Big in Japan April 4-10: Earth Defense Force 2 PSP

While gamers in the West will need to wait for this summer's Insect Armageddon for a new helping of Earth Defense Force, Japanese gamers are tiding themselves over with a macroinsecticide fix on the go. Media Create today released its Japanese sales chart for the week of April 4-10, revealing the newly released PSP port of Earth Defense Force 2 as the best-selling game of the week with 63,795 copies sold.

Originally released on the Japanese PlayStation 2 in 2005, Earth Defense Force 2 sees players fighting off an invasion of giant alien insects as a member of the military force. Released as part of D3's Simple 2000 line of budget-priced games, Earth Defense Force 2 eventually received a European release in 2007 under the title Global Defense Force, but it has never been released in North America.

In claiming the best-seller title, Earth Defense Force 2 knocked off Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional after a single week atop the charts. The monster-collecting spin-off to the Dragon Quest role-playing game series slipped only a single spot to second place, selling 42,397 copies. Sales for the rest of the top 10 dropped precipitously after that, with EbiKore + Amagami on the PSP the only other title to break the 20,000 threshold, and the top 10 rounded out by a pair of titles that sold fewer than 10,000 copies: Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity. Electronic Arts' newly released Crysis 2 made little impact in its Japanese debut, finishing 15th overall with 5,814 copies sold.

The PSP once again beat out the 3DS for the top of the hardware charts, selling 35,478 systems compared to the Nintendo handheld's 32,910 units sold. The PS3 was a distant third with 22,431 sold, while the Wii slipped below the 10,000-unit mark with 8,825 systems sold.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF APRIL 4-10
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Earth Defense Force 2 Portable / D3Publisher / PSP / 63,795
2. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional / Square Enix / DS / 42,397
3. EbiKore + Amagami / Kadokawa Shoten / PSP / 23,849
4. Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection / Square Enix / PSP / 19,392
5. Dynasty Warriors 7 / Koei Tecmo / PS3 / 17,002
6. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd / Capcom / PSP / 12,060
7. Kimi ni Todoke: Tsutaeru Kimochi / Namco Bandai / DS / 11,229
8. Nintendogs + Cats / Nintendo / 3DS / 10,997
9. Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy / Square Enix / PSP / 9,484
10. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity / Sega / PSP / 8,822

Hardware:
PSP - 35,478
3DS - 32,910
PS3 - 22,431
Wii - 8,825
DSi LL - 8,386
DSi - 8,035
Xbox 360 - 1,906
PS2 - 1,395
DS Lite - 514
PSP Go - 356