Dragon Quest Monsters back on top in Japanese chart

Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional has returned to the number one spot in the Japanese weekly software chart, a month after its initial debut.

An unusual feat for any game in the fast-moving Japanese charts, the title's success is particularly notable as it is merely an expansion of an earlier 2010 title - with new monsters and regions. The Profession edition sold 74,000 units last week, for a lifetime total so far of 411,000 units in Japan.

Results for hardware sales have not yet been released, as Japan is currently enjoying the Golden Week series of holidays that run almost the entire week.

There were few high profile new releases in the week immediately before the holidays, with the highest ranking being tactical role-playing game Final Promise Story from Imageepoch. The PSP title sold 60,000 units in its first week.

Ignition's El Shaddai, from ex-Capcom designer Takeyasu Sawaki, enjoyed a strong debut at number three with 58,000 units sold. The Xbox 360 version entered the charts at number 14.

Sony's Patapon 3 for PSP, already released in Europe, sold 49,000 units at number four; while female-targeted dating game Starry * Sky: In Winter sold 15,000 units on PSP, at number nine.