Level-5 takes Japanese number one spot

A new entry in Level-5's Inazuma Eleven series of football role-playing games for the Nintendo DS has dominated the weekly sales charts in Japan, with just over half a million sales in its debut.

Like the last sequel the game is sold in two Pokémon style variants named Spark and Bomber. In part due to the continuing excitement over the World Cup the title's 505,000 first week sales are considerably higher than the around 300,000 debut of the previous sequel.

In a relatively busy week of new releases the third entry in the popular Taiko: Drum Master DS range of games entered the charts at number two with 70,000 unit sales.

Also new at number three is the PlayStation 3 version of 2D beat 'em-up BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, which improved on the debut of the first game in the series with a total of 50,000 unit sales. The Xbox 360 version entered the charts at number 11 with less than 16,000 unit sales.

The final new entry in the top 10 is Namco Bandai's Digimon Story: Lost Evolution. The fifth title in the franchise on the DS saw 34,000 sales in its first week.

Although the rest of the chart is composed of the usual evergreen titles, and last week's more popular releases, previous number one seller Monster Hunter Frontier Online for the Xbox 360 has fallen all the way to number 14. It is currently unclear whether stock problems have contributed to the sudden collapse in sales.

The Media Create Japanese software chart for the week ending July 4 is as follows:

• 01 Inazuma Eleven 3: Challenge the World!! Spark/Bomber (DS)
• 02 Taiko Drum Master DS: Dororon! Great Demon Decisive Battle!! (DS)
• 03 BlazBlue: Continuum Shift (PS3)
• 04 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
• 05 Digimon Story: Lost Evolution (DS)
• 06 LovePlus+ (DS)
• 07 Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 3rd Story (DS)
• 08 Pro Evolution Soccer 2010: Blue Samurai Challenge (PS3)
• 09 Art Academy (DS)
• 10 Pro Evolution Soccer 2010: Blue Samurai Challenge (PS3)