As expected Pokemon fever has once again swept Japan. The newly released remakes of the classic Gold and Silver Pokemon games for the DS, SoulSilver and HeartGold, dominated the top two positions on the Media Create software chart, selling nearly 1.5 million copies combined in Japan in just two days.

Pokemon SoulSilver debuted at number 1 with a whopping 723 000 copies, followed closely by Pokemon HeartGold with 720 000 copies. The two games released last week Saturday in the region (the 12th of September) and, despite reported stock shortages of both titles, sold a combined total of 1.44 million copies.

It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, this will have on the DS hardware sales. Last week the PS3 topped the hardware chart with 151 783 units, almost double the DS (which charted second with 68 728 units) thanks to the release of the new PS3 Slim in Japan. Early reports indicate that the DS only experienced a very slight sales boost this week, despite its domination on the software chart, testament to the huge install base of the handheld in Japan. The PS3, however, is reported to have dropped its sales by roughly a third, settling into second place on the chart. The full hardware chart will be released tomorrow, so check back then for the final results.

Moving back to the software chart now, the ever popular Tomodachi Collection and Dragon Quest IX chart at numbers 3 and 4, selling 74 000 and 37 000 copies respectively (both moving down one spot this week). Two things to note at this point: Tomodachi Collection crosses the one million life-to-date sales mark and four titles for the Nintendo DS occupy the Top 4 spots.

Last week’s number 1, Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki for the PS3, falls to number 5 with 33 000 copies while Wii Sports Resort continues to perform well at number 6 with 32 000 copies. Love Plus from Konami drops three places to seventh, the fifth DS title to chart in the Top 10. Monster Hunter madness continues with Monster Hunter 3 at number 8 with 15 000 copies and Monster Hunter Portable 2G in ninth with 13 000 copies. Marplus Portable Navigator for the PSP is this week’s third new entry, debuting at number 10 with 12 000 copies.

Sloan and MacHale’s Mysterious Story 2, You’ll Incur Losses if You Remain Ignorant and 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de all fall out of the Top 10 this week. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (BEST) for the PS3 is new at number 12 while the Xbox 360 version debuts a little lower at number 14.

Software Chart

• Pokemon Soul Silver (Pokemon Co.) - NDS - 723,000 (New)
• Pokemon Heart Gold (Pokemon Co.) - NDS - 720,000 (New)
• Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) (Nintendo) - NDS - 74,000
• Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky (Square Enix) - NDS - 37,000
• Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki: Lost War Chronicles (Namco Bandai) - PS3 - 33,000 Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - Wii - 32,000
• Love Plus (Konami) - NDS - 22,000
• Monster Hunter 3 (Capcom) - Wii - 15,000
• Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) (Capcom) - PSP - 13,000
• MAPLUS Portable Navigator 3 (Edia Co.) - PSP - 12,000 (New)

Source: Media Create