Japanese Charts - Macross tops, Western shooters respectable

Media Create's sales tracking data for the week of October 17 to October 23 shows a mixed bag dominated by a popular and long-lasting anime franchise.

Software
Gekijouban Macross F: Sayonara no Tsubasa made a strong debut - you may know the franchise by its Western adaptation, Robotech. This one's based on the movie of the same name, apparently, and is the sequel to Macross Frontier: Itsuwari no Utahime.

After last week's storm, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon sales dropped off sharply, but maintained a more than respectable level.

Sports surged back to dominance after a post-summer lull, perhaps triggered by the release of FIFA 12, which in its first week only just pipped sales of Winning Eleven - Pro Evolution Soccer - months after launch.

A couple of new Western first person games appeared, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution proving a little underwhelming and Dead Island, of all things, even managing to pull a chart entry on the Xbox 360.

New releases accounted for almost half of the software charts, with perennial favourites dying back a little; hopefully the holiday release crunch will refresh things a little.

1. Gekijouban Macross F: Sayonara no Tsubasa (PS3) - 142,607
2. Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Impact (PSP) - 53,148
3. Go Vacation (Wii) - 47,209
4. Just Dance (Wii) - 45,580
5. Dead Island (PS3) - 39,945
6. FIFA 12 (PS3) - 25,640
7. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2012 (PS3) 22,902
8. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (PS3) - 18,120
9. AKB1/48: Idol to Guam de Koishitara…(PSP) - 17,562
10. Dead Island (Xbox 360) - 13,147
11. Rhythm Heaven (Wii) - 12,377
12. Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Wii) - 12,334
13. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3) - 8,707
14. NBA 2K12 (PS3) - 8,701
15. Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary: Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I-II-III (Wii) - 8,354
16. Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends (3DS) - 7,980
17. Kirby Mass Attack (DS) - 7,309
18. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) - 7,133
19. Tetris Axis (3DS) - 6,787
20. Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (PSP the Best) - 6,685

Hardware
The 3DS was back on top again, for the sixth week in a row. Nintendo's price cut seems to have mollified Japanese consumers at least; the 3DS is taking a reasonable share of the software charts on a regular basis now. The upcoming release of Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land is likely to see anther surge in console sales, too.

• 3DS - 73,933
• PS3 - 23,897
• PSP - 22,095
• Wii - 11,235
• DS - 3,334
• Xbox 360 - 1,620
• PS2 - 1,296

Lat week's figures can be found here.