Kirby 3 DS Dated JP

The Japanese charts seem to follow the patterns of many individuals from the Holiday season into a New Year. Festive excess and gorging makes way for a rapid retreat to the norm, with appetites slowed down to more reasonable levels. The latest Media Create charts show sales figures settling back to standard numbers, with a notable newcomer on the 3DS and some disappointment for the Wii U.

To begin with software, the only new entry in the Media Create top 20 is also the number one, with Kirby: Triple Deluxe claiming the top spot with ease; the top five are all 3DS games. The top 20 is below, with lifetime (physical retail) sales in parenthesis.

1. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe – 214,208 (New)
2. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z – 52,880 (1,216,421)
3. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y – 34,179 (3,870,125)
4. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – 26,286 (323,502)
5. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 – 19,497 (3,179,551)
6. [PS3] Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster – 16,285 (241,733)
7. [3DS] Yokai Watch – 14,195 (308,946)
8. [3DS] Sentouchu Densetsu no Shinobi to Survival Battle – 13,665 (224,869)
9. [Wii U] Super Mario 3D World – 13,079 (452,521)
10. [PSV] Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster Twin Pack – 12,237 (194,407)
11. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 10,929 (3,641,321)
12. [3DS] Attack on Titan: The Last Wings of Mankind – 9,310 (202,029)
13. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto V – 9,299 (674,835)
14. [PS3] Shin Gundam Musou – 9,266 (216,964)
15. [3DS] Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy Big Bang / Supernova – 7,369 (216,964)
16. [3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life – 7,323 (1,645,697)
17. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 – 7,276 (2,258,319)
18. [PSV] Shin Gundam Musou – 6,948 (97,882)
19. [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 – 6,948 (291,010)
20. [PS3] Gran Turismo 6 – 6,099 (297,352)

Hardware sales show significant declines across the board as the retail scene — unsurprisingly — drops away. The pattern does continue in terms of the 3DS remaining as the top-seller, though the Wii U drop has taken it below both Sony's Vita and the PS3.

3DS LL (XL) – 40,038 units
PlayStation Vita – 29,494 units
3DS – 20,116 units
PlayStation 3 – 14,845 units
Wii U – 14,020 units
PSP – 4,758 units
PlayStation Vita TV – 2,522 units
Xbox 360 – 281 units

These are the Media Create results, which exclude the Wii's hardware sales. The Famitsu charts, which are often slightly different from Media Create's, do give a Wii figure of 382, for those interested.

The latest Kirby adventure has succeeded in storming to number one, with its momentum in the coming weeks something to watch. These latest results do show hardware trends starting to revert to pre-December 2013 levels, which is good news for 3DS and less so for Wii U, at this stage.