Who Can Stop Dragon Quest IX In Japan?

Certainly none of this week’s new games! While plenty of new titles hit Japan this past week, none of them came within spitting distance of Dragon Quest IX‘s continued strong sales. Only next week will we see a real challenger.

That’s when Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii will arrive at Japanese game retailers, a software boost that the Wii could really use overseas. It ships this weekend, actually. Expect sales to be strong, possibly better than next week’s DQ IX performance, but we’ll be interested to see how the two games match up in the long run.

Anyway! Back to this week. New Nintendo DS games represented well in the top ten, with the latest Katamari release moving enough units to secure a top spot. The rest of the new debuts are things we’ll likely never see in North America. But, hey, there’s Punch-Out!!, managing to land at 17th.

The top thirty bestselling games in Japan for the week of July 20th to the 26th, courtesy of Media Create is below.

01. Dragon Quest IX (DS) – 270,000 / 3,202,000

02. Tomodachi Collection (DS) – 74,000 / 428,000

03. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – 74,000 / 763,000

04. Penguin no Mondai x Tenkuu no 7 Senshi (DS) – 43,000 / NEW

05. Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji (DS) – 35,000/ NEW

06. Katamari Tribute (PS3) – 28,000 / NEW

07. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble X (DS) – 28,000 / NEW

08. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (PS2) – 22,000 / 72,000

09. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (PS3) – 21,000 / 95,000

10. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP) – 18,000 / 818,000

11. Boku no Natsuyasumi 4: Seitouchi Shounen Tanteidan, Boku to Himitsu no Chizu (PSP)