UK Chart Highlights | Nintendo Dominates, Brain Training Claims No.1, Sonic Beats Mario Wii

Whilst many of you may have thought the past few weeks have been crazy for Nintendo, with the DS breaking records, Mario becoming the fastest selling Wii game so far and much more, you seriously have to brace yourselves for what just happened this week! This week, the original Brain Training has smashed all previous records to claim the largest one-week sales of any DS game since the system launched back in March 2005. However, not only that, but in the same week, Sega's heavily promoted Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has stolen that same accolade from Super Mario Galaxy on Wii. Quite amazing, right?

Brain Training may not be performing as well as it should be in the US, but here in Europe the game continues to match, if not even out-pace, its performance over in Japan. After a year and a half on the market, the DS training programme has shot up to No.2 (from No.5) in the All Price Top 40, leaping 32% in sales week-on-week. This means that now at least 27% of all DS owners in the UK have bought a copy (obviously more, since Chart Track does not cover ALL retailers). Back at the end of October, Nintendo revealed that four million DS units had been sold in the UK alone. Given that last week saw over 190,000 units sold, it is probably safe to assume DS is now at 4.5 million minimum and that Brain Training, which in the same announcement was at one million then, is now therefore at over the 1,215,000 units mark. Quite remarkable, especially considering the game has only just had its biggest ever week and is being pushed more and more on TV right now. And it is not the only brain game doing well, since More Brain Training is up four to No.9 and Big Brain Academy for Wii has jumped six to No.15, whilst Big Brain on DS is down four to No.31. Other Nintendo budgets games charting include Cooking Mama (up three to No.17), Sight Training (entering in its second week at No.22), Deal or No Deal (down two to No.25), 42 All-Time Classics (up three to No.30), Red Steel (bundled by retailers with Wii consoles, helping it back in at No.34), GT Pro Series (also shoved in with Wii systems, entering at No.35) and Wii Play (which is low on stock again, dropping from No.18 to No.38).

The Full Price Only Top 40 sees EA's Need for Speed climb one to No.1 and Chart Track notes that "for the past four years every game that was No.1 in the All Format Chart at this point remained No.1 up until Christmas". However, with the unpredictable nature of this year's chart, that looks highly unlikely. The Simpsons Game nudges back up two to No.2, rising 27% in sales, FIFA 08 leaps back up five to No.3 as sales go back up 38% across the 7 formats it is currently on, whilst Call of Duty 4 is down a place to No.4 and Assassin's Creed tumbles four to No.5. Record-breaking Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games storms up five to No.6 as Sega's ad campaign floods TVs across the nation and retailers are selling it as 'Like Wii Sports, but with more depth', WWE sticks at No.7, PES 2008 dips three to No.8, Guitar Hero III sticks at No.9 despite talk of heavy shortages on various formats (like Wii, for instance) and Super Mario Galaxy falls four to No.10.

The controversial Kane & Lynch on PS3 (well, controversial if hearsay about Gamespot's Editor is indeed true) climbs two to No.11, Ratatouille continues to stick around, holding at No.12 thanks mainly to the powerful performance of the DS edition, Lego Star Wars lingers around for another week, up one to No.13 and The Sims 2: Castaway is back up two to No.14 as Halo 3 holds on at No.15 and Mass Effect sadly slides quickly down six places to No.16, ahead of non-movers MySims at No.17 and New Super Mario Bros. at No.18. Mario Party 8 climbs two to No.20, with a lack of major advertising relegating Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles to No.21 only, but this is no doubt likely to 'shoot up' as more become aware of its release and the Zapper hits this coming Friday. Mario Party DS bounces higher, up six to No.23 and easily eclipses the GBA edition's performance, but unfortunately Phantom Hourglass is heading downwards again, falling four to No.25, whilst nintendogs: Lab & Friends climbs back up five to No.26 and Mario Kart shift up several gears, zooming up from No.39 to No.27, just ahead of new entry 'The Golden Compass' at No.28.

Dalmatian & Friends dips three to No.30, High School Musical on DS is back at No.31, Ratchet & Clank on PS3 moves up four to No.33, Rayman 2 on Wii and DS falls four to No.34, renewed advertising for Mario Strikers (as predicted last week) helps the game back into the chart at No.36, whilst My Horse & Me on Wii, DS and PC is new at No.38 (thanks mainly to the Wii game's performance, but expect to see the DS game shoot up soon as well).

On the Wii Top 30, Mario & Sonic and Galaxy switch places at the top as Big Brain moves up to 3rd and Mario Party 8 leaps four to No.4, followed by Resi Evil in at No.5, plus re-entries for Red Steel and GT Pro at No.6 and No.7 thanks to retailers sticking the games to Wii consoles to get rid of excess stock. Simpsons holds at No.9, WWE is down three to No.10 and Need for Speed races up nine to No.11, far out-pacing NfS: Carbon's Wii performance earlier later last year. High School Musical and Lego Star Wars both suffer, dropping quickly to No.12 and No.13, Guitar Hero slides three to No.14, Mario Strikers is down one to No.16, despite climbing in sales, Carnival is back up three to No.18 and EA's Smarty Pants leaps up from No.28 to No.19 as Wii owners get in the party spirit this Christmas. It makes you wonder if the duo of Chegger's Party Quiz and Alan Hansen's Sports Quiz actually stand a chance of making the chart next week after all! Rayman 2 struggles, down six to No.20 in its third week, WarioWare plummets once more, down nine to No.21, SSX Blur slips back in at No.23 quite unexpectedly (possibly due to bundling again), Endless Ocean seeps away, down eight to No.25, Metroid Prime continues to under-perform, falling seven to No.26, My Horse & Me is new at No.28 and The Golden Compass starts slowly at No.29.

On the DS front, Brain Training, More Brain Training and Cooking Mama hold the top 3, The Simpsons is up one to No.4 and Sight Training flies up from No.22 to No.5, just as expected (C3's review is here). New Super Mario Bros. hangs tough at No.6, Deal or No Deal slides three to No.7, 42 All-Time Classics continues to plug away, making its way back into the Top 10 at No.10, up three and Mario Party DS shoots up five to No.12. Phantom Hourglass is struggling slightly, down two to No.16, Mario Kart is back up five to No.18, Who Wants to be a Millionaire is new at No.23, whilst My Word Coach slips four to No.24 as My Pet Dolphin enters at No.26, Imagine: Fashion Designer slips in at No.29 and Ubisoft's horse-riding effort, Pippa Funnell 2, finally trots in at No.30 after a couple of weeks on sale.

Finishing off this week, the 'Individual Format Top 40' list ranked by 'Units' shows that Brain Training has finally claimed No.1 in terms of sheer numbers sold this week, with Mario & Sonic on Wii up five to No.2 and More Brain Training at No.3, leaving the 360 edition of Assassin's Creed down three to No.4 and Mario Galaxy down two to No.5. Big Brain on Wii also jumps eight to No.8, with Cooking Mama up eight to No.12 and Sight Training entering at No.19. Nintendo's presence this week comes to a really damn impressive 19/40, whilst it is an impressive 10/40 for Xbox 360, with the remaining 11/40 spread across PS3, PS2 and one PSP game, FIFA 08 at No.40.

Disclaimer: Remember that the image at the top of this article is not representative of the actual market share and that if the above text does not appeal to you, the chart listings can be found in their original tabular format (copyrighted, hence this written article) by following the link below: