Mario Wii Nears 2.5 Million in Japan

The latest Japanese sales have been released by Media Create and it seems that the Japanese gaming otaku simply just cannot get enough of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with the title nearing the 2.5 million mark since its early December release and anecdotal reports pointing to the fact that the game is sold out in many stores. Therefore, the way it is currently going, it may well sell three million copies by the end of the month. Selling another half million this week means that it regains the No.1 spot from last week's victor, Final Fantasy XIII. The PS3 RPG drops to No.4 with sales of just under 190,000 units, which is following the same pattern other mainline Final Fantasy games have done in the past, but it is not enough to prevent the new Zelda DS game and Friend Collection on DS to climb above it.

As for Zelda's sales, Spirit Tracks starts almost as well as Phantom Hourglass did in Japan. The first Zelda DS has so far passed 900,000 sales in Japan, but whether Spirit Tracks can follow suit is another matter. Next week's numbers should help give some indication, especially given how this week's sales represent almost half of the initial stock Nintendo sent out to retail. Level-5 projected sales of 800,000 for Inazuma Eleven 2, but recently announced a million units had been shipped to retailers. Now, after selling around 100,000 this week, the game is only 92,000 units away from crossing the million sales barrier - a feat no single Professor Layton game has yet to do. Taiko no Tatsujin 2 is another shock performer, with its first week sales making it look like a disaster compared to last year's Wii debut. However, a few weeks later it has climbed back into the Top 10, increasing its sales each week and has accrued 200,000 units. Other strong performers are PokePark for Wii, New Super Mario Bros. on DS and Samurai Warriors 3 for Wii.

Check out the data available so far below:

Media Create Top 50 - 21th-27th December, 2009
1.) (2) New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, Nintendo) - 506,453 | 2,440,280
2.) (NEW) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (NDS, Nintendo) - 291,496 | NEW (47.11% sell-through rate)
3.) (3) Friend Collection (NDS, Nintendo) - 226,920 | 2,316,867
4.) (1) Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix) - 188,511 | 1,690,475
5.) (4) Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (NDS, The Pokemon Company) - 124,704 | 3,464,577
6.) (5) Wii Fit Plus (Wii, Nintendo) - 113,909 | 1,315,167
7.) (6) Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders - Fire / Blizzard (NDS, Level 5) - 99,175 | 908,000
8.) (11) [WII] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 72,355 | 1,568,000
9.) (12) [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii 2 (Namco Bandai) - 63,845 | 200,000
10.) (8) Professor Layton and the Flute of Malevolent Destiny (NDS, Level 5) - 63,549 | 559,000
11.) (7) PokePark Wii: Picachu's Great Adventure (Wii, The Pokemon Company)
12.) (9) Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP, Sega)
13.) (14) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (NDS, Nintendo)
14.) (16) New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo)
15.) (13) Pen 1 Grand Prix: A Penguin's Trouble Special (NDS, Konami)
16.) (18) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PSP, Konami)
17.) (24) Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo)
18.) (27) Momotaro Railway 2010 (Wii, Hudson)
19.) (20) Samurai Warriors 3 (Wii, Koei)
20.) (15) Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam Vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP, Namco Bandai)
21.) (17) Naruto: Shippuden Narutimate Accelerator 3 (PSP, Namco Bandai)
22.) (22) Powerful Pro-Kun Pocket 12 (NDS, Konami)
23.) (25) Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channel (NDS, Namco Bandai)
24.) (19) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Square Enix)
25.) (28) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii, Nintendo)
26.) (35) Doraemon Baseball 2: Nettou Ultra Stadium (NDS, Namco Bandai)
27.) (NEW) Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP the Best) (Reprint) (PSP, Capcom)
28.) (32) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (NDS, Square Enix) - 25,957 | 4,100,968
29.) (NEW) Little Busters! Converted Edition (PS2, Prototype)
30.) (30) Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (NDS, Hudson)
31.) (10) Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (PSP, Namco Bandai)
32.) (36) Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo)
33.) (33) Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou: MM Town de Miracle Change (NDS, Konami)
34.) (NEW) Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (PSP, Ubisoft)
35.) (39) Karaoke Joysound Wii DX (Wii, Hudson)
36.) (34) Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes W (Wii, Namco Bandai)
37.) (NEW) Lucky Star: Net Idol Meister (PSP, Kadokawa Shoten)
38.) (31) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3, Konami)
39.) (21) Tales of Graces (Wii, Namco Bandai)
40.) (29) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS2, Konami)
41.) (23) Stitch! DS Rhythm and Ohana Adventure (NDS, Disney Interactive)
42.) (38) Cooking Mama 3 (NDS, Taito Corporation)
43.) (45) Fresh PreCure! Asobi Collection (NDS, Namco Bandai)
44.) (47) Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo)
45.) (43) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (Wii, Konami)
46.) (37) Kaiju Busters (NDS, Namco Bandai)
47.) (46) Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City (Wii, Nintendo)
48.) (RE) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
49.) (RE) Taiko Drum Master DS: The 7 Island Adventure (NDS, Namco Bandai)
50.) (RE) Wii Play (Wii, Nintendo)

Normally there is some leaked Famitsu data to go alongside the Media Create numbers, but sadly this information has not been made available this week. However, Media Create has now revealed the latest hardware data:

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | 2009 Sales | Lifetime Sales
1.) Wii - 215,129 | 191,915 | 1,962,367 | 9,441,344
2.) Nintendo DS (all models) - 213,109 | 183,347 | 3,978,953 | 29,098,588
3.) PlayStation 3 - 110,519 | 237,086 | 1,764,531 | 4,386,999
4.) PlayStation Portable (all models) - 109,993 | 82,454 | 2,248,171 | 13,606,274
5.) Xbox 360 - 6,489 | 8,965 | 373,357 | 1,202,794
6.) PlayStation 2 - 3,747 | 2,982 | 206,625 | 21,606,154
XX.) Nintendo DSi - 113,984 | 95,227 | 3,015,126 | 4,246,485
XX.) Nintendo DSi LL - 81,430 | 75,241 | 436,264 | 436,264
XX.) Nintendo DS Lite - 17,695 | 11,879 | 527,563 | 17,830,368
XX.) PlayStation Portable - 105,801 | 79,194 | 2,176,319 | 13,534,422
XX.) PSP-Go - 4,192 | 3,260 | 71,852 | 71,852

Interestingly enough, the total hardware sales for Week 52 look like this over the past few years:

2005 - 632,247
2006 - 472,860
2007 - 619,255
2008 - 568,277
2009 - 658,986

So despite the apparent downturn in fortunes for the gaming market in Japan and the general worldwide recession, it was a bumper final week of the year that outstripped even 2005, the year when the DS really took off in Japan.