Japan Software Charts: Final Fantasy Drops To #4

Japan's software chart is in for the last week (21st - 27th December 2009), and there's a surprising turnaround at the top. The battle between New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Final Fantasy XIII has swung in Nintendo's favour, with the former charting at #1 (506,000 units) and the latter slumping to #4 (188,511 units).

The rest of the Top 10 is total Nintendomination. Besides Square Enix's RPG, the only other games to chart come from LEVEL-5 (Inazuma Eleven 2 and the latest Professor Layton) and Namco Bandai (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2), but they all reside on Nintendo platforms.

Japan's love for all things Wii and DS is an obvious reason for Nintendo's control of the Top 10, but the Wii's “party machine” image with the power of Super Mario has no doubt helped this striking turnout. We'll see if Final Fantasy XIII can have just as long a tail as NSMBWii soon enough.

Figures are below. Chart position first, then game name, publisher, format and sales this week. Simple.

1 New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Nintendo (Wii) - 506,000
2 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – Nintendo (DS) – 291,000
3 Tomodachi Collection – Nintendo (DS) – 227,000
4 Final Fantasy XIII – Square Enix (PS3) – 189,000
5 Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver – Nintendo (DS) – 125,000
6 Wii Fit Plus – Nintendo (Wii) – 114,000
7 Inazuma Eleven 2 – LEVEL-5 (DS) – 99,000
8 Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo (Wii) – 77,200
9 Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2[/i] – Namco Bandai (Wii) - 66,000
10 Professor Layton and the Devil’s Flute – LEVEL-5 (DS) – 64,000