Japanese Charts: Dragon Quest Reclaims Top Spot

After relinquishing the number one spot on the weekly Japanese sales charts to the latest Gundam game, Square Enix's DS RPG Dragon Quest IX is back on top, according to Media Create. For the week ended August 16, Dragon Quest IX sold 127,000 units, bringing total unit sales to 3.64 million in Japan. Square Enix have yet to announce a US release date for the game. It's the fourth week since Dragon Quest XI's July 11 Japanese launch that the game has topped weekly sales charts. But those haven't been consecutive weeks -- Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 for Wii and the PlayStation 2 verion of Namco Bandai's SD Gundam G Generation Wars both were able to knock down Dragon Quest IX, albeit briefly. Dragon Quest is a phenomenon in Japan, as retailers brought out big crowds on the game's launch. This most recent week, we see SD Gundam G Generation Wars for PS2 drop to fifth place, while Monster Hunter 3 dropped to fourth. Games dropping out of the top ten from last week were Namco Bandai's Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes, the Wii version of Namco Bandai's SD Gundam G Generation Wars, and Konami's J-League Winning Eleven 2009 Club Championship for PS2. Below are the Japanese sales charts for the week ended August 16: