Japan Charts: Nippon Ichi's Phantom Kingdom debuts on top

The latest strategy title from Nippon Ichi Software, Phantom Kingdom, has gone straight in at number one in the Japanese software charts, leading a pack of new releases in the top ten as the market slowly recovers from a major slump.

PS2 title Phantom Kingdom follows on from titles such as Disgaea and La Pucelle Tactics, which have gained a cult following outside Japan as well as increasing commercial success in their home territory.

With sales of around 73,000 units, Phantom Kingdom is at the head of a pack of eight new releases which dominate the top ten this week, the next biggest new release being Bandai's anime-based One Piece Grand Battle! Rush, which comes in at number three on the PS2 and number eight on the Cube.

Nintendo's Donkey Konga 3 makes its debut at number four on the Cube, while Konami's PS2 duo of Enthusia Professional Racing and NANA come in at numbers six and seven respectively.

The only DS game in the ranking is Marvelous' new release Harvest Moon: Colobockle Station, which comes in at number seven, ahead of Sony's new PSP title Ape Escape: On the Loose at number nine, while another PSP game, Tales of Eternia, props up the ranking at number ten.

Overall, the market is up by around 20 per cent over last week, continuing its slow climb out of the slump at the start of March which saw sales sink to their lowest point of the year to date.

In hardware terms, meanwhile, the PlayStation Portable continues to lead the pack with 36 per cent market share, ahead of the PS2 on 33 per cent and the Nintendo DS on just over 18 per cent, although the DS maintains a significant lead in terms of overall installed base.

The Game Boy Advance also continues to sell surprisingly well, with just shy of 10 per cent market share this week, while the GameCube drops to its lowest level in many months, with under three per cent share.