Namco at number one in Japanese sales chart

Portable role-playing game Tales Of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X has debuted at number one in the Japanese weekly sales charts, as the Nintendo DS family of consoles remains the best-selling hardware.

The new Tales game is a remake of a Japanese-only Game Boy Color title, the first direct sequel in the franchise's history. Although the remake saw relatively strong sales of 108,356 units, they are below par for what is traditionally seen as Japan's third most important role-playing franchise (after Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but not including Pokémon).

There were few other new releases of note this week, with the second highest being visual novel StormLover at number six. D3Publisher's new PSP title sold only 20,087 units on its debut.

The only other new entry in the top 10 was DS title Battle Spirits: Digital Starter from Namco Bandai, which managed to reach the number 10 slot with just 15,338 unit sales.

Other new entries in the top 50 include Nintendo's Tetris Party Deluxe, which entered the charts at number 12 on the DS and at number 41 on the Wii. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II: Special Edition on PS3 entered the charts at number 26.

In terms of hardware the Nintendo DS remained the best overall selling format with 43,708 units sold overall: 21,018 on the DSi XL, 18,238 on the DSi, and 4372 on the DS Lite.

As usual the PSP was the best-selling individual format with 30,397 units, with the PlayStation 3 just behind on 28,630. Despite the continued success of Wii Party and other software in the top 10, Wii sales continue to disappoint with just 18,238 units sold in the last week.

The full Japanese weekly software top ten chart is as follows:

• 1.Tales Of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X (PSP)
• 2. Wii Party (Wii)
• 3. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (PS3)
• 4. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd (PSP)
• 5. Inazuma Eleven 3: Challenge the World!! Spark/Bomber (DS)
• 6. StormLover (PSP)
• 7. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
• 8. Fire Emblem: New Mystery Of The Emblem - Heroes Of Light And Shadow (DS)
• 9. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (Wii)
• 10. Battle Spirits: Digital Starter (DS)

The full Japanese weekly hardware chart is as follows:

• PSP: 30,397
• PlayStation 3: 28,630
• Nintendo DSi XL: 21,018
• Nintendo DSi: 18,318
• Wii: 18,238
• Xbox 360: 5,639
• DS Lite: 4,372
• PlayStation 2: 1,524
• PSPgo: 708