Monster Hunter, Nintendo Top Japan's 2008 Bestselling Software

Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, an action RPG for the PlayStation Portable, is 2008's top-selling game across all platforms in Japan, moving over 2.5 million units since it debuted in August. The game is slated for stateside release in Spring 2009. Nintendo-published titles for both the Nintendo DS and Wii take up eight of Japan's 10 top-selling software spots for this year, and constitute 16 of the 30 top-selling titles as revealed by Japanese consumer site Dengeki Online and translated by game weblog Kotaku. Pokemon Platinum with 2.12 million units sold follows MHP 2nd G on the chart, with Wii Fit (2.02 million in 2008, 2.89 million lifetime), Mario Kart Wii (1.97 million), and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (1.8 million) grabbing the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions respectively. Rhythm Tengoku Gold, coming to the West as Rhythm Heaven in Q2 2009, is 6th with 1.32 million units sold in the region this year. Square Enix's Dragon Quest V, a Nintendo DS remake of the Super Famicom RPG released in 1992, is the only other non-Nintendo-published game out of the 10 top-selling games, taking 7th with 1.2 million units sold. Kirby Super Star Ultra (724,608), Animal Crossing: City Folk (709,640), and Wii Sports (non bundled in Japan, 694,765 in 2008, 3.18 million lifetime) make up the remaining three spots in the top 10. Notably, three of the 30 top-selling titles were originally released by Nintendo in 2006 -- Wii Sports, Wii Play (539,825 in 2008, 2.64 million lifetime), and New Super Mario Bros. (310,796 in 2008, 5.08 lifetime). One, Mario Kart DS (433,908 in 2008, 3,265,962 lifetime), first shipped in 2005. Only one PlayStation 3 title appears in the top 30, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with 654,648 copies sold this year in Japan, taking the 13th spot. Three PlayStation 2 games -- Namco Bandai's Super Robot Taisen Z (490,112), Koei's Warriors Orochi 2 (432,672), and Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (314,418) -- also appear on the chart, as well as 5 PSP games, including MHP 2nd G. Despite seeing significant sales in Japan with popular releases like Namco Bandai's Tales of Vesperia, the Xbox 360 failed to make the region's 30 top selling software chart for 2008.