Dragon Quest beats Metal Gear in Japan

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 on Nintendo DS was the biggest selling game during Japan's Golden Week holidays, easily overcoming competition from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on the PSP.

Although Square Enix's Dragon Quest remains the most popular non-Nintendo franchise in Japan the Monsters sub-series does not command quite the same high sales as the mainline franchise. Instead of the 2 million-plus first week sales regularly seen by numbered sequels the new game recorded a more modest 623,643 unit sales.

Konami's new Metal Gear game on PSP sold in similar amounts to the debuts of the other numbered home console sequels in the series, with 434,366 unit sales overall.

The other major release of the week was Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV, with the PlayStation 3 version at number three with 80,882 unit sales and the Xbox 360 version at number five with 28,454 unit sales.

These first week totals compare favourably to those of the original version of the game, which previously sold 86,000 and 38,000 on the PS3 and 360, respectively.

The final new entry of the week in the top 10 was Tomy's latest Hitman Reborn! anime tie-in on the Nintendo DS. The new title recorded 24,050 unit sales at number eight in the charts.

Also of note is the debut of Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Conviction on Xbox 360 at number 13, the latest in an increasingly long line of Western title to perform well in the Japanese charts.

The rest of the top 10 was composed of the usual evergreen Nintendo formats, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario Kart Wii performing particularly well during Golden Week, whose festivities include the gift-giving "Children's Day".

As a result there was a surge in hardware sales, with the PSP benefiting the most as the PSP became the best-selling overall and individual format. Combined sales with the PSPgo stood at 61,205 units, just over double the previous week's total.

By comparison combined sales for the DS family of console amounted to 45,265 units, an increase of only 15,000 on the previous week.

The PlayStation 3 saw gains of around 7,000 units to a total of 32,874, while the Wii increased by a near identical margin to 30,757.

The Japanese software chart for the week ending May 2 was as follows:

• 01 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS)
• 02 Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (PSP)
• 03 Super Street Fighter IV (PS3)
• 04 New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
• 05 Super Street Fighter IV (360)
• 06 Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
• 07 Friend Collection (DS)
• 08 Hitman Reborn! DS Fate of Heat III (DS)
• 09 Nier (PS3)
• 10 Wii Fit Plus (Wii)

The Japanese hardware chart for the week ending May 2 was as follows:

• PlayStation Portable - 59,315
• PlayStation 3 - 32,874
• Wii - 30,757
• DSi XL - 25,569
• DSi - 15,628
• Xbox 360 - 4943
• DS Lite - 4068
• PSPgo - 1890
• PlayStation 2 - 1577