UK Charts: LucasArts knocks itself off the top as Mercenaries debuts at No.1

Publisher LucasArts has debuted a second title in a row at number one in the UK, with PS2 and Xbox military action title Mercenaries taking the top spot and knocking Knights of the Old Republic 2 down to number two.

Mercenaries also topped the PlayStation 2 chart, knocking Sega's Sonic Mega Collection Plus from poll position in that ranking, but it couldn't unseat KOTOR2 from its place on top of the Xbox ranking.

Capitalising on the school mid-term break here in the UK, THQ's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie rose three places to number three, while former chart topper Sonic Mega Collection Plus dropped back a single place to number four.

In terms of other new releases, Namco's Ace Combat 5: Squadron Leader, published in the UK by Sony Computer Entertainment, was the highest ranked title aside from Mercenaries, coming in at number 12 in the all-formats chart.

Tecmo's Xbox Live enabled beat 'em up Dead or Alive Ultimate, published here by Microsoft, came in at number 19, managing a number three ranking in the Xbox chart, while Ubisoft's Settlers: Heritage of Kings (PC) came in at number 39, completing the line-up of new releases.

It was another poor week for Nintendo's GameCube, however, with top-ranked Cube title Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat failing to dent the top 40 ranking.

This Friday is a quiet one for UK retail, with Sega's Altered Beast and Konami's Suikoden IV (both PS2) joining Koei's Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends (PS2) and Nintendo's Mario Power Tennis (GC) in a slew of minor Japanese developed releases.