EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: monsterhunterportable2ndg

Monster Hunter Portable 2G (known as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in the West) has broken PSP records by becoming the first PSP title to ship more than 3.5 million copies in Japan.

Monster Hunter Portable 2G was first released in Japan in March 2008 and later went on to become the best selling title of 2008 in Japan. An enhanced version of the game known as ‘Best’ was released in October and has gone on to ship over 1 million copies. In fact this popular title still makes a regular appearance in the Top 10 Japanese Software Chart. Combined sales of 2G and Best have pushed the Monster Hunter Portable game over the record 3.5 million copies mark.

The latest entry to the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter 3 (tri-), will be available across Japan on the 1st of August. The game will be available standalone or bundled with the Nintendo Wii in a special pack, the first third party game to be bundled as such according to Capcom.

Source: Capcom Blog

For the second week in a row, Mario Kart Wii topped the Japanese software chart, selling 202 000 copies and bringing its two week total to 795,000 according to video game sales tracking company Media Create. It is rapidly approaching the total sales of Mario Kart’s last outing on the GameCube and should surpass it in next week’s figures.

Another outperformer is Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G which managed another 124 000 sales in its fourth week on the market. As an expanded release of Monster Hunter Portable 2, it has quickly outsold every other PSP title in Japan on its way to 1 714 000 copies sold and at this rate could reach the 2 million mark.

A new release from Nintendo on the DS showed up in third place. It doesn’t have an official English announcement yet, so we’re using a name translated from Japanese as We’re Fossil Diggers (or Collectors). The game managed 35 000 copies sold for the week.

Slow week for new releases

Meanwhile, Wii Fit continues its climb to 2 million, this week selling 32 000 copies for a to-date total for 1 897 000. Koei’s Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns rounds out the top five on the PS2 with 24 000 copies sold.

Very few new releases showed up this week, the only ones in the top 30 being We’re Fossil Diggers, 2 super-budget releases from the Phoenix Wright series (both being the fourth release of each game, and the third outing for each on the DS), and a Bookkeeping title from Square-Enix on the DS. This means the rest of the top 10 was filled with holdovers - Pokemon Ranger, Beautiful Writing Training DS, Deca Sporta, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Wii Sports. After a fairly inconspicuous start, Deca Sporta has steadily climbed to 148 000 copies sold - an excellent result for Hudson.

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G for the PSP topped the Japanese software chart for the week ending the 30th of March. It stormed the Japanese gaming scene, selling a whopping 880 000 copies in its opening week. This figure is comparable to Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s first week of sales which totaled 820 000 copies and then went on to sell 1 million copies in the first 11 days of its release in Japan.

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G is the latest installment in the hugely popular Monster Hunter series. It was released in Japan on the 27th of March along with a hardware bundle. Capcom has confirmed that this expansion to Monster Hunter Portable 2 is the fastest in the series to become a million seller when it shipped over 1 million units in six days in Japan. Capcom also confirmed that the Monster Hunter series has sold 6.3 million units to date since the first title was released in 2004 for the PS2.

Milestones

Now in its second week on the chart, last week’s number 1 Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage for the Nintendo DS drops one place to number 2 with 106 000 copies. Namco Bandai’s Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for the Nintendo DS enters the chart at number 3 with 49 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Wii Fit is still keeping up the pace and moves up one spot to number 4 with 42 000 copies. It is interesting to note that Wii Fit has almost reached the 2 million sales mark, its life-to-date sales currently stand at 1.794 million. Namco Bandai’s Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Colors for the PSP debuts at number 5 with 34 000 copies while the PS2 version enters the chart at number 7 with 30 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl continues to be popular, moving up one place to sixth with 34 000 copies. Super Smash Bros. Brawl has now passed Super Smash Bros. Melee in Japan. Brawl was released on the 31st of January 2008 and its life-to-date sales stand at 1.524 million as at the 30th of March while Japan-Game Charts confirm that Melee (released on the 21st of November 2001) has chalked up life-to-date sales of 1.349 million as at the 31st of December 2006.

Hudson’s Deca Sporta for the Wii tumbles six places to number 8 with 29 000 copies and EA’s SimCity DS 2: From the Past to the Future drops five positions to number 9 with 25 000 copies. Banpresto’s Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land for the Nintendo DS drops two places to number 10 with 19 000 copies.

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