Japan Charts: Square Enix' Kingdom Hearts II leaps to the fore

The latest collaboration between Square Enix and Disney, Kingdom Hearts II, has shot straight in at number one in the Japanese software chart, racking up sales of some 725,000 units in its first weekend on sale.

The PS2 game, which like its predecessors on the PS2 and GBA features a mixture of characters from Disney properties and Square Enix' Final Fantasy series, has been one of Japan's most eagerly awaited new titles throughout the year.

Interest in Kingdom Hearts II has also been stirred recently by the massive success of the title song for the game, "Passion", which is performed by top-selling Japanese artist Hikaru Utada, who also performed the Kingdom Hearts title song "Hikari" ("Simple and Clean" in the overseas versions of the game).

Following behind Kingdom Hearts II in the ranking is Nintendo's DS title Animal Crossing: Wild World, which sells a further 416,000 units this week to top a million sales in its first two weeks in the charts.

It leads a total of five DS titles in the top ten, with Mario Kart DS at number three, Pokemon's Mysterious Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team at five, Bandai's Tamagotchi Connection at number seven and DS Training for Adults at number ten.

Another Nintendo title, the GBA edition of Pokemon's Mysterious Dungeon (Red Rescue Team), also sold strongly in the top ten this week and came in at number six in the overall chart.

Aside from Kingdom Hearts II, only two new titles made it into the chart this week - namely Bandai's anime-based beat 'em up Naruto: Narutimate Hero 3 on PS2 at number four, and Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence at number eight.