Mario Kart 8 on top in Japan for third week

Mario Kart 8 remained in pole position in Japan last week, thanks in no small part to an absence of strong competition.

It was the third week at number one for Nintendo's long-running franchise, which sold another 42,000 units. That would no doubt be higher if the Wii U had a larger installed base, but Mario Kart 8 has had a positive impact on its trajectory.

In the three weeks prior to Mario Kart 8's launch, the Wii U sold between 6,000 and 9,000 units. On launch week, however, it sold 19,000 units, and has settled between 12,000 and 14,000 since. That isn't quite in keeping with Reggie Fils-Aime's claims of a 4x boost, but it's certainly a better showing for a console in dire need of a change in fortunes.

The software top ten is below, with lifetime sales in parentheses:

• [Wii U] Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo, 05/29/14) - 42,461 (441,205)
• [3DS] Yokai Watch (Level-5, 07/11/13) - 32,960 (1,087,217)
• [3DS] Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus, 06/05/14) - 31,472 (218,329)
• [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2014: Aoki Samurai no Chousen (Konami, 05/22/14) - 20,264 (103,267)
• [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki Evolution (Falcom, 06/12/14) - 19,659 (New)
• [PS3] One Piece: Unlimited World Red (Bandai Namco, 06/12/14) - 18,026 (New)
• [PSV] One Piece: Unlimited World Red (Bandai Namco, 06/12/14) - 10,348 (New)
• [PS4] Thief (Square Enix, 06/12/14) - 8,772 (New)
• [3DS] Card Fight!! Vanguard Lock-On Victory!! (FuRyu, 06/05/14) - 7,315 (39,568)
• [PS4] FIFA 14 World Class Soccer (EA, 02/22/14) - 6,264 (41,436)

The full hardware chart is below, with the prior week's sales in parentheses:

• 3DS LL - 21,267 (30,924)
• PlayStation Vita - 13,299 (11,450)
• Wii U - 12,249 (13,766)
• PlayStation 4 - 8,395 (9,466)
• PlayStation 3 - 6,564 (6,561)
• 3DS - 5,308 (5,346)
• PSP - 4,325 (9,365)
• PlayStation Vita TV - 1,436 (1,193)
• Xbox 360 - 231 (255)

All charts courtesy of Media Create, via Gematsu.