This weekend saw the release of Monster Hunter 4 in Japan and the 3DS-exclusive dinosaur slaying game managed to sell an incredible 1,715,060 retail copies in its first two days on store shelves.

This figure comes from Japanese chart company Media Create (via Gematsu), which only looks at retail figures. In this case, it only covers the period of 9th-15th September and Monster Hunter 4 only came out on the 14th.

Capcom explained that combined with its digital sales, Monster Hunter 4 has shifted over two million units in four days, well ahead of the publisher's estimate to shift 2.8 million copies by 31st March, 2014. (Thanks, GamesIndustry International.) This phenomenal launch has made it the best-selling third-party 3DS game ever in Japan.

This big boost in sales was a major boon for the 3DS as well, which moved 276,792 units this past week. (236,700 on 3DS XL - which saw a couple of special Monster Hunter 4 bundles - and 40,092 on the regular 3DS). Comparatively, the next in lines was the PS3 at a humble 12,146.

The full hardware sales are as follows (with the previous week's sales in parenthesis):

3DS XL - 236,700 (60,077)

3DS - 40,092 (19,114)

PlayStation 3 - 12,146 (13,790)

PlayStation Vita - 6,020 (7,314)

PSP - 5,449 (5,493)

Wii U - 5,003 (5,702)

Wii - 962 (978)

Xbox 360 - 244 (201)

Capcom still hasn't confirmed a western launch of Monster Hunter 4, but its clear that it will inevitably reach our shores as Capcom is intent on igniting the series' fervour in the rest of the world.