You know things are going badly for sales of DS games in Europe when Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games doesn't get a look-in in most European charts.
The launch of numerous big titles in the last few weeks (Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, and now Grand Theft Auto IV) has seen more and more software for the handheld slide ominously down the charts, and this week only the two Brain Training games register consistently high positions.
So hey, we figure that the DS needs a hero to save it. Somebody who's smart and savvy. Somebody who won't stand down, even in the face of immeasurable odds. Ladies and gentlemen, we present you with Apollo Justice, ace attorney and star of next week's DS releases. Series continuity be damned, we want a high position for this! Spin past the break for lots of European chartage.
We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new Gundam game + the popularity of the DS = cha-ching. While the debuting Emblem of Gundam had decent sales for its first week, though, taking the twelfth spot isn't all that impressive -- especially since there was only one new release cluttering up the top ten.
On the other hand, We're Fossil Diggers, Pokemon Ranger, and the Taiko Drum Master DS sequel continued to shine, giving the DS a nice piece of top ten representation. Batonnage managed to reach the half-million mark, while the other two games neared 100,000 copies sold.
For hardware, DS numbers went up since last week, but the handheld is still convincingly behind the PSP and Wii in recent sales. If you want to see the numbers, though, just click past the break. You can check out the software listings there, too.
For a continent that gave the world tiramisu, Audrey Tautou, and the Renaissance, Europe sure does disappoint us at times. Yep, it's another week of gray, predictable drudgery when it comes to sales of DS software.
All you truly need to know is that More Mario & Dr. Kawashima's Olympics Training sold really, really well, and almost everything we care about didn't. Except for Animal Crossing: Wild World, which popped in to the German top ten, and Mario Kart DS, which secured eighth place in Ireland, and fifth in Germany. So maybe the world isn't all that rubbish, after all. And if you really believe that, we advise you go and rent Eurotrip.
Not only did the PSP gain momentum with the hideous brown, er, we mean shiny bronze model that released in Japan last week, but the Wii also beat out its portable cousin, sending the DS to third place in hardware sales:
PSP: 92,411
Wii: 48,796
Nintendo DS: 42,435
PlayStation 3: 9,107
PlayStation 2: 7,108
Xbox 360: 1,283
DS software fared better, though, with two new releases gracing the coveted top ten. Taiko Drum Master: 7 Islands' Adventure was the shining star of the week, reaching almost 56,000 sales. Summon Night gets an honorary mention, though, as it debuted in the fifth spot.
To check out the other new releases and software placings, just keep on reading ... forever.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
It's business as usual for the DS in Euroland, where Brain Training and Mario & Sonic have once again ruthlessly harvested the wallets of gullible (probably non-DS Fanboy-reading) consumers. We would love to suggest that this madness will end soon, but Brain Training has been around these parts for almost two years now, while the for-real Olympics will surely only boost people's interest in assaulting their DS's poor touch screen. In a word: gah.
More pleasingly, there's been a mini-renaissance for (of all games) Mario Kart DS. Sales of the game rose in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, and Sweden, and we're pinning this sudden rebirth on the success of Mario Kart Wii, which continues to run down the opposition at an alarming pace. Then reverse back over it, just to make sure.
More charts await your attention past the break, though we're sorry to say that the Spanish top ten is taking a siesta this week (see what we did there?). With any luck, it'll be back next Saturday.
Something caused a Phoenix Wright sales revival, and we suspect it was the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert (which was also a Gyakuten Kenji hype event). Both the first and second Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS ended up in the top thirty this week.
Newcomer We're Fossil Diggers (a second-party effort by RED Entertainment that actually sounds really fun, at least to the dinosaur lovers in us) deserves all the glory, though. Debuting at third place, this unique piece of software did rather well for itself in its first week.
Besides the same old games that have been showing up in the charts for the past few weeks, the other notable is Square-Enix's dull-sounding bookkeeping game. It seems like a rather niche title to end up in the top thirty, but who knows -- maybe a lot of Japanese folks are getting ready to take the Level 3 Bookkeeping exam. Or, maybe they just can't resist a game by the beloved Squeenix.
To see all the placings and numbers for yourselves, just click on past the break.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
The emergence of Mario Kart Wii this weekcaused tremors throughout the charts, something that didn't bode well for the DS. Apparently, training your brain has become a far less appealing pastime now that you can perform cartwheels on a bike as a giant ape, whereas Mario & Sonic could only hang on to third spot pretty much ... everywhere. As usual, the MIA titles are a greater source of interest, with Assassin's Creed failing to chart anywhere on its opening week.
Next week sees a sudden rush of shovelware (and we bet The Sun Crossword Challenge does really well, depressingly), and The World Ends With You.
In a strange turn of events, there's only one new DS game in Japan's top thirty this week, and that's Oshiri Kajiri Mushi's Rhythm Lesson DS. In case that title doesn't ring a bell, you may know it better as "that butt-biting bug game." If there's one thing we've learned from this bug, it's that biting is serious business. Despite Japan's love for DS software and quirky rhythm games, though, Oshiri Kajiri Mushi only debuted in the eighteenth spot. Perhaps butt biting is even too weird for Japan?
