Ah, remember Link's Crossbow Training? The game that was bundled with the Wii Zapper last November (December, for PALs)? It was only released in Japan last week. If sales are any indication, though, Japanese gamers were clamoring for the goron-junk shooter rail shooter, as it claimed the third place spot.
Even so, Link had to hail to the king (baby), as Mario Kart Wii still dominated the charts. The other big news for Mario Kart Wii? It passed one million sales in the Far East, denoting its success. Meanwhile, Deca Sports clamored back into the top ten, but Brawl only slipped further downward, thus answering our question from last week. Also proving that the Japanese love their sports games for the Wii, Bandai Namco's Pro Baseball Family Stadium debuted at spot twenty.
The Wii triumphed in hardware last week as well. While the console continues to trail behind Sony's handheld, Wii sales went up almost 30,000 units from last week -- perhaps from the Link's Crossbow boost. Go on and check things out for yourself after the break, if you feel so inclined.
Mario Kart Wii continues to top the charts in Japan, but a lot of movement happened with the Wii's other software. Because a bunch of new games came out last week, Wii Sports, Deca Sports, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl were all knocked out of the top ten. We know that Wii Sports will return to top ten fame soon enough, since it always does, but we'll be interested to see whether the other two titles can pull that off as well.
On the hardware side of things, the Wii got sandwiched by the two portables as it jumped up into second place:
PSP: 92,411
Wii: 48,796
Nintendo DS: 42,435
PlayStation 3: 9,107
PlayStation 2: 7,108
Xbox 360: 1,283
To see the software sales, just bring your super smooth moves past the break.
It looks like just the same old stuff for Wii sales in Japan last week. Wait a minute -- what's that, you say? Mario Kart Wii dominated Japan? Sure enough, sitting pretty at the top of the charts is Nintendo's famous kart racer, with almost half a million copies sold in its first week.
Despite the Mario Kart bump, the Wii only took third place in hardware. Considering that Japanese gamers love them some handhelds, though, that's not too much of a surprise. One little observation that may floor you, on the other hand, is that Brawl was already overtaken by Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G in total sales.
For the first time in a long time, the Wii is down to having only five games in Japan's top thirty. As House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return fell of the charts in its second week and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV disappeared after having a good run, only the regulars remain.
Deca Sports is the exception, being the only Wii title on the charts without either "Wii" or "Smash Bros." in its name, but even that is showing early signs of fatigue. While the game managed to nab the eighth spot and sell 29,000 copies, its Nintendo counterpart, Wii Sports, is nipping at its heels in spot twelve. This may seem insignificant, but keep in mind that Wii Sports has been out for around seventeen months, wheras Deca Sports has only been out for two weeks.
In the hardware department, the Wii got a beat down from the handhelds (especially the PSP), but still continues to do better than any other console in Japan. This week, for example, the Wii sold over four times the amount of PS3s, its closest console competitor.
Of course, you can just take a look at all the numbers for yourself by clicking past the break.
Goodbye, Family Ski and Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 -- we hardly knew ye. While Family Ski enjoyed a seven-week run in the top thirty, Wining Eleven (aka Pro Evolution Soccer) only lasted for four. It's no coincidence that they fell off this week, though, as fifteen spots were taken up by new releases.
The big Wii dog in town was not Brawl (which ended up 7th), and not even Wii Fit (which ended up 5th), but new release Deca Sports. We can't help but wonder if the appearance of Deca Sports will have an effect on that other sports game for the Wii. Is there room for both on the charts? (We think so.) And will Deca Sports have the same longevity as Wii Sports? (Probably not, but we're sure the game will do well for itself.) It's also worth noting that Deca Sports had the third highest third-party sales debut for the Wiil, following only Dragon Quest: Swords and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Japanophiles and sales chart nerds, it's that time of week again to take a look at last week's sales in the Land of the Rising Sun. Those of you who've been keeping up won't find much excitement in this week's chart, though. All the same software from the week before showed up, but it might not be long before Family Ski and Winning Eleven fall out of the top thirty.
