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Japan has experienced another extremely strong week of sales, with almost the whole top five selling over 100,000 units each, and Namco Bandai's Tamagotchi sequel for DS opening with an impressive 193,000 units sold.

David Jenkins, Blogger

August 4, 2006

2 Min Read

Japan has experienced another extremely strong week of sales, with almost the whole top five selling over 100,000 units each. The big winner of the week, though, is Namco Bandai’s sequel to what is known in the West as Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop. The original is the only third party title in Japan to sell over a million units, and with its sequel opening to increased first-week debut, it could well repeat that feat. Capcom will also be pleased with the performance of historical action game Sengoku Basara 2 for the PlayStation 2, a sequel to the game that debuted in modified form in the West as Devil Kings – which has the original historical backstory replaced with a purely fantastical one. Despite the sport not being a favorite in Japan, Mario Basket 3 on 3 (aka Mario Hoops 3 on 3) for the Nintendo DS has also performed well, as has the latest entry in Chunsoft’s long running text based survival horror adventure series Kamaitachi no Yoru. Sega, however, will be less pleased with the performance of their new Mushiking title which seems unable to repeat the success of the original GBA title, now that the accompanying anime series has ended in Japan. Hardware sales for the week paint an unexpected picture, with Nintendo DS sales dipping to 178,383 from its high last week, in the wake of the release of the Pink colored DS Lite. PSP sales hit a yearly high, though still nowhere near Nintendo's portable, at 42,604 - despite continued weak software sales and only one title in the whole top twenty. The Xbox 360 also had its best results of the year with 2,246 units sold, again despite no significant rise in software sales – with the highest ranked Xbox 360 title being new entry Bullet Witch at number twenty-nine with just 9,083 sales. The PlayStation 2 was the third best selling console of the week, with 26,451 units sold, followed by the Game Boy Advance family of consoles at 4,004 units and the GameCube at 1,039.

TW

LW

Title

Publisher

Format

Weekly Sales

1

NE

Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi Gohi-Kini

Bandai

DS

192,458

2

NE

Sengoku Basara 2

Capcom

PS2

135,850

3

1

New Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo

DS

114,225

4

NE

Mario Basket 3 on 3

Nintendo

DS

110,708

5

NE

Kamaitachi no Yoru 3

Sega

PS2

97,315

6

2

Shaberu! DS Oryouri Navi

Nintendo

DS

61,326

7

3

Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS

Nintendo

DS

53,103

8

NE

Derby Stallion P

Enterbrain

PSP

49,206

9

5

Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training

Nintendo

DS

32,419

10

NE

Kouchuu Ouja Mushi King: Greatest Champion e no Michi 2

Sega

DS

31,763

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About the Author(s)

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

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