In hardware, the DS fell behind the PSP once again. Yet, there's already signs of the Monster Hunter hype beginning to dwindle, as the PSP sold 35,000 less units than the week before. Will the new brown model that comes out next week help the PSP keep a wide lead, or will the gap start to narrow again between the two handhelds? We're looking forward to finding out!
To see the Japanese placings and numbers, just check after the break.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
Old Kawashima's not wrong, you know -- well, as far as the DS goes anyway. Y'see, Europe is all about Gran Turismo 5: Prologue this week, but when it comes to Nintendo's handheld, the not-for-profits Prof (along with Mario & Sonic) is making sure no other DS game gets a look-in. Oh sure, you have your Cooking Mama 2s and New Super Mario Bros.s sniffing around the fringes and occasionally racking up a top ten spot, but other than that, there's little resistance. So here's to next week, when hopefully Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles will make a dent in this tedium.
Oh, and if you're reading, Germany: Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Seriously?
Sony dominated the first (and last) five in the top thirty software chart, but aside from that, everything else was Nintendo. The DS had fifteen games to represent it, but even if you added up the sales numbers for all those games, the total wouldn't come close to what Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sold in its second week.
Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage was once again the best-selling DS game, but newcomer Tottado! Yowiko's DesertedIsland Life (which is about famous Japanese comedians being stranded on an island) did well, also. In hardware, the DS was crushed for the second week in a row by the PSP, which had its sales boosted by Monster Hunter and Star Ocean 2.
Hardware:
PSP: 120,964
Nintendo DS: 55,190
Wii: 44,618
PlayStation 3: 11,303
PlayStation 2: 10,423
Xbox 360: 1,452
To see the software listings, just check after the break.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
After a gray, unrelenting winter (for most of us in the unglamorous northern bits, anyway), the clocks went forward for Europe earlier this week, which we suppose means we're now fully immersed in spring (hence the daffodils, you see -- we really think longand hard about those pictures). Fittingly, the European sales charts are full of the joys of spring themselves!
Wait, no, hold on, we're lying again. Must stop lying. In reality, they're still pretty much unchanged from last week, with the one notable exception being Magic Made Fun (known as Master of Illusion in the U.S.) which debuted on the continent this week, where it reached 8th in Germany, and 7th in Spain -- we expected a little more from this sorcery sim, considering its catch-all appeal.
The PSP might have dominated in Japan, selling as much hardware last week as every other system combined, but that doesn't mean the DS didn't do well for itself. In fact, Nintendo's handheld came in second place, selling around 60,000 units.
The story is similar in software, as DS titles came no where near to matching the sales of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, yet there was still a lot of DS representation in the top thirty, as usual. New titles rleased last week that made the cut include Mobile Suit Gundam 00, which debuted in third, Vitamin X Evolution, Lux Pain, and Home Teacher Hitman Reborn!
Towards the bottom of the software chart, New Super Mario Bros. reappeared while Taiko Drum Master hung stubbornly onto the thirtieth spot. To see how other games were rearranged, just check after the break for the listings.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
The usual proliferation of training games and Mario & Sonic aside, there's been little in the way of interesting new DS releases in this week's charts. And by "little," we mean "nothing." Indeed, Ubisoft's Imagine: Babies is actually the highest new DS entrant in the UK (30th), Ireland (10th), and France (11th). Deflating, much?
Furthermore, with only Bunnyz, Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, George of the Jungle, Hurry Up Hedgehog, Neves, Teenage Zombies and Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship 2008 to come next week, we're not anticipating much change. People, we're hitting the mid-year drought -- for heaven's sake, give us a release date for Professor Layton already, Nintendo. Hit the break for the full chart lowdown.
Last week was the week of new releases! Anticipating high holiday sales, many publishers made sure to release their games last week, with a total of fifteen ending up in the top thirty (seven of those being DS titles). With this slew of new releases, though, a lot of games were bumped off the chart to make room. Etrian Odyssey II and Soma Bringer, for example, did not survive the onslaught. Yet, somehow Mario Kart DS managed to move up a spot -- that game never ceases to amaze us.
The top of the heap was none other than Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage, which completely crushed the competition in its debut week. Sim City 2 DS did well also, ending up in the number four spot. In fact, this is the best an EA game has ever done in its first week in Japan, with the exception of the FIFA titles. Time Hollowand Super Dodgeball are some other notable new releases, ending up in spots ten and seventeen, respectively.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Germany, we salute you! This week's chart from the land of the brätwurst will make excellent reading for Nintendo of Europe. Not only is Super Mario Galaxy showing it has legs by making an appearance in the top ten, but the top nine -- NINE! -- spots are occupied by DS titles. The presence of New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing Wild World speaks volumes for the proud German people. With all of this in mind, a picture of one of Germany's favorite icons seemed like the only appropriate image for this week's edition of Another Week in Europe. Plus, we totally love Knight Rider.
Elsewhere, there's a significant DS presence in the UK, Irish, and Dutch charts, while Baby Pals could only crawl to a humbling 25th spot in Britain. Suddenly, everything seems right with the world. Full charts (minus the Spanish one, which failed to materialize this week) await you after the break.
You know things are going badly for sales of DS games in Europe when Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games doesn't get a look-in in most European charts.
For a continent that gave the world tiramisu, Audrey Tautou, and the Renaissance, Europe sure does disappoint us at times. Yep, it's another week of gray, predictable drudgery when it comes to 
Featuring charts from across the region, 
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
