Mario, Zelda Knock Final Fantasy From Top Japanese Sales Slot

Following Final Fantasy XIII's one-week lead, New Super Mario Bros. has taken back the leading sales slot in Japan, kicking Square Enix's new PS3 RPG down to fourth place behind two other Nintendo titles. According to Media Create, sales for the week ending December 27, 2009 brought Mario's latest Wii adventure beyond 2.4 million total unit sales in the region, while Final Fantasy XIII's front-loaded total sits at nearly 1.7 million. The latter game was deposed by another Nintendo leading character by way of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which racked up 291,000 units in its first week on the chart, and the successful Tomodachi Collection, which held its third place slot to surpass 2.3 million in total Japanese sales. Spirit Tracks was the only newcomer to the chart this week. As usual, Nintendo was the heaviest-hitter on the chart overall, numbering five titles (six, counting its subsidiary The Pokemon Company). Independent developer and publisher Level-5 continues its impressive success for a company of its size, with two games on the top ten -- Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire/Blizzard and Professor Layton and the Devil Flute -- both of which fell slightly from their positions last week. Media Create's Japanese software sales charts for the week ending December 27 are as follows: