3DS Hardware, Software Trio Dominate Japanese Sales

It's a banner week for Nintendo 3DS hardware and software in Japan as Capcom's Monster Hunter Tri-G and major first-party titles help bring in the biggest sales for the system yet. Though the handheld hasn't left the top of the Japanese hardware sales chart since its drastic price cut in August, the 3DS debut of Capcom's phenomenally popular Monster Hunter series, Mario Kart 7, and Super Mario 3D Land pushed the portable to record numbers last week. The glasses-free 3D system sold 350,321 units last week, according to Media Create data posted by NeoGAF. Famitsu publisher Enterbrain previously reported 378,114 consoles sold, which would exceed the 3DS' launch high of 371,000-374,000 back in February. Those sales were likely boosted by the introduction of a new limited edition Monster Hunter 3G system bundle, and the special edition The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary 3DS sold on Nintendo's site. The contentious Circle Pad Pro accessory also released in Japan last week. PSP sales picked up last week by almost 12,000, selling 51,191 units and making it the second top-selling system. In third place, Wii saw its hardware numbers jump to 46,018, likely helped by its nine titles in the top 20 software chart -- more games on the list than any other console. Despite dropping from the number two spot to number four, PlayStation 3 moved a few thousand more systems this month to reach 44,661 sold. And while sales doubled for Xbox 360 to 3,211, that wasn't enough to overtake the DS line at the number six position with 6,630 systems sold. Below are the full sales rankings from Media Create for the week ended December 11, 2011. (The second chart lumps together sales of all models in a given line of hardware.)

Looking at software, Monster Hunter 3G enjoyed a nice launch after selling 521,959 copies -- significantly more than the 471,055 reported earlier by Enterbrain. This is the strongest Japanese debut for any 3DS game, beating out Mario Kart 7's 423,619 numbers last week. Monster Hunter 3G's first-week sales are almost identical to the original Monster Hunter 3's launch on Wii, though that game came out much later in the system's lifetime, when it had a much larger userbase. Some major Japanese retailers have reportedly sold out of their Monster Hunter 3G stock. Mario Kart 7, though still the second highest-selling game of the week, saw significant drop-off from the week prior. Mario Kart 7 sold 57 percent less than the previous week with 183,834 units moved, but that's not as bad as Mario Kart Wii's 75 percent dive in its second week back in 2008. Super Mario 3D Land's numbers improved by 21 percent, adding 89,743 copies for a lifetime total of 724,661 units sold. Other than Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Monster Hunter 3G, there were no other 3DS titles in Media Create's top 20 software tally. Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, coming off the first perfect 40/40 review score for a Western game from Famitsu, sold 75,865 copies for PS3, making it the fourth biggest title this week. The Xbox 360 edition pushed 37,037 copies and was the ninth highest seller. First-party Wii titles like Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Just Dance Wii continue to perform well, but The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has fallen from number five last week to number 18. The game has sold 247,116 copies in the last three weeks, 19,947 of which are from the past seven days. The complete top 20 chart, as supplied by Media Create, is shown below:

The big release to look out for this week is the PSP's successor, PlayStation Vita, which launches alongside games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants, Katamari Damacy No-Vita, Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Ridge Racer, Virtua Tennis 4, and Army Corps of Hell. Other big games out this week: Final Fantasy XIII-2 for Xbox 360 and PS3, two different versions of Inazuma Eleven Go for 3DS, and Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend for Xbox 360, PS3, and PS Vita.