Never count Nintendo out when sales are concerned, especially this generation. While recent earnings reports still put hardware sales down 31% from this same point last year (¥807.99 billion down from ¥1.182 trillion), software both new and old continues to rake in massive numbers.
The least surprising of their numbers, both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort continued to bring in the big bucks, selling 12.9 million and 10.21 million units (respectively) in the past nine-month period. Wii Fit Plus and Wii Party were also highly successful with 5.09 million and 5.07 million copies sold in that same period. Mario continues to be the mascot of choice, as New Super Mario Brothers Wii (6.58 million copies), Mario Kart Wii (3.95 million copies), and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (6.15 million copies) top the charts yet again. Even his quarter century-old games are still hot tickets, as the Special Edition of Super Mario All-Stars sold 1.95 million units.
But while Mario and games with “Wii” in the title have always been near-guaranteed hits, other staples of the Big N managed some good numbers as well. Donkey Kong Country Returns has sold 4.21 million units since its November launch, and even Kirby’s Epic Yarn managed 1.38 million since October. DS statistics are just as lucrative, with Pokemon leading the pack with the Black and White versions selling a combined 5.32 million and the HeartGold and SoulSilver selling 3.32 million total. Other big portable hits include New Super Mario Brothers (3.73 million) and Mario Kart DS (2.8 million). The full list of both systems’ biggest sellers in the past nine months can be found below.
Nintendo Wii
Title / Nine-month sales / LTD sales
Donkey Kong Country Returns / 4.21 million / 4.21 million
Kirby’s Epic Yarn / 1.38 million / 1.38 million
Mario Kart Wii / 3.95 million / 26.5 million
New Super Mario Bros. Wii / 6.58 million / 21.28 million
Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition / 1.95 million / 1.95 million
Super Mario Galaxy 2 / 6.15 million / 6.15 million
Wii Fit Plus / 5.09 million / 17.74 million
Wii Party / 5.07 million / 5.07 million
Wii Sports / 12.19 million / 75.66 million
Wii Sports Resort / 10.21 million / 26.35 million
Nintendo DS
Title / Nine-month sales / LTD sales
Pokemon Black and White / 5.32 million / 5.32 million
New Super Mario Bros. / 3.73 million / 26.21 million
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver / 3.32 million / 11.72 million
Mario Kart DS / 2.8 million / 20.7 million
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future / 1.87 million / 1.87 million*
Art Academy / 1.52 million / 1.52 million
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! / 1.15 million / 1.15 million
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies / 1.02 million / 1.02 million*
*Figure only reflects sales in regions in which Nintendo published the title.
Well it will be interesting to see how many copies of Black and White will sell in the rest of the world.
I am not surprised by this at all. It looks like they are only showing over 1 million sellers, as Metroid is not up there. Well I also wonder what their numbers will look like next year with the 3DS coming out and the strong line up there is for that system.
The 3DS will probably bring up sales tremendously. It’s a highly anticipated system. And those games coming out for it, are just too hard to pass up for any self righteous Nintendo fan. I was sold the minute I heard Mega Man Legends 3.
Yeah, I have no doubts that they will make lots of money off of the 3DS. I however will not be getting it at launch as there aren’t that many good launch titles, and I need to get some more money before I buy the system.
I’m 100% sure that the 3DS will sell out at launch, but that pricetag is one spicy meatball.
I have no doubts either. I have seen some reports from UK saying they will need more units to meet demand, and reports saying that Japan sold out of pre-orders in just one day (the lines for pre-orders were huge). It will be interesting to see how this launch turns out. I am waiting for E3 to see Nintendo’s montage for games coming out tin the next year.
The only thing that scares me about buying this thing on launch, is that it’ll end up like the original DS I owned. I had it for about 3 months before the lite was announced. Everyone knows Nintendo is NOTORIOUS for launching either a slimmer, or somehow better version of their handhelds. Every time. It’s almost to be expected now. Bu at that price tag, it might be a bad move on their part.
I don’t think we will see a hardware revision for probably two years at the minimum. Really all they would do is upgrade the screens to make them bigger like the DSi. They can’t really make the system slimmer, as it is actually slimmer than a DS Lite. I too don’t want it to end up like the original DS, but there will be a hardware revision eventually (I picked up the Lite after finding out about it a couple months before launch). I would hope that in the revision they improve the 3D screen to add more viewing angles, as that is one criticism I have of the system having such a small sweet spot to see the 3D. I really only want the new hardware to play games that look a bit better and will have more power to make more action heavy games; Resident Evil is the one I am most interested in at the moment.