"If you bundle a game with a special brush stylus, they will come," the heavens whispered to Nintendo.While we expected Beautiful Letter Training (also known as Bimoji or Calligraphy Training) to do well, we didn't expect it to sell 66,000 copies in its first week. This first-party effort by Nintendo looks as polished and full of content as a calligraphy nongame could get, but we're still surprised by the high demand for this game in Japan. Nintendo has understood sales markets better than anyone else this generation, though, so we probably should have expected this.
Also appearing on the charts are both versions of Hayate the Combat Butler, as we predicted. The mansion edition was slightly more popular, as preference was given to the little girls in little black dresses. At the sixth spot was Shugo Chara!, which, in case you were wondering, is yet another manga/anime-based game about a school girl.
Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends, meanwhile, jumped back into the top ten, while Soma Bringer dropped down a few notches. One other notable game on the chart is the infamous Duel Love, which debuted at spot twenty-seven. That's not a great start for the title, but perhaps nipple rubbing is more niche in Japan than we thought.
Despite making a killing in software and having fifteen games in the top thirty, the DS remained in third for hardware sales. Still, considering that everyone and their mother already owns a DS in Japan, we're somewhat surprised that it comes so close to the top, week after week.
Mosey on after the break to see the numbers in full, folks.
Hardware:
- PSP: 57,651
- Wii: 55,845
- Nintendo DS: 53,266
- PlayStation 3: 14,934
- PlayStation 2: 9,930
- Xbox 360: 1,744
01. (__) DS Beautiful Letter Training [DS] --- 65,689 (New)
02. (01) Yakuza 3: Kenzan! [PS3] --- 45,776 (227,000)
03. (03) Wii Fit [Wii] --- 44,500 (1,704,000)
04. (02) Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Wii] --- 40,984 (1,449,000)
05. (04) Gundam Musou Special [PS2] --- 24,269 (213,000)
06. (__) Shugo Chara! Three Eggs and the Joker in Love [DS] --- 20,383 (New)
07. (__) Daito Giken Official Pachislo Simulator: New Yoshimune [PS2] --- 18,198 (New)
08. (06) Wii Sports [Wii] --- 16,921 (2,855,000)
09. (11) Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends [DS] --- 11,494 (93,000)
10. (12) Wii Play [Wii] --- 11,060 (2,271,000)
11. (05) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption [Wii]
12. (09) Musou Orochi [PSP]
13. (__) 12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral [PS2]
14. (10) Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV [Wii]
15. (07) Soma Bringer [DS]
16. (14) Monster Hunter Portable 2nd [PSP]
17. (08) Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant DS [DS]
18. (__) Hayate the Combat Butler: Girl-Making War: Mansion Edition [DS]
19. (__) Hayate the Combat Butler: Girl-Making War: School Edition [DS]
20. (17) Mario Party DS [DS]
21. (18) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games [DS]
22. (22) Mario Kart DS [DS]
23. (13) Etrian Odyssey II: The Royal Grail [DS]
24. (23) Taiko Drum Master DS [DS]
25. (__) Winning Post 7: Maximum 2008 [PS2]
26. (24) New Super Mario Bros. [DS]
27. (__) Duel Love: The Loving Girl is the Goddess of Victory [DS]
28. (19) Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 [Wii]
29. (15) Family Ski [Wii]
30. (20) Jirou Akagawa Mystery: Nocturne: The Invited Killer [DS]
[Via NeoGAF]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-21-2008 @ 6:51PM
Nels said...
Bimoji? I got one - should come in the mail next week.
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3-21-2008 @ 9:08PM
Madhatt3r said...
i love it how a game about learning is beating brawl hahaha
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3-22-2008 @ 12:10AM
istrasci said...
I bought Bimoji Training too... It's pretty awesome... I don't think most Westerners realize that the Japanese take pride in things like that, so it's not unusual to wonder why it would sell so well... It is pretty relaxing...
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