Big in Japan Jan. 31-Feb.6: Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth 2

It has been months since a portable-exclusive game has appeared on the NPD Group's top 10 best-seller list, but handheld games routinely dominate Media Create's Japanese sales charts. Today the company released its sales figures for the week of January 31 to February 6, which consisted of eight handheld games (six for PSP, two for DS) and just two console titles, both Nintendo-published Wii games.

The latest installment in the Phoenix Wright spin-off series topped the charts in its debut week. Japanese gamers were more than ready to pick up again with the franchise's purple-clad prosecutor, as Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2 sold 132,266 copies in its debut week.

New releases like Miles Edgeworth 2 dominated the week's sales, taking the top four spots on the chart. Namco Bandai managed to slot two titles in that bunch, with PSP action game Macross Triangle Frontier and the DS fighter Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butouden. The former anime title features the transforming Valkyrie mechs of the Robotech series, while the latter lets players pummel their way through four of the series' major story arcs.

The previous week's best-seller, the Wii role-playing game The Last Story, slipped to seventh place, with last week's runner-up Valkyria Chronicles III still just a step behind. The only other console title on the charts, Donkey Kong Country Returns, actually moved up a spot during the week, finishing in ninth place with 16,943 copies sold.

As for hardware, sales were down almost across the board, with no change to the systems' ranking order. Only the DSi improved its sales figures week-over-week, bumping up from 9,611 units sold to 9,954 sold. The PSP and PS3 were once again far out ahead of the pack, selling 30,475 systems and 23,846 systems, respectively. Sony's other system was not so fortunate, as the PSP Go managed only an anemic 136 systems sold. The Wii finished in third with 14,972 sold, followed by the DSi LL, which added another 11,555 portables to its installed base.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2011
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2 / Capcom / DS / 132,266
2. Macross Triangle Frontier / Namco Bandai / PSP / 55,513
3. White Knight Chronicles Episode: Dogma Wars / Sony / PSP / 40,603
4. Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butouden / Namco Bandai / DS / 31,108
5. Kenka Banchou 5: Otoko no Housoku / Spike / PSP / 28,000
6. Monster Hunter Portable 3 / Capcom / PSP / 27,861
7. The Last Story / Nintendo / Wii / 19,178
8. Valkyria Chronicles 3 / Sega / PSP / 17,927
9. Donkey Kong Country Returns / Nintendo / Wii / 16,493
10. Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake ga Nai Portable / Namco Bandai / PSP / 11,721

Hardware:
PSP - 30,475
PS3 - 23,846
Wii - 14,972
DSi LL - 11,555
DSi - 9,954
Xbox 360 - 2,282
PS2 - 1,897
DS Lite - 1,056
PSP Go - 136