3DS And Vita Make It A Portable Summer For Japanese Gamers

Next-generation consoles? Who needs those? I've made it clear that 3DS is the most compelling new hardware in a decade and my software library shows. It's swelled well beyond my DS library in an extremely short amount of time. What's more, I've kept everything I've played on the system. Maybe one or two games were traded in or sent away, but for the most part I've enjoyed every game on the platform so much I can't get rid of it.

The Japanese know what I'm talking about. That market is well on its way to adorning two more games with more than a million units sold. I'm talking about the two highest-selling games this week: Tomodachi Collection: New Life and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.

Luigi is climbing a little slower. While Dark Moon landed at number two overall, selling 64,420 units, it can't keep up with the meteroic jaunt Tomodachi is on. That game now sits at 758,575 (compared to Luigi's 660,575) and sold over 200,000 units in just the last week. Something tells me Animal Crossing: New Leaf which sold 47,128 for a lifetime figure of 3,175,398 and landed at number three, had a lot to do with giving Tomodachi to a large audience hungry for a new game.

Seriously, the 3DS will godzilla Japan pretty soon. It'll just rise up out of the ocean and take a bite out of Heath's house. This portable sales trend will likely continue through summer as warm weather has even elevated PlayStation Vita beyond console sales figures for the number three spot. With 22,051, Vita outsold PS3, Wii U, PSP, Wii, and 360 (in respective order).

Still, the highest charting Vita game on the software sales list landed at number twelve selling just 8,985, Photo Kano Kiss. I don't think we can count on a strong US release to prop the Vita up with this one. How hard does the Vita have it in the charts this week? Photo Kano Kiss barely outsold Mario Kart 7, with less than a hundred units between them. Even a Wii game outsold the best the Vita had to offer this week.

Regardless, the Vita will find life somewhere down the line and hopefully we'll have a better map of what that in just a few weeks. GameRevolution will be on the ground at E3 2013, so keep it locked, Revolutionaries!

Here's are the rest of the numbers:

Software

[3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life (Nintendo, 04/18/13) – 208,814 (758,575)
[3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo, 03/21/13) – 64,420 (660,575)
[3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/12) – 47,128 (3,175,398)
[PS3] Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (Capcom, 04/25/13) – 31,319 (156,682)
[3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission (02/28/13) – 15,094 (177,157)
[PS3] Tomb Raider (Square Enix, 04/25/13) – 12,899 (48,149)
[PS3] Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (Namco Bandai, 04/18/13) – 12,096 (117,593)
[3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) – 10,875 (2,019,369)
[Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition (Namco Bandai, 11/29/12) – 9,984 (469,436)
[PSP] Seven Dragon 2020 II (Sega, 04/18/13) – 8,985 (97,862)
[3DS] Run For Money: Flee From the Strongest Hunters in History (Namco Bandai, 07/05/12) – 8,979 (478,092)
[PSV] Photo Kano Kiss (Kadokawa Games, 04/25/13) – 8,632 (38,804)
[3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 12/01/11) – 8,564 (2,043,216)
[3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Chibi Dragon and the Mysterious Orb (Namco Bandai, 07/12/12) – 6,464 (479,603)
[3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) (Capcom, 11/15/12) – 6,302 (301,422)
[3DS] Detective Conan: Marionette Symphony (Namco Bandai, 04/25/13) – 6,061 (15,326)
[PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 (Konami, 03/21/13) – 6,012 (139,803)
[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 (Namco Bandai, 03/21/13) – 5,969 (389,990)
[PS3] Steins;Gate: Kenkei Kousoku no Phenogram (5pb., 04/25/13) – 5,144 (39,436)
[PS3] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 (Konami, 03/21/13) – 4,861 (164,386)