Monster Hunter X 3DS.jpg

2016 is now well underway, with all of the crushing realities of the post-festive period - wider waistlines, slimmer bank balances and plenty of regret. In any case, Nintendo is starting the year in Japan with a collective smile, as the company continues to perform well in the busy shopping season.

The latest Media Create results cover the final days of 2015 up to 3rd January, so don't include any new software releases. In fact the top five is the same group of 3DS and Wii U games from last week's results, albeit the ordering has been shuffled. Ultimately Monster Hunter X (Cross) remains dominant, with two Wii U evergreens also showing impressive momentum.

  1. [3DS] Monster Hunter X (Capcom, 11/27/15) – 130,063 (2,521,859)
  2. [3DS] Monster Strike (Mixi, 12/17/15) – 91,572 (699,436)
  3. [Wii U] Splatoon (Nintendo, 05/28/15) – 60,447 (1,153,989)
  4. [Wii U] Super Mario Maker (Nintendo, 09/10/15) – 52,753 (726,885)
  5. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team / White Dog Squad (Level-5, 07/11/15) – 49,533 (2,124,427)
  6. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (SCE, 03/19/15) – 48,222 (584,717)
  7. [3DS] Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ (Nintendo, 06/11/15) – 26,513 (620,782)
  8. [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Nintendo, 07/30/15) – 24,539 (1,301,227)
  9. [PS4] Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks, 12/17/15) – 22,378 (178,420)
  10. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (Nintendo, 12/03/15) – 22,343 (198,315)
  11. [PSV] Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS Force (Bandai Namco, 12/24/15) – 20,508 (107,763)
  12. [3DS] Disney Magical World 2 (Bandai Namco, 10/05/15) – 16,139 (252,344)
  13. [PS4] Star Wars Battlefront (EA, 11/19/15) – 13,216 (192,475)
  14. [PS4] Call of Duty: Black Ops III (SCE, 11/06/15) – 11,150 (266,459)
  15. [3DS] Downtown no Kagi no Tsukai ya Arahen de!! Zettai ni Tsukamatte ha Ikenai Gasu Kuropikari Land (Alchemist, 12/17/15) – 9,962 (22,420)
  16. [Wii U] Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo, 05/29/14) – 9,875 (1,187,570)
  17. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) – 9,828 (2,421,040)
  18. [PS4] Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition (SCE, 12/03/15) – 8,835 (32,901)
  19. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Life (11/08/12) – 8,499 (4,110,542)
  20. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 12/01/11) – 8,122 (2,589,230)

Hardware results also bring positives, with the New 3DS LL (XL) leading, with that performance boosted further once the full 'family' of portables is included; oddly the old smaller 3DS narrowly out-sold its New 3DS equivalent, presumably off the back of some discounts or bundles. Wii U had a sizeable dip and has now fallen behind PS4 and Vita, though sales of 53,547 units are still well above the norm seen in past months. The results are below with last week's sales in brackets.

  1. New 3DS LL – 73,778 (107,374)
  2. PlayStation 4 – 65,427 (53,023)
  3. PlayStation Vita – 63,811 (73,163)
  4. Wii U – 53,547 (92,801)
  5. 3DS – 21,621 (13,109)
  6. New 3DS – 21,501 (29,252)
  7. PlayStation 3 – 4,221 (3,994)
  8. 3DS LL – 3,205 (5,083)
  9. Xbox One – 765 (490)
  10. PlayStation Vita TV – 670 (1,167)

Nintendo's had a strong few weeks in the Japanese market, and is no doubt hoping to sustain that momentum for as long as possible.

[source gematsu.com]