Japanese Charts - 3DS takes dramatic dive, sports rule the charts

News by Brenna Hillier Contributor

Published on Aug. 12, 2011

Media Create's Japanese sales tracking for the week ending August 7 show the 3DS taking an expected downturn, a chart dominated by summer fun, and the PS3 looking very quiet indeed.

Sports cash in on summer vibes
Rhythm Heaven has toppled from the top spot on the charts, which it held for two weeks running, replaced by PSP title J-League Pro Soccer Club! 7: Euro +. Nevertheless, the Wii retained a strong presence in the charts, helped along by the long-delayed release of Epic Mickey, entering at number six.

Nintendo and Namco Bandai both had good weeks, with each nabbing five charters each - half the charts divided between two publishers.

New releases really shook up the summer charts, with Kirby Mass Attack at number two, Toriko: Gourmet Survival at three, All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation at five, and Family Fishing # at six.

RPGs had an underwhelming presence, as Devil Survivor 2 dropped off notably from last week, and Half Minute Hero 2 struggling at 17 in its first week. The more traditional JRPG fare of Elminage III: Ankoku no Shito to Yaiyou no Kyuuden managed a little better at 16.

Sports-themed games, on the other hand, charted strongly, with Family Fishing, Wii Sports Resort, two versions of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2011, and Inazuma Eleven Strikers following J-League's lead.

By coincidence, the PSP version of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2011 and Inazuma Eleven Strikers on Wii both reported identical sales. Huh.

Below you'll find Media Create’s top 20 sales chart for the week ending August 7, 2011. Last week’s figures can be found here.

J-League Pro Soccer Club! 7: Euro + (PSP) - 101,022 (new)
Kirby Mass Attack(DS) - 74,915 (new)
Toriko: Gourmet Survival (PSP) - 62,882 (new)
Rhythm Heaven (Wii) - 62,597
All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation (DS) - 52,575
Epic Mickey (Wii) - 27,257 (new)
Family Fishing # (Wii) - 22,365 (new)
Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Wii) - 18,945 (new)
Taiko Drum Master Portable DX (PSP) - 14,872
Devil Survivor 2 (DS) 12,904
StormLover Karen!! # (PSP) - 12,477 (new)
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball (PS3) - 12,467
Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos # (PSP) - 12,445
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2011 (PSP) - 12,369
Inazuma Eleven Strikers (Wii) - 12,369
Elminage III: Ankoku no Shito to Yaiyou no Kyuuden (PSP) - 11,954 (new)
Half-Minute Hero Second (PSP) - 10,991 (new)
Sengoku Basara: Chronicle Heroes (PSP) - 10,374
Wii Play: Motion (Wii) 8,925
Puyo Puyo! 20th Anniversary # (DS) - 8,748

3DS sales down 75 percent
The announcement of a price cut for the 3DS predictably killed sales of the console, although second hand sales - which entitle the user to entry into the 3DS Ambassador Program - are reportedly through the roof. The 3DS dropped off to a quarter of last week's sales, shamefully overlapped by the DSi LL (XL) and very nearly pipped by the bog-standard DSi. 3DS sales life to date in Japan have now reached 1,310,288.

Otherwise, the charts stayed reasonably static, with the PSP churning out it's usual 30,000 plus sales, and the PS3 and Wii remaining strong. The former saw a minor dip easily accountable by a release drought; only one PS3 game broke the top 20 this week.

Japanese hardware sales, August 01 - August 07, 2011 (separate SKUs)