It was also nice to see Metroid Prime 3: Corruptionstick around, as the Nintendo FPS nabbed the number eleven spot for this week. Other than that, the only noticeable difference is that Smash Bros. dropped to fourth. What's interesting is that Brawl is no longer the best selling Wii game, either, as Wii Fitreclaimed that honor. We also learned that you can't keep the big three (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Wii Play) out of the top ten for long.
In hardware sales, the Wii fell a smidge behind the PSP, and did only slightly better than the DS.
Hardware:
PSP: 57,651
Wii: 55,845
Nintendo DS: 53,266
PlayStation 3: 14,934
PlayStation 2: 9,930
Xbox 360: 1,744
To see the software numbers and rankings for last week, make sure to click past the break.
To most of us, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is old news. The U.S. has had it since last summer, and even Europe has been enjoying the game for a few months now. It only debuted in Japan last week, though, and we were happily surprised to see it make the top five. It only sold 32,000 copies in its first week, but that's still not too shabby for a Metroid game in Japan. Hopefully, the game will have some legs and not plunge off the charts after its first week, like many other first-person shooters tend to do.
As for other software, the Wii didn't have too many games in the top thirty -- only eight, in fact -- yet it was still the second most represented gaming system on the charts. With the exception of the aforementioned Metroid and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV, all the Wiis top games have consistently stuck around for (at least) a few weeks.
In other news, Smash Bros. once again failed to take the first place spot. The game beat out last week's chart champ, the new Gundam for the PS2, but fell behind the newly released Yakuza 3.
In hardware, the Wii claimed the top spot once again as Japan is clearly so over the Mint Green PSP (that was so five minutes ago). You can check out the hardware and software numbers for last week in Japan after the break -- we recommend that you do so.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl hung onto the top spot last week, but not by much. For the first time, the king of Nintendo fighters was actually close to the game behind it, with a lead of less than 10,000 units. Considering that Brawl has dominated for a month and is already over the million mark, though, we're not surprised to see a little less dominance from the title.
A lot of new software was released last week, which finally caused Super Mario Galaxy to fall out of the top thirty. Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 was the Wii's new game, debuting at the number six spot. Family Ski also managed to jump up five spots, despite the plethora of new titles.
On the hardware side, the Wii continues to reign in first place. The PSP and DS aren't too far behind, but the Wii is outselling the PS3 4:1 with the help of Brawl.
You can check out the listings and sales numbers -- they're posted after the break.
The Wii extended its hardware lead over the PSP this week (which dropped to third), as Smash Bros. continued to dominate in software. Family Ski fell out of the top ten, but still shows some legs at spot sixteen.
Predictably, Nintendo's big games (i.e., games with "Wii" in their titles) are still doing well on the charts. Super Mario Galaxy, which has been in danger of falling out of the top thirty, managed to hang in tough despite the big load of new releases littering the chart.
The Wii also had the second best showing of games this week, with six in the top thirty (the DS was first with fifteen). With the exception of Namco Bandai's Family Ski, though, they were all first party titles.
The hardware and software numbers are listed for your perusal after the break.
We had a nice little surprise on the Japanese sales charts this week, as Family Ski showed that it has some legs. Debuting at spot twelve last week, Namco Bandai's title inched its way up while other new titles fell, claiming eighth place.
As for Brawl, the game was predictably unable to maintain its outrageous first week sales, but still sold well and took the first spot convincingly. Some regulars made their return to the top, like Wii Fit and Wii Sports, while others fell off the chart completely, like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
The Wii also continues to reign as the top seller in hardware, selling more than triple the amount of PS3s. The PSP, however, is trailing closely at its heels. All in all, we think it was a good week for the Wii, but take a look for yourself after the break.
