The Japanese software charts are a source of constant fascination - huge numbers involved, games we’ve never heard of, turnover like you wouldn’t believe and, of course, the frankly bizarre fondness for handheld formats in preference to the whizzy next-gen machines we go crazy for.

This week’s countdown is no exception either, boasting six brand new entries - each of which selling in quantities that would make UK publishers weep - and eight out of the top ten games being on PSP or DS. Check it out, lifetime sales after the slash as usual:

1. (DS) Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel - 347,360 / NEW
2. (PS3) Winning 11 2009 - 168,405 / NEW
3. (WII) Animal Crossing: City Folk - 108,547 / 413,727
4. (DS) Chrono Trigger DS - 80,157 / 351,025
5. (PSP) Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force 3 - 64,179 / NEW
6. (PSP] Gundam vs. Gundam - 56,557 / 323,489
7. (DS) Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe - 56,176 / 474,749
8. (PSP) Kenka Banchou 3: Zenkoku Seiha - 53,966 / NEW
9. (PSP) Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin - 45,809 / NEW
10. (PSP) Higurashi Daybreak - 32,639 / NEW

Unsurprisingly handheld formats rule the hardware sales chart too, although DSi and PSP sales are fairly static compared to those of the Wii and Playstation 3. Guess we have Animal Crossing: City Folk and Winning 11 2009 to thank for the uplift. We’ll wager it’s handheld-domination business as usual next week, though. But for now it all looks as follows, this week’s sale first etc:

DSi - 87,185 / 88,843
PSP - 55,090 / 61,226
Wii - 49,848 / 35,298
PS3 - 34,978 / 17,436
DS Lite - 26,851 / 18,580
Xbox 360 - 11,423 / 15,474
PS2 - 5,628 / 5,281