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Dragon Quest IX, one of the most anticipated video games ever to hit Japan, went on sale on Saturday morning and sold an impressive 2.3 million copies over the weekend, according to Enterbrain.

The game, the first to debut on the Nintendo DS, has been delayed several times since it was first supposed to launch in 2007.

Its launch sales narrowly beat those of Dragon Quest VIII, the previous incarnation of the series, that launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, which sold 2.2 million copies.

Enterbrain bases its estimates on point-of-sale system data gathered from 3,500 retailers across Japan, and its figures are regarded as generally accurate.

Queues formed outside many game software retailers and most major shops opened early at 7 a.m. to accommodate those eager to get their hands on the software.

Based on its ¥5,980 (US$65) retail price two-day sales of the game were ¥14 billion ($us152 million).

To date almost 27 million Nintendo DS consoles have been sold in Japan so the sales mean its in the hands of roughly one in ten DS owners.

The actual figure is likely to be higher since some people own multiple DS handhelds and others have replaced older units with newer models.

Overseas launch dates for Dragon Quest IX, made by Square Enix, have not been announced.