GameFly Rental Chart Highlights: Week Ending October 3

This week's GameFly video game rental charts for North America, specifically relating to games rented via the games-by-mail service for the week ending October 3rd, show popularity over multiple game formats. Marvel comics have taken over the all-platform rental charts this week, as Ultimate Spider-Man slings up to #1, and X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse does a little rising of its own up to #2. Ninja Gaiden Black, the reissued version of Tecmo's legendarily difficult action game -- now with even more difficulty -- clocks in at #3. Somewhat surprisingly, the same list is repeated in the same order on the Xbox charts, despite Ninja Gaiden's exclusivity to the console. Ultimate Spider-Man, and X-Men Legends 2 are #1 and #2 respectively; Ninja Gaiden's third-place showing may be down to gamers' feeling that they've already played the title and the new content isn't sufficient to give it another spin. On the PlayStation 2, Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men Legends 2 once again form the dynamic duo (oops, wrong company) atop the charts, with Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks meditating at #3. For once, both multiplatform titles currently dominating the charts are also available on GameCube -- though oddly enough, Ultimate Spider-Man registers as much more popular, debuting at #1 while X-Men Legends 2 doesn't make the top three. Chalk it up to a world that hates and fears them. In its place, Mario Superstar Baseball is still on deck at #2, and Battalion Wars has slipped to #3. The Game Boy Advance chart displays relatively scandalous levels of activity in its normally sedate ranks: yes, Dragon Ball GT: Transformation is still #1, and Pokémon Emerald is still #2. But in an inexplicable turn of events, chart mainstay Zelda: the Minish Cap has fallen all the way down to #7, replaced at #3 by Riviera: the Promised Land, a months-old niche RPG. Is there a grassroots Internet movement we're unaware of somewhere out there? Almost as frightening is the appearance of only one Nintendogs entry in the top 3 Nintendo DS rentals: after Nintendo's new graphic adventure Trace Memory debuts at #1 and Advance Wars: Dual Strike holds its position at #2, there's only one spot left, eagerly snatched up in the jaws of Nintendogs: Dachshund and Friends. Fortunately, the PSP charts are a return to safe, familiar ground, as Madden NFL 06 is still #1, Burnout Legends is still #2, and Death Jr. ends World Series of Poker's brief life to reclaim #3.