Big in Japan: Final Fantasy IV Collection

Like the nation itself, Japanese game sales rebounded in the weeks following last month's massive earthquake. Game sales finished down sharply in the first full week after the quake, but tracking firm Media Create today released its figures for the following week of March 21-27, and the numbers were much improved.

Square Enix's PSP launch of Complete Final Fantasy IV led all games with sales of 104,173 copies, nearly three times more than the next best-selling title on the charts. Set for North American release on April 19, The Complete Collection includes Final Fantasy IV--with revamped visuals to take advantage of the PSP's widescreen format--as well as its epilogue, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. The episodic series of downloadable titles was originally released in 2009 on the Wii; this marks the first time it has been available as part of a retail product.

The second best seller of the week was Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warriors 7, ending its two-week stay atop the charts. In three weeks, the game has sold more than 350,000 copies in Japan. It was also the only home game to crack a sales chart dominated by the PSP and 3DS; the next best-selling console game was Spike's Way of the Samurai 4, which finished 12th for the week.

Other notable finishes included the debut week for Namco Bandai's Gundam the 3D Battle, as the first installment in the long-running mech series on the 3DS finished third for the week with 23,500 copies sold. Nintendo's glasses-free 3D handheld had two more representatives in the top 10, with Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle and Nintendogs + cats each giving up some ground to finish in sixth place and eighth place, respectively.

The 3DS hardware is likewise losing a little ground, as Nintendo's latest handheld retained the position of best-selling hardware over Sony's PSP for the fifth straight week, but by the slimmest of margins. The 3DS moved 50,710 systems, while the former champ added 50,479 units to its installed base. Both handhelds left the rest of the hardware field far behind, as the PlayStation 3 was the next best seller with 28,973 units sold. The Wii was the only other platform to break the 10,000 mark, with 11,808 sold.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MARCH 21-27, 2011
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection / Square Enix / PSP / 104,173
2. Dynasty Warriors 7 / Koei Tecmo / PS3 / 36,548
3. Gundam the 3D Battle / Namco Bandai / 3DS / 23,500
4. Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy / Square Enix / PSP / 21,741
5. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd / Capcom / PSP / 16,444
6. Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle / Level Five / 3DS / 16,294
7. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity / Sega / PSP / 14,403
8. Nintendogs + cats / Nintendo / 3DS / 13,219
9. SD Gundam G Generation World / Namco / PSP / 10,160
10. Pokemon Black and White / Nintendo / DS / 10,025

Hardware:
3DS - 50,710
PSP - 50,479
PS3 - 28,973
Wii - 11,808
DSi LL - 9,760
DSi - 8,604
Xbox 360 - 1,963
PS2 - 1,862
DS Lite - 730
PSP Go - 616