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It's the time of the week where we consider the Media Create charts from Japan, and the most recent results bring some interesting numbers. One notable new arrival on PS4, and the lack of fresh arrivals on Wii U and 3DS, set the tone.

In the software charts Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 makes its debut at number one for PS4, with Dragon Quest Builders on PS4, PS3 and Vita taking the next three places. The first Nintendo release is Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash in fifth place, dropping down from its debut in second spot, while evergreen releases such as Monster Hunter X (Cross) and Splatoon follow further down. Overall the sales numbers are modest across the top 20 this week; the results below have lifetime sales in brackets.

  1. [PS4] Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (Bandai Namco, 02/04/16) – 64,446 (New)
  2. [PSV] Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix, 01/28/16) – 46,391 (224,407)
  3. [PS4] Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix, 01/28/16) – 37,784 (174,153)
  4. [PS3] Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix, 01/28/16) – 19,151 (72,305)
  5. [Wii U] Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Nintendo, 01/28/16) – 17,856 (73,187)
  6. [3DS] Monster Hunter X (Cross) (Capcom, 11/27/15) – 13,391 (2,674,914)
  7. [Wii U] Splatoon (Nintendo, 05/28/15) – 11,816 (1,240,225)
  8. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team / White Dog Squad (Level-5, 07/11/15) – 10,171 (2,193,737)
  9. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (SCE, 03/19/15) – 8,926 (651,150)
  10. [PS4] Yakuza: Kiwami (Sega, 01/21/16) – 8,046 (131,562)
  11. [3DS] Monster Strike (Mixi, 12/17/15) – 7,891 (787,645)
  12. [PS3] Yakuza: Kiwami (Sega, 01/21/16) – 7,243 (85,262)
  13. [3DS] Hyrule Warriors Legends (Koei Tecmo, 01/21/16) – 6,685 (76,338)
  14. [Wii U] Super Mario Maker (Nintendo, 09/10/15) – 6,134 (790,345)
  15. [PS4] Just Cause 3 (Square Enix, 01/21/16) – 4,414
  16. [PSV] Sangoku Rensenki: Omoide Gaeshi CS Edition (Prototype, 02/04/16) – 4,359 (New)
  17. [PS4] Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 (Koei Tecmo, 01/28/16) – 3,950 (24,051)
  18. [PS4] Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft, 12/10/15) – 3,868 (68,593)
  19. [3DS] Disney Magical World 2 (Bandai Namco, 11/05/15) – 3,659 (270,985)
  20. [PS3] Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 (Koei Tecmo, 01/28/16) – 3,528 (18,959)

Hardware results continue the trends from last week with declines for every system - the Vita's substantial bump has been largely wiped out. Nevertheless Sony's current-gen systems hold the top two spots, though combining the 3DS 'family' sales would take Nintendo's portable past the Vita. The Wii U sees a steep decline, meanwhile, which could be attributed to dropping demand for established titles like Splatoon and Super Mario Maker.

There have also been a handful of reports of Wii U stock shortages at some retail outlets in the country - the home console had a strong festive period in Japan, particularly, and it is feasible that Nintendo's been a little slow producing extra units. That said, we suspect the impact of this apparent stock shortage will be relatively minor in light of steady Wii U sales in the past month.

In any case, the chart is below with last week's sales in brackets.

  1. PlayStation 4 – 31,158 (32,557)
  2. PlayStation Vita – 23,090 (45,114)
  3. New 3DS LL – 19,991 (22,593)
  4. New 3DS – 4,389 (4,978)
  5. Wii U – 3,939 (8,931)
  6. 3DS – 2,705 (3,298)
  7. PlayStation 3 – 1,715 (1,993)
  8. 3DS LL – 459 (558)
  9. Xbox One – 286 (92)

Not a great week for Nintendo, all told, as it awaits major releases to boost its fortunes once again.

[source gematsu.com]