For the week ending October 2nd, a Mario game is again on top of the charts... Super Mario Bros to be exact.

Courtesy of Media-Create, we have the most recent sales figures from Japan.

In hardware sales handhelds continued their reign again led by the Nintendo DS. PSP, finally seeing some consistent software support, sold decently but was yet overcome by combined GBA sales. Early returns on Nintendo's handheld strategy seems to point favorably towards their vaunted "three pillar" approach. While the DS unquestionably continues its stirring success in Japan, the GBA has not been forgotten with continued steady software releases and now a compelling new hardware iteration. It should also again be noted that DS sales have remained steady even in weeks with no major new software releases, such as this week. A good sign indeed heading into the prolific holiday months.

This week's numbers follow:

In software sales, new software mostly failed to make a splash for the second consecutive week. GBA games secured 3 of the top 10 slots, led by the popular-all-over-again Super Mario Bros. re-rerelease. It seems nostalgic values truly cannot be underestimated as the classic platformer ultimately led all sales and spent its third consecutive week in the top 3. DS sales featured the usual suspects, just behind recent release Tamagotchi Corner Shop. Interesting note: in a recent press conference Nintendo revealed their next batch of "non-games" including a certain Brain Training 2 due out by the end of the year. Should be interesting to see that title's first week sales.

Without further ado, the numbers: