SEGA can’t be very pleased given that Vanquish got off to a rather miserable start in Japan. How miserable? Well, let’s compare sales to PlatinumGames’s previous multiplatform title, Bayonetta and see how it holds up:
| System | Bayonetta debut | Vanquish debut |
| PS3 | 93,000 (approx.) | 48,318 |
| 360 | 45,000 (approx.) | 11,204 |
Ouch. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise at this point, given the kind of game Vanquish is. One could point to several reasons for its slow debut, not the least of which are its extremely fast pace and animated camera.
Another non-surprise was No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, which opened at a low 11,373, including the impressive “Hopper’s Edition,” which comes packed with an impressive list of bonuses, including an animated movie.
Meanwhile, PlayStation Move software got off to a slow debut in Japan as well, with Beat Sketcher being the highest-selling Move game at 22,165 units. Resident Evil 5: Alternate Edition fizzled out with a mere 9,399 units.
The big story of the week, of course, is that Pokémon Black/White have finally been removed from the #1 spot by the release of the Super Mario Collection Special Pack. We wouldn’t be surprised to see them crawl their way back up eventually.
The top-20 software sales ranking for the week of October 18th – 24th is as follows:
| Lw | Tw | Title | Tw. Sales | Tot. Sales | Sys. | Publisher |
| New | 01. | Super Mario Collection Special Pack | 307,755 | New | Wii | Nintendo |
| 01. | 02. | Pokémon Black / White | 81,915 | 4,243,312 | DS | Nintendo |
| New | 03. | Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 | 63,675 | New | PS3 | Namco Bandai |
| New | 04. | Vanquish | 48,318 | New | PS3 | SEGA |
| 02. | 05. | Kirby’s Epic Yarn | 35,633 | 127,913 | Wii | Nintendo |
| New | 06. | Medal of Honor | 25,365 | New | PS3 | Electronic Arts |
| 03. | 07. | Lord of Arcana | 24,939 | 94,872 | PSP | Square Enix |
| New | 08. | Beat Sketcher | 22,165 | New | PS3 | Sony |
| New | 09. | FIFA 11: World Class Soccer | 18,995 | New | PS3 | Electronic Arts |
| 06. | 10. | Wii Party | 15,895 | 1,138,627 | Wii | Nintendo |
| 10. | 11. | Kingdom Hearts Re:coded | 14,995 | 141,748 | DS | Square Enix |
| New | 12. | Big 3 Gun Shooting | 12,653 | New | PS3 | Namco Bandai |
| New | 13. | No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle | 11,373 | New | Wii | Marvelous |
| New | 14. | Vanquish | 11,204 | New | 360 | SEGA |
| 05. | 15. | Red Dead Redemption | 10,454 | 107,347 | PS3 | Take Two |
| New | 16. | Resident Evil 5: Alternate Edition (w/ PS Move) | 9,399 | New | PS3 | Capcom |
| New | 17. | Medal of Honor | 6,958 | New | 360 | Electronic Arts |
| 15. | 18. | Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP The Best) | 6,371 | 456,266 | PSP | Capcom |
| New | 19. | Sports Champions | 6,349 | New | PS3 | Sony |
| 07. | 20. | Macross Frontier: The False Diva (Hybrid Pack) | 6,123 | 176,892 | PS3 | Namco Bandai |
Sales data acquired from 4Gamer and Media-Create.
