Japan Charts: Front Mission 4 goes top for Christmas

Square Enix' mech strategy title Front Mission 4 took the top spot in Japan in time for Christmas, while several older titles - including Mario Party 5 and Resident Evil Outbreak - were boosted by the seasonal rise in the market.

PS2 title Front Mission 4 sold over 100,000 units in its first week on sale, while Mario Party 5 also managed to clock up around 100,000 units, giving it the number two sales position in a week which saw over 2.1 million software units sold in Japan.

In fact, it was a good week in general for the GameCube, with Pokemon Colosseum and rhythm action title Donkey Konga also featuring in the top ten, at numbers seven and ten respectively.

Capcom also had a solid Christmas performance, with PS2 online title Resident Evil Outbreak rising to number five in the chart, and top ten rankings for both editions (Blue Moon and Red Sun) of its new GBA title, Mega Man Battle Network 4 Tournament.

Sony's Gran Turismo 4: Prologue was at number three again this week, with the success of this demo giving some hint at the huge levels of anticipation for the game. Expect a first week sales figure in the hundreds of thousands when the full game finally arrives later this year.

In hardware terms, the PS2 maintained its lead with 38.7 per cent market share, just a fraction ahead of the Game Boy Advance with 37.6 per cent share. The GameCube also had a solid showing, with 23 per cent of the market - but the Xbox has fallen back to well under 1 per cent market share, down from the relatively significant numbers it recorded following its price cut at the end of November.

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