Professor Layton Tops 2009 UK Chart

Nintendo may appear to be the sole winner on the DS format in terms of developed titles that become massive sellers, but Level-5 took the top spot in 2009 in the UK market...with a little help from Nintendo on the publishing front. There have been two Professor Layton adventure games for the DS so far, with Professor Layton and the Curious Village hitting Europe in November 2008 and its sequel, Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, landing in September 2009. The first game, with the benefit of the whole of 2009 to accrue sales, managed to become the biggest selling DS game of the year in the UK, whilst its successor started so strong that it barged its way to take the No.3 spot, just behind the evergreen first entry into the Brain Training series from Dr. Kawashima. Thirteen of the top twenty DS games list released by ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) were Nintendo-published, but out of that total only nine were developed in-house, showing that Third Party support is indeed a worthwhile cause on DS, despite reports of the market flagging considerably. Of special interest is how Rhythm Paradise rounded off the Top 20 at No.20. Why? Well, it was recently revealed that the game crossed the 100,000 units mark in the UK alone as of December 2009. Seeing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars just above that is good news indeed considering many believe it to have been a sales disaster.

UK Nintendo DS Sales Chart - 2009 (with lifetime sales included)
1.) Professor Layton And The Curious Village (NDS, Nintendo) >600,000
2.) Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo) >1,000,000
3.) Professor Layton And Pandora's Box (NDS, Nintendo) >300,000
4.) Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo) >1,000,000
5.) New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo) >1,000,000
6.) Pokemon Platinum (NDS, Nintendo) >200,000
7.) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (NDS, SEGA) >600,000
8.) Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (NDS, Disney) >100,000
9.) More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (NDS, Nintendo) >1,000,000
10.) Carnival: Funfair Games (NDS, Take-2) >200,000
11.) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (NDS, SEGA) >600,000
12.) Puzzler Collection (NDS, Ubisoft) >300,000
13.) Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (NDS, Nintendo) >100,000
14.) Peppa Pig: The Game (NDS, Ubisoft) >100,000
15.) Big Brain Academy (NDS, Nintendo) >600,000
16.) 42 All-Time Classics (NDS, Nintendo) >600,000
17.) nintendogs: Labrador & Friends (NDS, Nintendo) >600,000
18.) 100 Classic Book Collection (NDS, Nintendo) >100,000
19.) Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (NDS, Take-2) >100,000
20.) Rhythm Paradise (NDS, Nintendo) >100,000