Another Sony-dominated sales week in Japan? Objection! The DS had a new man on the case in the week ending April 15th.

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

In software, Capcom's newest courtroom adventure game (known in the west as the irrepressible Phoenix Wright series) posted an impressive debut. The company must be ecstatic with the success of their quirky series on the DS as the games seem to be finding a new audience thanks to the huge install base. Fans of Phoenix Wright take note however: the main character of this title is not Mr. Wright but rather a new, untested lawyer fresh out of law school. If its any consolation, expect Phoenix to figure prominently in the story.

Following recent trends for Nintendo-published DS titles, the NST-developed Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis finally released in Japan, many months after its initial release in the States. Like almost all of Nintendo Japan's self-published DS titles, the game sold solidly in its first week and is a lock to pass 100k in sales. It is not likely to garner the same success as Yoshi's Island DS however...perhaps thanks to the impact of New Super Mario Bros., Japan seems to be in the midst of a rediscovered fondness for fun, solid 2D platformers.

Looking to the near future, besides Super Paper Mario next week, a slate of big titles is planned for Golden Week including Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and the Wii edition of Big Brain Academy.

Meanwhile, hardware sales in the week continued a steady resurgence for DS Lite and Wii. The PS3, now at a low point in sales, continues to struggle even against the PS2 it was meant to replace. Nevertheless, with Golden Week approaching, expect to see all hardware numbers receive a healthy boost.

The weekly software numbers follow:

The week's console numbers follow: