Pokemon Still Rules as Overall Game Sales Drop in Japan

Kirby's Epic Yarn and Lord of Arcana only new games in the Top 10.



Call it a calm before the storm: game sales in Japan last week were down across the board according to Media Create (via 4Gamer.net). The Top 20 titles sold a combined 530,590 units, a 34% drop from the week before. Pokemon Black & White still managed to move 168,541 copies, however, good enough for another first place finish. In thirty days on the market, 4,161,397 copies of this new Pokemon adventure have now been sold.

Coming in second with 92,280 copies was another Nintendo property, Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Wii. Indeed, of the eight games on Nintendo platforms in the Top 20 this week, seven of them are published by Nintendo. Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which slipped one spot from its debut last week, is the lone exception. Bumping it down a notch was fellow Square Enix game Lord of Arcana on PSP, the only other new title in the top 10.

A third new game, NBA 2K11, sold 5,167 copies on PS3 which qualified for 19th place. However, that can be viewed as an improvement over NBA 2K10 which didn't even make the Top 20 when it debuted last year.

Showing some impressive staying power was Red Dead Redemption, as the PS3 version only dropped one slot. The Xbox 360 version slipped all the way down to 17th, the only 360 game in the Top 20.

The full Top 10 software chart:

1. Pokemon Black/Pokemon White (DS) - 168,541
2. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) - 92,280
3. Lord of Arcana (PSP) - 69,932
4. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (DS) - 31,247
5. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) - 26,293
6. Wii Party (Wii) - 23,304
7. Gekijouban Macross F Itsuwari no utahime Hybrid Pack (PSP) - 18,071
8. Yakuza Black Panther (PSP) - 11,263
9. Ken to mahou to gakuenmono 3 (PSP) - 9,848
10. Dead Rising 2 (PS3) - 9,761

And the hardware sales:
Home Consoles:

• PS3: 22,201
• Wii: 12,810
• 360: 2,342
• PS2: 1,715

Handhelds:

• PSP: 37,127
• DSi LL: 21,084
• DSi: 20,749
• DS Lite: 5,268
• PSP Go: 1,590

Source