Square Enix’s latest installment in its popular Dragon Quest series has debuted at the top of the Japanese software chart for the week ending the 25th of November. Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS sold a whopping 597 000 copies in its launch week, placing it firmly ahead of the other eight new entries this week.

Konami’s scores as World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 lands second and third place. The PS2 version dominates with 294 000 copies while the PS3 version sells 141 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Mario Party DS is this week’s only non new-entry, selling 110 000 copies in its third week on the charts. Despite dropping three places to number four after two weeks in the number one spot, the game is still selling extremely well in comparison to its second week of 116 000 copies and its launch week of 235 000 copies. To date it has sold an impressive 460 000 copies, proving that Mario is still everyone’s favourite plumber.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess for the PS2 debuts in fifth place with 68 000 copies while Nintendo’s Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii enters in sixth place with 63 000 copies. Sega’s Dinosaur King: The Seven Fragments for the Nintendo DS lands in seventh place with 57 000 copies.

The Mega Man series controls the next two spots with two Nintendo DS games. Capcom’s Mega Man Star Force 2: Beserk × Shinobi is in eighth place with 37 000 copies and Mega Man Star Force 2: Beserk × Dinosaur is at number 9 with 37 000 copies. The top ten is rounded off by Hackberry’s Pachinko Assassin III: Iron Pachi-Chonmage 13 for the PS2 with 36 000 copies.

Apart from Mario Party DS, all of last week’s top ten titles tumble out of the top ten. Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii drops from last week’s number 6 to number 11 this week while Koei’s Shin Sangoku Musou 5 for the PS3 falls from last week’s number 3 to number 13. Capcom’s Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii plummets from last week’s number 2 to number 15 after just one week in the top ten.

Nintendo’s ever-popular Wii Sports drops from number 9 to number 15 after a brief reappearance in the top ten. Last week’s number 4 Pro Baseball Family Stadium DS from Namco Bandai also drops drastically from its debut at number 4 last week to number 16. Konami don’t manage to secure a top ten spot for the Xbox 360 version of World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 which is at number 18. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 from Square Enix for the Nintendo DS drops to number 25 from last week’s number 8.

With five top ten titles the Nintendo DS looks set to continue its dominance on the Japanese hardware chart. However, the struggle for supremacy in the next-gen race between Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PS3 is far from over. The PS3 has beaten the Wii for the past two weeks but with both consoles having the support of just one top ten title, it looks like things are heating up and the race is definitely on.

It will be interesting to see if the PS3 can beat the Wii for a third straight row before we enter the critical holiday season. Stay tuned for the hardware sales figures which will be released tomorrow.

To catch up on last week’s Japanese charts check out Mario Party DS still tops and PS3 outsells Wii for a second week.

Software Chart

Source: Media Create