New3 DS

Nintendo's enjoyed plenty of dominance in the Media Create Japanese charts in recent years, but major releases on rival systems have seen it lose out in recent weeks. The big N will no doubt be considering the cost of key franchises being released elsewhere, as Sony enjoys a week on top.

To start with software, the major story is significant sales success for Dragon Quest Heroes, which is a blend of the iconic Square Enix franchise and Dynasty Warriors; the PS3 and PS4 entries take the top spots, with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D grabbing third place. It's a week in which new releases on Sony systems are dominant, with some Nintendo and Level-5 evergreen releases still present; the top 20 is below with lifetime sales in brackets.

  1. [PS3] Dragon Quest Heroes (Square Enix, 02/26/15) – 325,446 (New)
  2. [PS4] Dragon Quest Heroes (Square Enix, 02/26/15) – 269,303 (New)
  3. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (Nintendo, 02/14/15) – 39,751 (341,997)
  4. [PSV] God Eater 2: Rage Burst (Bandai Namco, 02/19/15) – 37,650 (271,829)
  5. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Shinuchi (Level-5, 12/14/14) – 16,443 (2,513,906)
  6. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire (Pokemon, 11/21/14) – 12,680 (2,537,857)
  7. [PSV] Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Memory of the Forest (FuRyu, 02/26/15) – 10,622 (New)
  8. [PS3] Dragon Ball Xenoverse (Bandai Namco, 01/29/15) – 8,249 (81,087)
  9. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo, 09/13/14) – 8,159 (2,165,812)
  10. [3DS] The Seven Deadly Sins: Unjust Sin (Bandai Namco, 02/11/15) – 7,631 (42,869)
  11. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom, 10/11/14) – 7,595 (2,485,659)
  12. [PS4] God Eater 2: Rage Burst (Bandai Namco, 02/19/15) – 7,405 (45,229)
  13. [PSV] Diabolik Lovers: Dark Fate (Idea Factory, 02/26/15) – 7,263 (New)
  14. [PSV] Parfait (TGL, 02/26/15) – 5,697 (New)
  15. [PS3] Samurai Warriors 4-II (Koei Tecmo, 02/11/15) – 5,008 (58,518)
  16. [PS4] Dragon Ball Xenoverse (Bandai Namco, 01/29/15) – 4,995 (59,438)
  17. [Wii U] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Nintendo, 12/06/14) – 4,936 (597,730)
  18. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/12) – 4,917 (3,928,335)
  19. [Wii U] Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo, 05/29/14) – 4,898 (925,990)
  20. [PS4] The Order: 1886 (SCE, 02/20/15) – 4,840 (29,863)

Moving onto hardware, the success of Dragon Quest Heroes helped PS4 sales almost double - the New Nintendo 3DS LL (XL) is still in third-place with consistent sales, though would claim second overall if combined with other 3DS models; the Wii U had a small climb. The figures are below, with last week's sales in brackets.

  • PlayStation 4 – 46,139 (24,737)
  • PlayStation Vita – 23,619 (35,203)
  • New 3DS LL – 22,620 (23,466)
  • PlayStation 3 – 8,926 (5,810)
  • New 3DS – 8,515 (8,657)
  • Wii U – 6,606 (6,070)
  • 3DS – 2,795 (2,707)
  • 3DS LL – 2,666 (3,343)
  • PlayStation Vita TV – 838 (731)
  • Xbox One – 703 (1,381)

Nintendo's systems are somewhat between major releases at the moment, and it'll be interesting to see whether the 3DS, in particular, can re-assert itself in the hardware charts in the coming weeks.

[source gematsu.com]