Japan Charts: Capcom scores No.1 with samurai action title Sengoku Basara

Publisher Capcom has taken the top of the Japanese charts this week thanks to its new samurai hack and slash action title, Sengoku Basara, which sold some 89,000 units in its first weekend at retail.

The game, which is similar to Koei's popular Dynasty Warriors franchise and casts the player in the role of a warlord from Japan's Sengoku historical era, may well be a successful new franchise for the firm, and was created by Resident Evil 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Devil May Cry character designer Makoto Tsuchibayashi.

The PS2 exclusive title knocked Konami's Jikkyo Power Pro Baseball 12 off the top spot after just a week, with the baseball franchise slipping a single place to number two, while four other new entries made it into the top ten ranking this week.

Nintendo's Mario Superstar Baseball scores a rather more successful first week than Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix did last week, managing a number three ranking and selling about 49,000 units.

Square Enix' latest Fullmetal Alchemist RPG title on the PS2, Fullmetal Alchemist: Kami wa Tsugi Shoujo, is in at number four - selling around 34,000 units - while Konami's new Yu-Gi-Oh! game, DS title Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Nightmare Troubador, is in at number six with around 32,000 sales.

Finally, Sega's anime licensed GBA title Bleach Advance comes in at number nine; a new Bleach title is also on the way for the PSP, following the success of Bleach: Beat The Soul on the platform, and may be a key title for the console in Japan later this year.

In total, there are four PS2 games in the top ten, three DS titles - Gentle Brain Exercises and DS Training for Adults: Work Your Brain are both still selling strongly - two GBA titles and one solitary Cube title.

In hardware sales, however, the DS continues to dominate the market - it had over 41 per cent market share this week, more than double the sales of the PSP, which stood at just below 19 per cent share.

The PS2, meanwhile, was on just under 26 per cent, while the GameCube continues to sell very slowly with around three per cent share. Interestingly, the GBA is still holding more than 10 per cent market share by units each week - this week it was over 11 per cent - which suggests that there's still a demand for the older console, and indicates that Nintendo's decision to relaunch it as the Game Boy Micro in September may be a very shrewd one.