Japan Charts: Square Enix' Drakengard 2 takes the top spot
The Japanese software market has seen the arrival of its first hit title in several weeks, with Square Enix' Drag-on Dragoon 2 (known as Drakengard 2 in the west) selling 125,000 units in its first weekend at retail.
The Japanese software market has seen the arrival of its first hit title in several weeks, with Square Enix' Drag-on Dragoon 2 (known as Drakengard 2 in the west) selling 125,000 units in its first weekend at retail.
The game - subtitled as Love Red, Ambivalence Black - sold a similar number of units in its first week to the original Drag-on Dragoon, and according to market research firm Media Create, could eventually outsell its predecessor, which went on to sell 254,000 units in total in Japan.
Only two other new releases made it into the top ten, with Nintendo's own DS Rakubiki Jiten becoming the latest in a long string of DS releases to dent the top of the charts, at number seven this week, while Bandai's anime-licensed PS2 beat 'em up Inu Yasha: Feudal Combat was at number eight.
Elsewhere, the chart was full of familiar titles from the last few weeks - with six PS2 titles and four DS games, led by DS Training for Adults: Work Your Brain at number two, making up the top ten.
However, the market as a whole actually slid slightly compared with last week, despite the success of Drag-on Dragoon 2, and only 412,900 units were sold across the entire top 100 titles as the early summer slump continues.
In hardware terms, the Nintendo DS continues to be Japan's best selling console, managing nearly 35 per cent market share again this week, compared to just over 28 per cent for the PlayStation 2 and just short of 23 per cent for the PlayStation Portable.