Nintendo’s highly anticipated Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii has proved it has what it takes, and more! The title smashed records by selling a whopping 820 000 copies in its first week on the Japanese sales charts.

The latest figures from Media Create have been hotly anticipated after rumours about early sales figures leaked from Famitsu. Brawl fans from around the world were whipped into a frenzy with reports that first day sales of SSBB had reached 500 000 copies and that it had sold through 80% of its initial stock. The latest installment in the Smash series was released in Japan on the 31st of January but North American gamers can only enter the brawl on the 9th of March while European gamers are still uncertain about a PAL release date (despite rumours circulating about a 1st of June release date, no official announcement has yet been made).

The first week sales figures for SSBB for the week ending the 2nd of February also mean that Nintendo has snatched up another title (albeit from themselves). N64’s Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the previous holder of the award for biggest opening day for a Nintendo console game ever, which recorded 386 234 copies in its opening week. With a staggering 820 000 copies sold in its first week, it looks like SSBB is destined to stay in the record hall for another few years at the very least.

Bear in mind that the sales figures are for the period running from the 28th of January to the 3rd of February but with SSBB being released on the 31st of January the sales figure of 820 000 accounts for four days sales.

Capcom also records success with DMC4

Somewhat overshadowed by the success of SSBB but still recording an excellent performance was Capcom’s Devil May Cry 4. The PS3 version debuted at number 2 with 205 000 copies while the Xbox 360 version entered the fray at number 7 with 40 000 copies.

The top 10 software chart features a total of seven new entries this week, with some previous big titles falling considerably as a result. Namco Bandai’s Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut for the PS2 debuts at number 3 with 117 000 copies while Banpresto’s Haruhi Suzumiya’s Wonderment, also for the PS2, is new at number 4 with 114 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Wii Fit has held the number 1 spot for a couple of weeks now but this week drops four places to number 5 with 73 000 copies. The new PS3 title from Nippon Ichi Software, Disgaea 3, debuts at number 6 with 55 000 copies. Nintendo’s Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Nintendo DS drops four places to number 8 this week with 34 000 copies while the PS3 version of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed sneaks on to the charts in ninth place with 28 000 copies. Last week’s number 2, Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven: Ubiquitous Evolution 2008 for the PSP plummets to number 10 with 26 000 copies.

Previous top tens plummet

Let’s take a closer look at which titles dropped out of the top ten this week. Nintendo’s Wii Sports and Mario Party DS drop from last week’s number 5 and 6 to finish eleventh and thirteenth respectively. Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd for the PSP drops seven places to number 14 while Levels 5’s Prof. Layton and Pandora’s Box for the Nintendo DS also drops seven places to number 17. Namco Bandai’s Doraemon Baseball: Dramatic Stadium for the Nintendo DS falls from last week’s number 8 to number 19. Lucky Star: Misasagi Sakura Gakuen Sakura Fuji Festival from Kadokawa Shoten for the PS2 crashes twenty places to number 23 this week. The biggest faller of the week is Sting’s Yggdra Union for the PSP which debuted at number 9 last week but this week has completely fallen out of the top thirty.

Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy continues its downward trend from last week’s number 17 to number 28 this week. It will be interesting to see if it will drop completely out of the top thirty next week or if SSBB will cause renewed interest in the Wii and possibly a resurgence of Mario’s intergalactic adventure.

Hardware sales tomorrow

Will SSBB cause a surge in Wii sales? Will the Nintendo DS, which narrowly beat Sony’s PSP last week, pull ahead again or lose valuable ground to its handheld competitor this week? Stay tuned for the hardware sales figures for Japan, which will be released tomorrow.

Head over to Quiet before the storm? and Wii Fit flexes its muscles again to brush up on last week’s charts.

Software Chart

Source: Media Create