The eagerly anticipated Monster Hunter 3 was launched across Japan this past Saturday, the 1st of August. Capcom’s initial shipment of the game was over 1 million units, the publisher clearly confident that sales of the Wii exclusive title would reach record highs in its opening week - boosted by Japanese gamers’ eagerness to get their hands on a copy of the game and by the release of the black Wii which was available bundled with Monster Hunter 3.

The Media Create software sales have just been released, showing that Monster Hunter 3 debuted at number 1 on the chart with 520 000 copies, reaching the half a million sales mark in just two days.

Capcom won’t be the only one happy with these sales figures, Nintendo will no doubt also be thrilled because early reports indicate that over 100 000 Wii units were sold for the same period. Of couse the black Wii would have caused the sales fever to run at an all time high and, combined with the release of Monster Hunter 3, it looks like this might just prove to be a lethal combination that is irresistable to Japanese gamers.

Famitsu took these snap shots of a couple of the launch events.

Source: Famitsu via Capcom Unity Blog