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2015 has been quite a year, and it's fair to say Nintendo has had mixed fortunes. Sales of Wii U and 3DS hardware have been reasonable if not barnstorming, but the company's Kyoto HQ may ring in the New Year with renewed spirits following its end of year sales in Japan.

Starting with software, the Media Create chart for 21st to 27th December shows that Capcom's Monster Hunter X (Cross) continues to lead the way in an impressive fashion, while the 3DS transition for smartphone phenomenon Monster Strike continues to go well. The top five is a Wii U and 3DS lockout, with Super Mario Maker still doing well and Splatoon passing one million retail sales in the country. The top ten is below, with lifetime sales in brackets; Genei Ibun Roku #FE only managed to secure 14th place with Media Create, with the Famitsu charts pegging its sales at a little under 24,000 units in its launch week.

01. [3DS] Monster Hunter X - 191,000 (2,392,000)
02. [3DS] Monster Strike - 170,000 (608,000)
03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team / White Dog Squad - 120,000 / 2.075.000
04. [Wii U] Super Mario Maker - 98,000 (674,000)
05. [Wii U] Splatoon - 95,000 (1,094,000)
06. [PSV] Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs-Force - 87,000 (NEW)
07. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition - 62,000 (536,000)
08. [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer - 52,000 (1,277,000)
09. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam - 48,000 (176,000)
10. [3DS] Disney Magic World 2 - 44,000 (236,000)

Moving on to hardware, we're switching to the Famitsu chart results; it's the end of the year, and our normal Media Create sources are rather quiet.

Nintendo has had a strong two weeks leading up to Christmas and in the festive week itself. The 3DS family has been dominant, and the Wii U has been the leading home console over the Holiday period. Much of this strength for Wii U has seemingly been off the back of bundles and key titles; results are below with the previous week's sales in brackets.

3DS range - 160,447 (147,688)
Wii U - 101,122 (80,301)
PS Vita - 66,069 (46,182)
PS4 - 60,330 (49,634)
PS3 - 3,459 (2,381)
Xbox One - 479 (446)

Some interesting snippets of information on hardware sales are also available. This week's sales take the 3DS lifetime numbers in Japan past 20 million, which is an impressive number for the portable. The Wii U, meanwhile, had a far better year - 2015 total hardware sales for the system (in Japan) were 820,304, while in 2014 the equivalent number was just 604,856.

A strong end to the year for Nintendo in Japan as it prepares for an important 12 months to come.

[source neogaf.com]