Japan chart: Mario Kart 7 soars, Zelda plummets

Good news/bad news for Nintendo in this week's Japanese sales charts. Mario Kart 7 got off to a storming start but Zelda: Skyward Sword dropped like a stone in its second week.

The Mario Kart series' 3DS debut entered the chart at number one, selling a whopping 423,619 copies, ahead of a new PlayStation 3 Gundam title at number two.

Super Mario 3D Land rose to three, with sales up an impressive 20 per cent week-on-week to 73,907.

The PlayStation 3 version of Assassin's Creed: Revelations entered at number four, selling 39,947 copies, while last week's number one, Zelda: Skyward Sword, dropped to five. Sales of Link's new Wii adventure slumped 83 per cent to 32,191.

Here's the full top 20, as seen on Andriasang:

1. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS): 423,619 - NEW
2. Gundam Extreme VS. (Namco Bandai, PS3): 349,756 - NEW
3. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS): 73,907 (Life to date: 634,868)
4. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Ubisoft, PS3): 39,947 - NEW
5. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo, Wii): 32,191 (227,169)
6. Fortune Street (Square Enix, Wii): 27,640 - NEW
7. Kirby's Adventure (Nintendo, Wii): 27,352 (282,917)
8. Power Pro Kun Pocket 14 (Konami, DS): 24,512 - NEW
9. Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Forze (Namco Bandai, PSP): 23,327 - NEW
10. The King of Fighters XIII (SNK Playmore, PS3): 21,525 - NEW
11. Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Forze (Namco Bandai, Wii): 21,379 - NEW
12. Poképark 2: Beyond the World (The Pokémon Company, Wii): 19,937 (89,678)
13. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 19,155 (2,055,777)
14. Just Dance Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 18,070 (248,338)
15. 7th Dragon 2020 (Sega, PSP): 17,175 (139,673)
16. One Piece Gigant Battle! 2 (Namco Bandai, DS): 16,915 (160,356)
17. Taiko Drum Master Wii Ultimate Version (Namco Bandai, Wii): 16,669 (48,767)
18. Little Battle eXperience Boost (Level-5, PSP): 16,596 (77,323)
19. Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 15,856 (680,079)
20. Tekken Hybrid (Namco Bandai, PS3): 14,195 - NEW

New entries to look out for next week include Capcom juggernaut Monster Hunter Tri G on 3DS. The PlayStation Vita follows the week after.

Over on the hardware chart, almost all platforms saw a sales bump, though none quite as dramatic as the 3DS. Sales of Nintendo's resurgent handheld nearly doubled week-on-week to 205,962.

The PlayStation 3 held on to second place with 40,668 units sold, followed by the PSP, Wii, DS and Xbox 360.

1. 3DS: 205,962 (Last week: 120,920)
2. PlayStation 3: 40,668 (34,031)
3. PSP: 39,547 (33,151)
4. Wii: 31,071 (20,148)
5. DSi XL: 2899 (2237)
6. Xbox 360: 1660 (1678)
7. PS2: 1500 (1294)
8. DSi: 1516 (993)
9. DS Lite: 21 (35)