Japan chart: Mario Party 9 rules, Starhawk debuts at four

Wii crowd-pleaser Mario Party 9 clung onto the top spot in a snail-slow sales week over in Japan.

Nintendo's latest Wii release sold 37,353 to pip solid 3DS performer Fire Emblem: Awakening to number one.

The only new release in the top 20 is PlayStation 3 shooter Starhawk, which moved a modest 12,873 to debut at four.

Nintendo's dependable raft of 3DS evergreens again dominated the top 10, though every single game on the chart saw big drop-offs after last week's Golden Week holiday bonanza.

Here's the full run-down, courtesy of Andriasang:

1. Mario Party 9 (Nintendo, Wii): 37,353 (Life to date: 334,821)
2. Fire Emblem: Awakening (Nintendo, 3DS): 16,530 (361,790)
3. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Capcom, PS3): 14,553 (319,505)
4. Starhawk (Sony, PS3): 12,873 - NEW
5. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS): 11,260 (1,574,788)
6. Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom, 3DS): 9105 (1,442,475)
7. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS): 9045 (1,704,350)
8. Kid Icarus: Uprising (Nintendo, 3DS): 7636 (269,519)
9. Mario & Sonic at the London Olympics (Nintendo, 3DS): 4933 (162,270)
10. Conception: Please Give Birth to My Children! (Spike Chunsoft, PSP): 4600 (44,639)
11. Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 4416 (939,971)
12. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, PSP): 4041 (132,450)
13. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 3,408 (2,348,884)
14. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, PS3): 3342 (156,276)
15. Dynasty Warriors VS (Tecmo Koei, 3DS): 3231 (27,423)
16. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (Square Enix, 3DS): 3204 (311,688)
17. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP the Best (Capcom, PSP): 3104 (252,765)
18. Harvest Moon: Land of Origins (MAQL, 3DS): 3040 (182,188)
19. 2nd Super Robot Wars Z: Saisei Volume (Namco Bandai, PSP): 2959 (331,392)
20. Pokémon Conquest (The Pokémon Company, DS): 2819 (320,885)

The hardware chart is in an equally sorry state, with sales of all systems stumbling off a cliff. 3DS holds on to number one, though it dropped sharply from 91,868 to 46,425.

PlayStation 3 and PSP also saw 50 per cent declines, while poor old Vita suffered its worst sales week yet, shifting a meagre 6340. Oh dear.

1. 3DS: 46,425 (Last week: 91,868)
2. PlayStation 3: 12,996 (23,478)
3. PSP: 12,247 (20,033)
4. Vita: 6340 (10,583)
5. Wii: 6073 (15,789)
6. PlayStation 2: 1212 (1611)
7. Xbox 360: 1023 (1420)
8. DSi XL: 819 (1097)
9. DSi: 387 (814)