UK Gaming Charts | 19th April, 2003

Enter the Matrix (GC) Infogrames 15/5/2003
WWE Crush Hour (GC) THQ 16/5/2003
International Superstar Soccer 3 (GC) Konami 16/5/2003
Lost Kingdoms 2 (GC) Activision 16/5/2003
Disney Sports Basketball (GC) Konami 16/5/2003

It would seem that not many developers want to risk going up against the mighty Zelda at the moment. The only risk-taker is Atari (the new, well 'old' in a way, name for Infogrames) as it has shipped something like four million copies of Enter the Matrix for all home consoles around the world. Anybody recall the last time Atari pulled such a stunt? Yup, it was with the E.T. license, where millions of copies were shipped off to stores, but because the game was so appalling, hardly any actually sold, leaving Atari with major egg on its face, and barely a ha'penny to rub together. Will history repeat itself? Hmm, probably not, as the public appear to be rather more suckers than they were 'back in the day'. Anyway, anyone not wanting the film cash-in can look towards the decidedly average WWE Crush Hour, the shaky ISS3 or the ropey Disney Sports Basketball. Or maybe, if you have some sense, you'll hand your money over in exchange for the pleasant RPG experience of Lost Kingdoms 2...

ENDING 10TH MAY

LW TW TITLE PUBLISHER

(1) 1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER NINTENDO

(3) 2 MIDNIGHT CLUB II ROCKSTAR

(2) 3 TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL UBISOFT

(5) 4 THE SIMS EA GAMES

(4) 5 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 4 EIDOS INTERACTIVE

(6) 6 FIFA 2003 EA SPORTS

(7) 7 X-MEN 2: WOLVERINE'S REVENGE ACTIVISION

(N) 8 BURNOUT 2: POINT OF IMPACT ACCLAIM

(8) 9 GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY ROCKSTAR

(9) 10 DANCING STAGE PARTY EDITION KONAMI

(10) 11 THE GETAWAY SONY COMPUTER ENT.

(11) 12 HARRY POTTER - CHAMBER OF SECRETS EA GAMES

(12) 13 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2003 EA SPORTS

(13) 14 PRIMAL SONY COMPUTER ENT.

(
N) 15 MEDIEVAL: TOTAL WAR - VIKING INVASION ACTIVISION

(19) 16 ZELDA 3 - LINK TO THE PAST NINTENDO

(16) 17 LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS EA GAMES

(18) 18 RAYMAN 3 UBISOFT

(14) 19 VIETCONG GATHERING

(N) 20 BLOODRAYNE MAJESCO

(23) 21 YU-GI-OH! WORLDWIDE EDITION KONAMI

(17) 22 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON RED STORM

(27) 23 JAMES BOND 007: NIGHTFIRE EA GAMES

(26) 24 THE SIMS: UNLEASHED EA GAMES

(15) 25 METAL GEAR SOLID 2 - SUBSTANCE KONAMI

(25) 26 DANCING STAGE EUROMIX KONAMI

(22) 27 FREELANCER MICROSOFT

(34) 28 NBA STREET VOL 2 EA SPORTS

(32) 29 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2 KONAMI

(28) 30 MOTO GP3 NAMCO

(24) 31 COMMAND AND CONQUER: GENERALS EA GAMES

(33) 32 SONIC ADVANCE 2 SEGA

(30) 33 NORTON ANTIVIRUS 2003 NORTON

(31) 34 MEDAL OF HONOR: FRONTLINE EA GAMES

(21) 35 HALO - COMBAT EVOLVED MICROSOFT

(N) 36 COLIN MCRAE RALLY 3 CODEMASTERS

(29) 37 TOCA RACE DRIVER CODEMASTERS

(40) 38 CRASH BANDICOOT 2: N-TRANCED UNIVERSAL INTERACTIVE

(20) 39 DEVIL MAY CRY 2 CAPCOM

(N) 40 WORLD WAR II: FRONTLINE COMMAND KOCH MEDIA

Two weeks on and Zelda manages to do what no other GameCube game has done so far - stay at the top of the All Formats for more than one week! I think that alone deserves a round of applause...Ah, now that's over, on with the analysis for this week! Rockstar's superb sequel to race-a-thon Midnight Club creeps up a place to No.2, breathing heavily down Zelda's neck and proving that there is life after GTA for the ex-friends on Nintendo. Burnout 2's release, which was brought back a week, on XBOX and GameCube has almost out-performed the PS2 iteration in one fell swoop, re-entering now at No.8, nudging the next six games down one place each, in what is a pretty static chart. In at No.15 is the tantalisingly titled Medieval: Total War - Viking Invasion, followed by a resurging Zelda III on the GBA, up three to No.16. Now why didn't Metroid Fusion do this when Prime was performing well?!

The heavily promoted BloodRayne only manages to get its teeth into the chart at No.20, possibly due to reviews claiming it has too much cleavage and not enough gameplay. The GBA once again has a good showing on the forty, with the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! up from No.23 to No.21, Sega's Sonic Advance 2 climbing one to No.33 and Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced jumping two slots to this week's No.38. Who says Nintendo is dead in Europe?

