Japan Software: Gamers (Kingdom) Hearts PSP

Square Enix is propping up the PlayStation family in the Japanese charts this week (4th - 10th January 2010), as the prequel to the Final Fantasy + Disney crossover Kingdom Hearts beats its way to the #1 quite easily. And 'Nobody' could have predicted that (ho ho). Birth By Sleep is also the only new entry to break into the Top 10.

1 Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep – Square Enix (PSP) - 445,962
2 New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Nintendo (Wii) – 158,994
3 Tomodachi Collection – Nintendo (DS) – 93,912
4 Wii Fit Plus – Nintendo (Wii) – 53,569
5 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – Nintendo (DS) – 48,518
6 Final Fantasy XIII – Square Enix (PS3) – 41,663
7 Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver –Nintendo (DS) – 37,283
8 Inazuma Eleven 2 – LEVEL-5 (DS) – 36,634
9 Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo (Wii) - 32,738
10 Phantasy Star Portable 2 – Sega (PSP) – 26,775

(Note: Chart position is first, then game name, publisher, format and sales for this week)

Besides the handheld hit, it's pretty much business as usual in the Software Chart. All other games in the list move down a peg following Kingdom Hearts' entry, with Wii Fit Plus jumping up a couple of places from last week's chart. Nothing else has changed.

Overall, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep appears to have sucked all of the sales out of the other games, as units appear to be down on average. The 10th position title, Phantasy Star Portable 2, sold 26,775 units this week, while in the previous week's chart the #10 entry (Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute) managed 43,254. Let's see if things pick up in the coming weeks.