Nintendo's 3DS is back on top in Japan's weekly hardware sales charts for the first time in nine weeks, thanks to a boost from the release of Nintendo's high-profile
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
According to numbers provided by tracking firm Media Create (as translated on
NeoGAF), the 3DS sold 40,649 units for the week ending June 19, beating out the PSP's 31,796.
Zelda was the second-best selling game of the week, pushing a healthy 164,110 units for Nintendo.
The last time the 3DS topped the charts was during the week ending April 17th. The release of Nintendo's
Pilotwings Resort may have boosted sales a bit at the time, but the more likely reason was a shortage of PSPs on store shelves, which caused its sales to dip dramatically.
Despite being in second place, the PSP did see a boost during the week, thanks to an anime tie-in called
Little Battler Experience being released by
Professor Layton publisher Level-5. That game topped the charts at 166,187 copies sold, and is among the strongest debuts for a new IP from the company as a publisher (only the Studio Ghibli collaboration
Ninokuni had a stronger debut).
Sales for the remaining hardware types remain flat, with the Xbox 360 continuing to struggle while both the Wii and the DS continue their decline as Nintendo begins phasing out support in favor of their new consoles.
Rounding out the software top five were Sega's
Yakuza: Of The End for the PSP at number 3 with 53,755 copies sold, 5pb's visual novel sequel
Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling for the Xbox 360 at number 4 with 31,666 copies, and a double pack containing the
Steins;Gate sequel and its predecessor at number 5 with 11,041 sold.
The full hardware chart follows.
| LW | TW | Platform | Weekly Sales | Last Week |
|---|
| 2 | 1 | 3DS | 40649 | 24649 |
| 1 | 2 | PSP | 31796 | 26750 |
| 3 | 3 | PlayStation 3 | 16081 | 17104 |
| 4 | 4 | Nintendo DS | 10895 | 10661 |
| 5 | 5 | Wii | 6678 | 6357 |
| 6 | 6 | Xbox 360 | 2875 | 2370 |
| 7 | 7 | PlayStation 2 | 1346 | 1291 |
