Level 5’s Prof. Layton and Pandora’s Box for the Nintendo DS has topped the Japanese Software Chart for the week ending the 2nd of December. Debuting with an impressive 293 897 copies, Prof. Layton proved that puzzle games are still popular among gamers.

Everyone has been eagerly waiting to see how Wii Fit faired in its opening week, it debuted in second place with 261 226 copies. Coupled with Wii Sports and Wii Play (charting at number 14 and 15 respectively), Nintendo seem to have a winning formula that is sure to guarantee them high Wii sales over the holiday season.

It is worth noting that Wii Fit launched on the 1st of December in Japan thus the sales recorded are for just two days. It is rumoured that 300 000 copies of Wii Fit were initially available, meaning that most of the game’s stock sold within the first two days of launch. Reports of Wii Fit now being sold out are unsubstantiated but, if the shipments figures are to be believed and taking into account the high demand for the game, could well prove to be true.

Namco Bandai’s SD Gundam G Generation Spirits for the PS2 is another of this week’s six new entries in the top ten, entering the charts at number 3 with 252 380 copies. Last week’s number 1 Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS from Square Enix drops to fourth place with 134 556 copies while Capcom’s Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes for the PS2 enters the chart at number 5 with 95 409 copies.

Nintendo’s Mario Party DS drops two places to number 6 with 79 531 copies while Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 for the PS2 plummets five places to number 7 with 73 744 copies. The Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed debuts in eighth place with 40 811 copies and Nintendo’s Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii drops three places to number 9 with 40 645 copies. Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters World Championship 2008 for the Nintendo DS debuts in tenth place with 34 620 copies.

Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii remains in eleventh place this week, lacking the sales to pull it back into the top ten. Level 5’s original Prof. Layton (and the Curious Village) for the Nintendo DS is at number 24.

Looking ahead to this week’s chart, the big releases include Sony’s PS3 exclusive Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (known as El Dorado no Hihou in Japan) while two Xbox 360 titles, Microsoft’s Lost Odyssey and Sega’s Virtua Fighter 5, could well mean that the Xbox 360 retains a spot or two in this week’s top ten (Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed for the 360 debuted at number 8 this week).

However, it is Namco Bandai’s latest installment in the popular ‘Tales of’ RPG franchise titled Tales of Innocence that is expected to take the coveted first place on the software chart this week and boost the sales of Nintendo DS hardware.

To read more about last week’s software chart, check out Dragon Quest IV debuts with over 500K.

Software Chart

Source: Chart Track