ENDING 10TH MAY

LW TW TITLE PUBLISHER

(1) 1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER NINTENDO

(N) 2 BURNOUT 2: POINT OF IMPACT ACCLAIM

(2) 3 METROID PRIME NINTENDO

(4) 4 SUPER SMASH BROS: MELEE PLAYER'S CHOICE

(5) 5 SUPER MONKEY BALL 2 SEGA

(8) 6 THE SIMS EA GAMES

(6) 7 WWE WRESTLEMANIA X8 THQ

(12) 8 RESIDENT EVIL ZERO CAPCOM

(11) 9 SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE NINTENDO

(14) 10 LUIGI'S MANSION PLAYER'S CHOICE

(15) 11 X-MEN 2: WOLVERINE'S REVENGE ACTIVISION

(16) 12 STAR WARS: ROGUE LEADER LUCASARTS

(3) 13 SSX: TRICKY EA SPORTS

(18) 14 STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTER LUCASARTS

(7) 15 WRECKLESS: THE YAKUZA MISSIONS ACTIVISION

(N) 16 RESIDENT EVIL CAPCOM

(N) 17 ROCKY RAGE SOFTWARE

(19) 18 STAR WARS: CLONE WARS LUCASARTS

(N) 19 PIKMIN PLAYER'S CHOICE

(N) 20 MARIO PARTY 4 NINTENDO

Since Zelda's release two weeks ago, the charts have been all over the place. Witness this week: Zelda may remain at No.1, but Acclaim's 'acclaimed' racer (hehe, sorry!) is revving its engine and beeping its horn loudly at No.2 on its first week of release. Samus Aran and Metroid Prime slide one to No.3, replacing last week's budget release of SSX: Tricky, which has now tumbled from its lo
fty spot of No.3 all the way down to No.13. The apparently waning popularity of Resident Evil is certainly not apparent at the moment with Remake re-entering at No.16 and Zero climbing up four places to re-enter the Top Ten at No.8. Nintendo's Players' Choice seems to have been noticed by a few more people, with Super Smash Bros Melee holding at No.4, Luigi's Mansion up four to No.10 and Pikmin re-entering at No.19. For reference, none of these three (nor any of the XBOX budget range) made it into the Top 40 Budget Charts, which is pretty abysmal to be honest!

Other points of interest: X-Men 2's cinema release has bolstered the tie-in game from No.15 to No.11, Star Wars is on the rise yet again with Rogue Leader at No.12 (from No.16), Bounty Hunter at No.14 (from No.18) and Clone Wars at No.18 (from No.19). But where on Earth has Jedi Knight II got to? Also, last week's miracle performance from Activision's Wreckless title has quickly subsided, with the game plummeting eight to No.15...and Mario Party 4 re-emerges at No.20 for a week.

ENDING 10TH MAY

LW TW TITLE PUBLISHER

(1) 1 ZELDA 3 - LINK TO THE PAST NINTENDO

(2) 2 YU-GI-OH! WORLDWIDE EDITION KONAMI

(3) 3 SONIC ADVANCE 2 SEGA

(4) 4 CRASH BANDICOOT 2: N-TRANCED UNIVERSAL INTERACTIVE

(5) 5 WWE ROAD TO WRESTLEMANIA X8 THQ

(6) 6 CRASH BANDICOOT: XS UNIVERSAL INTERACTIVE

(7) 7 HARRY POTTER - CHAMBER OF SECRETS EA GAMES

(8) 8 SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 2 NINTENDO

(9) 9 SPYRO 2: SEASON OF FLAME UNIVERSAL INTERACTIVE

(11) 10 LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS EA GAMES

(13) 11 RAYMAN 3 UBISOFT

(10) 12 MARIO KART: SUPER CIRCUIT NINTENDO

(12) 13 SUPER MONKEY BALL SEGA

(15) 14 JAMES BOND 007: NIGHTFIRE EA GAMES

(19) 15 LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE PROPHECY UBISOFT

(14) 16 YOSHI'S ISLAND - SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 3 NINTENDO

(16) 17 FIFA 2003 EA SPORTS

(18) 18 STAR WARS EP II: NEW DROID ARMY THQ

(20) 19 X-MEN 2: WOLVERINE'S REVENGE ACTIVISION

(17) 20 RUGRATS: I GOTTA GO PARTY THQ

Prepare for a yawn-fest folks, because look...Just look at that ^^ chart. The top nine games haven't moved since last week! How dire is that? Zelda 3 clings to No.1, with Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic and Crash all biting and chomping its behind. Rayman 3 sees a sharp rise of fortunes, up two to No.11, as does Lara Croft, which jumps and somersaults from No.19 to No.15. That's the main action highlighted...so I suggest you either peek at the GBC Charts, or simply go to bed now. *Yawns*

ENDING 10TH MAY

LW TW TITLE PUBLISHER

(1) 1 SHREK TDK

(2) 2 POKEMON CRYSTAL NINTENDO

(8) 3 SCOOBY DOO - CLASSIC CREEP CAPERS THQ

(6) 4 POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME NINTENDO

(3) 5 POKEMON SILVER NINTENDO

(4) 6 HARRY POTTER - CHAMBER OF SECRETS EA GAMES

(5) 7 SUPER MARIO BROS NINTENDO

(N) 8 MONSTERS, INC. DISNEY INTERACTIVE

(7) 9 YU-GI-OH! DARK DUEL STORIES KONAMI

(13) 10 LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF SEASONS NINTENDO

(10) 11 LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF AGES NINTENDO

(9) 12 POKEMON GOLD NINTENDO

(11) 13 M&M'S: MINIS MADNESS JOWOOD

(14) 14 HARRY POTTER - PHILOSOPHER'S STONE EA GAMES

(12) 15 NYR: NEW YORK RACE WANADOO

(16) 16 WWF: BETRAYAL THQ

(N) 17 POKEMON PINBALL NINTENDO

(N) 18 SABRINA ANIMATED: SPOOKED SIERRA ONLINE

(15) 19 DRAGON BALL Z INFOGRAMES

(18) 20 TWEENIES: DOODLE'S BONES BBC MULTIMEDIA

Well lookey here, what's going on? I go away for a few weeks, and the chart that was the stalest of them all suddenly comes alive! Shre
k has kept Pok