
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (PS3) – 18,120
AKB1/48: Idol to Guam de Koishitara…(PSP) – 17,562
Dead Island (Xbox 360) – 13,147
Rhythm Heaven (Wii) – 12,377
Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Wii) – 12,334
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3) – 8,707
NBA 2K12 (PS3) – 8,701
Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary: Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I-II-III (Wii) – 8,354
Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends (3DS) – 7,980
Kirby Mass Attack (DS) – 7,309
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) – 7,133
Tetris Axis (3DS) – 6,787
Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (PSP the Best) – 6,685

Hardware
The 3DS was back on top again, for the sixth week in a row. Nintendo’s price cut seems to have mollified Japanese consumers at least; the 3DS is taking a reasonable share of the software charts on a regular basis now. The upcoming release of Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land is likely to see anther surge in console sales, too.