Wii U Iwata

The most recent Japanese Media Create game charts were revealed on Christmas Day, and will have certainly brought festive cheer to Nintendo HQ. In the last full shopping week before the big day there were major successes for the company in terms of both hardware and software, with the 3DS dominant and the Wii U maintaining its strong run.

To begin with software, GungHo Online Entertainment's 3DS title Puzzle & Dragons Z maintains its number one position with a further 256,373 units, yet more sales of the portable's iteration to add to the title's phenomenal smartphone success. Pokémon X & Y follows in second place with impressive numbers, while the top 20 as a whole is dominated by 3DS software. There are a couple of Wii U positives, with Super Mario 3D World moving another 86,408 copies to come in fifth, while Wii Party U sneaks into the top 20; the results are below, with lifetime sales (physical retail only) in parenthesis.

1. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z (GungHo Online Entertainment, 12/12/31) – 256,373 (800,003)
2. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y (Nintendo, 10/12/13) – 212,666 (3,572,829)
3. [PS3] Shin Gundam Musou (Namco Bandai, 12/19/13) – 126,019 (New)
4. [PS3] Drakengard 3 (Square Enix, 12/19/13) – 114,024 (New)
5. [Wii U] Super Mario 3D World (Ninendo, 11/21/13) – 86,408 (327,514)
6. [PSV] Shin Gundam Musou (Namco Bandai, 12/19/13) – 52,667 (New)
7. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/13) – 41,137 (3,564,124)
8. [3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life (04/18/13) – 38,405 (1,584,122)
9. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom, 09/14/13) – 37,034 (3,067,313)
10. [3DS] Inazuma Eleven Go Glaaxy Big Bang / Supernova (Level-5, 12/05/13) – 33,328 (155,488)
11. [3DS] Attack on Titan: The Last Wings of Mankind (Spike Chunsoft, 12/05/13) – 30,363 (166,145)
12. [3DS] Aikatsu! 2-ri no My Princess (11/21/13) – 29,223 (146,898)
13. [3DS] Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life (Namco Bandai, 08/01/13) – 28,562 (378,584)
14. [3DS] One Piece: Unlimited World R (Namco Bandai, 11/21/13) – 28,108 (169,388)
15. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo, 03/20/13) – 26,931 (985,442)
16. [PSV] Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Battle Pentagram (Namco Bandai, 12/19/13) – 26,363 (New)
17. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 03/20/11) – 26,931 (2,205,807)
18. [3DS] Sentouchu Densetsu no Shinobi to Survival Battle (Namco Bandai, 10/17/13) – 24,842 (158,239)
19. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) – 24,154 (2,182,408)
20. [Wii U] Wii Party U (Nintendo, 10/31/13) – 23,972 (119,100)

In terms of hardware it's another excellent week for Nintendo. As would be expected from the software charts, the 3DS (both LL / XL and standard models) have seen impressive increases to be the dominant force once more. Perhaps more encouraging is the continuing growth in Wii U sales, with another notable leap seeing its weekly sales go into six figures — most likely for the first time since its launch over 12 months ago. More importantly it's the fourth consecutive week of upward momentum, boosting the userbase and — Nintendo will surely hope — further improving word-of-mouth and perceptions around the system

Results are below, with last week's sales in parenthesis.

3DS LL – 164,078 (130,710)
Wii U – 109,113 (74,903)
3DS – 68,522 (50,846)
PlayStation Vita – 50,087 (30,440)
PlayStation 3 – 24,573 (23,959)
PSP – 9,905 (6,475)
PlayStation Vita TV – 5,504 (5,506)
Wii – 1,711 (1,197)
Xbox 360 – 763 (536)

Those are just the results that Nintendo needed, also showing that Wii U bundles and value are leading to increased sales along with new releases over the past month; whether the numbers will help the system to its targets, we'll see, but they're showing positive trends. The 3DS, meanwhile, continues to set impressive standards in the Land of the Rising Sun.

[source gematsu.com]