As we informed you yesterday (and predicted last week), Super Smash Bros. Brawl ripped up the Japanese sales charts. Selling an incredible 820,000 copies in a mere four days, that's not a game to be messed with.
Some other Nintendo titles didn't fare as well, however. Super Mario Galaxy nearly fell out of the top thirty this week. Brawl, it seems, is starting to cannibalize Galaxy's sales. Wii Fit'sstreak as the number one game also ended with Brawl's success. Not only that, but Wii Fit was pushed to number five by the plethora of new games released last week. Most of the other Wii games got knocked down, too, like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, and Mario Party.
Family Ski represented the top third-party Wii game this week, ending up at number twelve. That's not too shabby, especially considering that the game wasrumored to have poor first-day sales.
Oh, and did we mention that the Wii was the top seller in hardware, for the second week in a row? We wonder how long Brawl will be able to keep it at the top.
The full hardware and software numbers are listed after the break, as usual.
Let's face it: the Japanese sales numbers for the week of 1/21 are just foreplay. What we really want to know is how Super Smash Bros. Brawl did, although rumors are coming in that the game sold a whopping 500,000 copies in its first day. All this hype even catapulted the Wii above the DS in hardware sales last week, according to the numbers released by Famitsu. We think the Wii will hold the top spot in Japan for at least another few weeks, while it basks in Brawl's glory.
The Wii may have made a stir in the hardware charts, but all's boring on the software front. Wii Fit shows us its well-toned legs by remaining at the number one spot, and Super Mario Galaxy has fallen out of the top ten once again. Wii Play also slipped a bit, losing some of its former dominance.
To see the Japanese hardware and software figures for last week, look no further than after the break.
We already know that the Wii is doing well in Japan. How has the hardware and software been shaping up against other consoles and games, though? Let's take a look at last week's sales to find out.
The Wii continues to flip-flop positions with the PSP, this time ending up on the more favorable side of the coin. Regaining the second place spot with 76,000 units sold, the Wii only dropped 6,000 units from last week's numbers.
Wii software continues to do well, too -- at least concerning "Wii" and "Mario" games. Wii Fit sales in Japan were even greater than DS handheld sales. Super Mario Galaxy also ended up back in the top ten, in part because of consistent sales, and in part because a few DS games lost steam.
Some other Wii games didn't make the top of the charts, like Trauma Center: New Blood (which sold 3,100 copies last week in its debut).
Check out the actual sales numbers and rankings for hardware and software after the break.
Sales for all systems predictably tumbled last week as Japan's holiday shopping season came to an end. That's not all that dropped, though; the Wii also slipped to third place, while the PSP claimed the second spot. Although the hardware sales reflect Japan's portable-mania, the software sales once again scream Nintendo.
Since we already knew about Wii Fit's million accomplishment, there wasn't much surprise in the software charts. Super Mario Galaxy, however, finally fell out of the top ten as it makes it way toward the million mark.
The Wii got a huge boost in hardware sales thanks to the New Years holiday, which is known to be big for consumerism in Japan. All system sales increased, in fact, but the gap between the Wii and PSP widened as the Wii sold almost 80,000 more units than it did the previous week.
The bump in hardware sales also affected software sales, helping Nintendo regain its domination in the charts. The top twelve games were for Nintendo systems, with a lot of those games either having the words "Wii" or "Mario" in their titles. Wii Sports and Wii Play continue to bully newer titles out of the top ten, while Wii Fit nears the million mark (and according to some trackers, already reached it as of today). Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles also shows some legs by barely making the top thirty, selling 21,000 copies last week for a total of 234,000.
It will be interesting to see whether Super Mario Galaxy can hang in the top ten, but regardless, it seems that the game will hit one million sales relatively soon. Also, expect a huge drop in sales all around next week, as holiday spending in Japan finally comes to an end.
The hardware and software numbers are listed after the break, for your viewing pleasure.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 
The Wii extended its hardware lead over the PSP this week (which dropped to third), as 
