March NPD: Let Pokemon show you its sales

The 3DS launched last month to mixed results, as far as we can tell. NPD doesn't report hardware numbers, of course, but the agency reports that in its first seven days on the market, the handheld's performance "compares quite favorably to that of the best-selling dedicated handheld gaming platform of all time, the Nintendo DS." It sold about 100,000 fewer units than the 479,000 DS did in its launch month -- but that was a November.

Nintendo previously said the console had the best first day of any handheld in US history. Even so, it managed not to be the top seller of the month. That honor goes to ... the Nintendo DS.

And here's why. The top two games, unsurprisingly, are both DS titles -- Pokemon Black and White, the latter of which is the best-selling Pokemon game at launch ever, the NPD says. In fact, the only 3DS title on the top 10 is Lego Star Wars 3, and that shares the position with Wii, DS, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the same game. The NPD provides no indication of how many copies were sold on any one platform.

Directly under the Pokemans at No. 3 is Homefront, suggesting that as far as gimmicks go, not being very good trumps 3D. A pair of debuts from EA, Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2, also found their way into the top 10 -- the full list can be seen after the break.

Top 10 best-selling games (US) for March 2011:

• Pokemon White -- NDS -- 1 -- Nintendo
• Pokemon Black -- NDS -- 2 -- Nintendo
• Homefront -- 360, PS3, PC -- 3 -- THQ
• Dragon Age 2 -- 360, PS3, PC -- 4 -- EA
• Call of Duty: Black Ops -- 360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC -- 5 -- Activision
• Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars -- WII, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC -- 6 -- LucasArts
• Crysis 2 -- 360, PS3, PC -- 7 -- Electronic Arts
• NBA 2K11 -- 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC -- 8 -- Take 2 Interactive
• MLB 11 The Show -- PS3, PSP, PS2 -- 9 -- Sony
• Fight Night Champion -- 360, PS3 -- 10 -- EA