Crossover games for Pokemon, One Piece lead Japanese sales

Nintendo and Tecmo Koei's DS collaboration Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition (pictured) debuted in Japan as the top-selling game, adding to the success that franchise crossovers have had in the country lately. While this remix with Tecmo Koei's strategy series isn't selling as well as mainline Pokemon releases, some local retailers have reportedly noted that it's being picked up by mostly older teens and adults -- a departure for a Nintendo property typically seen as primarily appealing to children. Namco Bandai's One Piece: Pirate Warriors for PlayStation 3 is another recent mash-up that's had a lot of success in Japan. This crossover between manga/anime franchise One Piece and Tecmo Koei's Warriors series has already sold 780,508 copies in Japan, and 900,000 units across Asia. Lacking big crossover titles or any new significant releases, Sony's PS Vita had its third straight week of selling around 10,000 units in Japan -- far behind its main competitor, Nintendo's 3DS, which moved 64,017 systems last week. PSP, however, experienced a slight increase in hardware sales to 18,633 handhelds, boosted by several new titles that performed well last week, including Sega's Shining Blade, Namco Bandai's Madoka Magika Portable, Konami's Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side Premium 3rd Story. A single Western title managed to break into Media Create's Top 20 software sales chart last week: Electronic Arts' Mass Effect 3 for PS3, with 8,142 copies sold. Full software and hardware sales charts for the March 12 to 18 period in Japan, provided by Media Create and translated by Andriasang, are available here.