Japan Chart: Another number one for Koei's Dynasty Warriors franchise
Dynasty Warriors 5, the latest instalment in Koei's PS2 action franchise, has gone in at number one in the Japanese software chart this week, soaring past the half million unit sales mark in just three days.
Dynasty Warriors 5, the latest instalment in Koei's PS2 action franchise, has gone in at number one in the Japanese software chart this week, soaring past the half million unit sales mark in just three days.
The title sold some 570,000 units in its first weekend at retail, which is an unquestionably strong debut but is still a little less impressive than the sales of previous titles in the series - with Dynasty Warriors 4 selling 650,000 units in its first week back in 2003, while Samurai Warriors achieved 639,000 units in the same period in 2004.
The performance of the game may have been limited to some extent by the popularity of several other new releases, with Nintendo's latest GameCube exclusive, Star Fox Assault, coming in at number two with 81,000 sales.
There was also a strong showing for Nintendo's handheld platforms, with Capcom's Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team of Colonel on the GBA at number three with 62,000 sales, while Nintendo's own DS title Another Code was at four, with 59,000 sales.
The other new releases for the week were an updated version of Sega's huge-selling Pachinko Slot! First of the North Star title from last year, which came in at number five on PS2, another Sega title, popular RPG series update Sakura Wars 3, at number eight (also on PS2), and finally Namco's retro compilation Namco Museum on PSP, which was the only PSP title in the chart at number nine.
Although DS software continues to outsell PSP software consistently, the PSP is still selling more hardware on a weekly basis - around 15,000 units more this week, with the PSP enjoying almost 33 per cent market share compared with just 21 per cent for the DS, while the GBA lagged on nine per cent.
Sony's handheld platform still has a long way to go to catch up with Nintendo's head-start in terms of the DS installed base, however - if the current rate of sale of both consoles were maintained, Nintendo DS would continue to lead in Japan until almost the end of this year.
In terms of home consoles, however, Sony still rules the roost - the PS2 had 35 per cent market share of the hardware market last week, leaving the GameCube with under three per cent share, while the Xbox managed just 0.2 per cent.
Chart data provided by Media Create. Click here for the full top ten ranking.