Pokemon and PSP Top Japanese Video Game 2010 charts

Japanese corporation ASCII has drawn together a list of top-selling titles and consoles for this year in Japan. One particular company has prospered well in one of the toughest industry years to date. Can you guess which?

The company with impressive results this year is the Kyoto-based developer/publisher, Nintendo. The latest in its' long-running series, Pokemon Black & White, enjoyed the honour of being Japan's most popular title for 2010, setting launch records and holding five weeks at the top of the Japanese chart.

Console-wise, the PSP outshone the DS, allowing it to take the top spot for 2010 with 2.73m units of the handheld sold against 2.72m units of the DS. Also of note are sales of the DS which saw a decline of one million in numbers from 2009 to 2010. This is true for all other gaming hardware except the PSP for the same period. Rumours of a successor to the PSP may have contributed to the machine's recently prosperous sales.

The rankings below show sales up until Monday (December 27th) this week.

Top 10 software titles of 2010 (2009 releases in bold):

Pokémon Black/Pokémon White (DS) - 4,734,064
Monster Hunter Portable Tri (PSP) - 3,163,750
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 1,692,401
Wii Party (Wii) - 1,385,541
Dragon Quest VI (DS) - 1,354,841
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 (DS) - 1,305,750
Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 1,112,298
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 931,534
Inazuma Eleven 3 Snake/Bomber (DS) - 930,580
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (PSP) - 844,980

Hardware sales (+/- vs 2009):

PSP (all): 2,729,718 (+604,199)
DS (all): 2,719,544 (-1,054,354)
Wii: 1,592,563 (-155,398)
PS3: 1,542,258 (-126,680)
360: 231,258 (-118,405)
PS2: 83,030 (-114,116)

Source: ASCII via 1up