The Japanese video games market was up 22.5 per cent year on year in August, as Nintendo leads the charge with huge sales figures for Mario Party 8, DS and Wii – the latter of which outsold the PS3 by a margin of three to one.

The majority if the overall market growth was spurred on by a 48.2 per cent increase in hardware sales.

Thanks to Nintendo’s soaring console sales, the firm’s total hardware market share now equals 76 per cent.

In the handheld world, the DS Lite sold 587,223 units during August, while the PSP trailed behind with 107,561 units sold.

The Wii shifted 245,653 units, outselling the PS3's 81,541, the Xbox 360's 11,288, and the PS2’s 62,256 units.

Software wise, 15 titles out of the top 20 were for either the DS or Wii. Mario Party 8 topped the charts with over 709,000 units sold.

Data compiled by Famitsu Marketing Data Service.