Level 5 on another level in Japan, leads summer software sales.

With the Tokyo Game Show going down this week, all gaming eyes are on Japan. We’ve also sent an intrepid team of journalists to report on the island nation’s foremost gaming convention. A breakdown of last month’s sales by developer reveals that the big names in Japan continue to dominate the domestic game software charts.

While the release of Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS will almost certainly see Nintendo take the top spot for September, as its 1 million units shipped opening weekend would dominate the competition in Japan most months, in August the gaming heavyweight was in a dogfight with Bandai Namco for the #2 spot in total software sales.

(See: Smash Bros for 3DS is killing it in Japan)

The summer sales of Yokai Watch 2: Ganso/Honke saw Professor Layton series and Ni no Kuni developer Level 5 taking first place for the second month in a row. While the series won’t be making its international debut until next year at the earliest, it is already a phenomenon in Japan, with a movie slated for release at the end of the year.

The latest Dragon Ball game helped Bandai Namco hold on to third place, while the Love Live! School Idol Paradise trilogy saw Kadokawa into the top 5.

A full rundown of the top 5 publishers for August in Japan:
1.)Level 5 (18.1%)
2.)Nintendo (12.5%)
3.)Bandai Namco (12.4%)
4.)Koei Tecmo (11.2%)
5.)Kadokawa Games (5.8%)

While the five largest publishers accounted for roughly 60% of the total sales, the overall top 10 was rounded out by Atlus, Capcom, Square Enix, Marvelous, and Sony Computer Entertainment Asia.

Not a single foreign publisher was in the top 10 last month, but that may change as Microsoft’s newly launched Xbox One, however poor its launch may have been, should move Microsoft Japan into the mix for at least a month. Regardless, expect to see lots of shakeup in the rankings, as Nintendo and Square Enix have already had big launches for the 3DS this month.

As most games developed in Japan are released there months (or years) ahead of the rest of the world, it’s interesting to see how these games will fare with the host of games that don’t seem able to cross the Sea of Japan from the rest of Asia.

Any Japanese games you’d like to see get translations for your region? Which of your favorites are they missing out on?

A critical look at console sales in Japan:

(Source: Famitsu, image source)