AKB1/48 Makes Big Splash in Japan

A virtual dating game based around AKB1/48 has taken a firm grasp of Japan over the past week. Whilst Bandai Namco's AKB1/48: If I loved An Idol, which focuses on the extremely popular Japanese girl group, did not manage to topple the mighty Monster Hunter Freedom 3 from the top spot, it stormed in at No.2 with sales nearing the 240,000 unit mark in just a few days on sale. On the Nintendo front, Donkey Kong Country Returns almost doubles its sales total this week, leaping to over 530,000 units since release and looking like it may well head towards cracking the million mark overall.

Pokémon Black and Pokémon White edge ever closer to the five million threshold, whilst there are also massive jumps for Wii Party (now on track to beat not only Mario Party 8, but eventually Mario Party DS), Mario Sports Mix (almost at the half million point), and Kirby's Epic Yarn (which looked like a disaster after its first week, but has slowly climbed back upwards). One to keep an eye on in the next few weeks is the Level-5 / Studio Ghibli collaboration project, Ni no Kuni: The Ebony Wizard. 600,000 copies of the game were shipped to retailers, but after its third week only ~330,000 of the stock has been sold. Speculation has led to an overshipment being necessary due to the RPG coming with a large tome filled with spells essential for progress in the adventure, but its start has been far lower than expected, given how company CEO, Akihiro Hino, recently stated he hopes the game will eventually sell between one and two million units.

Media Create Top 50 - 20th-26th December, 2010
1.) (1) Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (PSP, Capcom) - 404,175 | 3,565,976
2.) (NEW) AKB1/48: If I loved An Idol (PSP, Bandai Namco) - 236,282 | NEW
3.) (4) Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, Nintendo) - 214,518 | 530,818
4.) (5) Pokémon Black / White (NDS, The Pokémon Company) - 164,950 | 4,909,161
5.) (7) Wii Party (Wii, Nintendo) - 162,135 | 1,573,959
6.) (NEW) The 3rd Birthday (PSP, Square Enix) - 140,476 | NEW
7.) (8) Mario Sports Mix (Wii, Nintendo) - 136,295 | 435,829
8.) (3) Inazuma Eleven 3: World Challenge!! The Ogre (NDS, Level 5) - 117,504 | 293,108
9.) (9) Ni no Kuni: The Ebony Wizard (NDS, Level 5) - 84,115 | 328,992
10.) (13) Magician's Quest: The Merchant’s Store of Sorcery (NDS, Konami) - 74,255 | 249,450
11.) (10) Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem (NDS, Nintendo) - 67,852 | 231,781
12.) (11) Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii, Nintendo) - 65,587 | 370,187
13.) (14) Wii Sports Resort (Wii Remote Plus Bundle) (Wii, Nintendo) - 61,942 | 185,290
14.) (2) Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 (PS3, Bandai Namco) - 59,559 | 245,467
15.) (12) Super Fossil Fighters (NDS, Nintendo) - 56,883 | 218,631
16.) (16) New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, Nintendo) - 45,344 | 4,151,363
17.) (18) Taiko Drum Master Wii 3 (Wii, Bandai Namco) - 44,661 | 122,170
18.) (20) Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo) - 39,785 | 3,084,210
19.) (15) Super Mario All-Stars (Wii, Nintendo) - 37,647 | 780,508
20.) (21) Tamagotchi no Narikiri Challenge (NDS, Bandai Namco) - 33,144 | UNKNOWN TOTAL
21.) (25) Friend Collection (NDS, Nintendo)
22.) (24) New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo)
23.) (27) Wii Fit Plus (Wii, Nintendo)
24.) (32) Taiko Drum Master DS: Dororon! Battle With the Ghouls!! (NDS, Bandai Namco)
25.) (23) A Penguin's Troubles: The World (NDS, Konami)
26.) (28) Momotaro Railway: World (NDS, Hudson)
27.) (30) Power Pro Kun Pocket 13 (NDS, Konami)
28.) (38) One Piece: Gigant Battle (NDS, Bandai Namco)
29.) (NEW) Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force (360, Sega)
30.) (31) More! Stitch! DS Scribble Battle Through Rhythm DS (NDS, Disney Interactive)
31.) (6) Shining Hearts (PSP, Sega)
32.) (29) Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, Nintendo)
33.) (36) Art Academy (NDS, Nintendo)
34.) (37) Crayon Shin-Chan: Shokkugan! Densetsu o Yobu Omake Daiketsusen!! (NDS, Bandai Namco)
35.) (34) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2011 (PSP, Konami)
36.) (26) Gran Turismo 5 (PS3, SCE)
37.) (22) Tales of Graces F (PS3, Bandai Namco)
38.) (43) Minna to Kimi no Piramekino! (NDS, Bandai Namco)
39.) (41) Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Os (Wii, Bandai Namco)
40.) (48) Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo)
41.) (NEW) Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4: Aizouban (PSP, Koei Tecmo)
42.) (44) Heart Catch PreCure! Oshare Collection (NDS, Bandai Namco)
43.) (19) Call of Duty: Black Ops (Dubbed Edition) (PS3, Square Enix)
44.) (45) World Soccer Winning Eleven 2011 (PS3, Konami)
45.) (RE) Monster Hunter Diary: Pokapoka Ailu Village (PSP, Capcom)
46.) (NEW) Starry Sky: In Autumn Portable (PSP, Asgard)
47.) (49) Karaoke Joysound Wii Super DX: Hitori de Minna de Utai Houdai! (Wii, Hudson)
48.) (17) Castlevania: Lord of Shadow (PS3, Konami)
49.) (NEW) Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou: MM My Best Friend! (NDS, Konami)
50.) (46) Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes Os (PSP, Bandai Namco)

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | 2010 Sales | Lifetime Sales
1.) Nintendo DS (all models) - 191,583 | 148,177 | 2,772,043 | 32,051,123
2.) PlayStation Portable (all models) - 183,071 | 164,507 | 2,798,638 | 16,541,726
3.) Wii - 131,761 | 99,681 | 1,597,131 | 11,202,330
4.) PlayStation 3 - 64,228 | 49,515 | 1,509,700 | 6,011,067
5.) Xbox 360 - 5,298 | 3,726 | 207,118 | 1,416,790
6.) PlayStation 2 - 2,604 | 2,188 | 83,439 | 21,693,616
XX.) Nintendo DSi - 93,464 | 71,804 | 1,156,743 | 5,495,689
XX.) Nintendo DSi XL - 92,329 | 72,146 | 1,392,878 | 1,899,785
XX.) Nintendo DS Lite - 5,790 | 4,227 | 222,422 | 18,070,178
XX.) PlayStation Portable - 177,691 | 162,558 | 2,723,052 | 16,390,385
XX.) PSPgo - 5,380 | 1,949 | 75,586 | 151,341