Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has told USA Today that the latest outings for Mario and Zelda have smashed series sales records.
Super Mario 3D Land became the fastest-selling handheld Mario game in history, shifting over 500,000 units since it launched on 13th November.
The plumber's long-awaited début gave 3DS sales a boost too: when Mario arrived, system sales took a 49% jump over the previous week. Sales continued to strengthen following the launch — in Thanksgiving week, 3DS sales were up 325% on the week of 6th November.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has trumped Mario's achievement though: since 20th November it's sold a very impressive 535,000 copies, setting a new record as the fastest-selling Zelda game ever.
Wii hardware also took a big bump during Thanksgiving, with 500,000 units sold on Friday alone, the console's biggest-ever Black Friday, according to Fils-Aime.
3DS is now inching ever-closer to surpassing the original DS console's first year sales.
[source content.usatoday.com]
Comments 33
So things are looking bright with these two titles. Not too surprising for SM3DL with all the hype and advertising it got. But i was a bit in doubt about Skyward Sword since i thought many people had completely given up on the Wii by now.
Impressive that there were so many Wii's sold too.
Those are some really crazy numbers. I'm kinda shocked at the numbers but then again, it's Mario and Zelda. Incredible news for the Wii. Also great news for the 3DS, it was only a matter of time till it recovered.
really encouraging news- this goes to show that nintendo can and are able to bounce back. it took a while for sales to go up but if you can release a great game as big as skyward sword or super mario 3D land, then a company can make up for early losses this year.
never write them off, especially with things such their big game releases.
All those fanboys who said "Nintendo is dead or is dying" are looking really dumb right now
(No sarcasm) Yes! Now 7-year olds will throw away their DSi and buy one of the badboys!
With Mario Kart 7 on the way, 3DS is sure to surpass the original DS sales. Plus, Skyward Sword has gave the Wii a welcome boost near it's end. Well done Nintendo!
The number for Mario is very counter-intuitive, considering the lackluster sales of the 3DS.
The 3DS will deifinitly surpass the Wii sales this weekend once MK7 comes out.
Wasn't it like, 2 months ago when we saw people saying that the 3DS would never do well, or something like that?
Fastest selling Mario game in history you say, nice.
@Tare Nope, fastest-selling handheld Mario game in history
@5 - My thoughts exactly
Obviously Mario was going to do well, as it's the first AAA 3DS-exclusive title - but I'm stoked to hear that Zelda is doing great considering the Wii is slowing down now...never doubt the power of Robin Williams' beard!
I would love to see the trolls on gamefaqs twist this into bad news. OH WAIT they already have XD.
I wish people on gamefaqs were more like people here or on serebii net.
Anyways HOLY FISHPASTE those are some darn good sales
@ kage_88 even though he cut it its power still influences our world
With all of those new Wii's sold they should start the Virtual Console back up to give people some new retro goodies to download.
Sh*t. Nintendo's not gonna make it guys!!
Good job Nintendo, good job :3
And yet 'TEH 3DS IS A FLOPPPPP' according to like 75% of all gamers on the internet. Hell, even many media outlets were writing reviews of SM3DL with headers like 'Can Mario Save Nintendo?' Basically Nintendo overshot their pre-release predictions by a long shot with the 3DS. It's going to have a healthy lifespan just like the DS did but it's never going to be an iPad in terms of sales and that's what both Nintendo and the media seemed to have been expecting.
This is great news. I finally picked up my 3DS on Black Friday, and hope to enjoy it for a long time
Nintendo wins again. Incredible numbers. The Wii is not anywhere near its end also. With these numbers, Nintendo will keep it alive for a long time. More than the PS2. Sure it won't have titles like ZELDA Skyward Sword, those will go to the Wii U, but it will have enough games for people to keep buying the console for some time... making it the best selling console of all time eventually.
Zelda and Mario leave everyone in the dust on the curb ......... !
The biggest Black Friday sales numbers for Wii's entire lifespan? Really? Wow. Hard to believe. Although I must say, I was in a Best Buy on Friday and I saw numerous people either checking out with a 3DS bundle or a Wii bundle. Very interested to see final holiday numbers, especially after all the doom-and-gloom over Nintendo this past quarter. People seem to forget they do a majority of their business in this next month.
Its good to see these games doing so well and even better to see that the 3DS is picking up so much. Also, surprising to see the Wii selling so well in its last full year.
Wow, things are looking pretty good for Nintendo, I guess.
Are people really surprised? Mario sells!
Hopefully, this will shut up naysayers, but I doubt it.
FILS-AIME TOLD THEM? THEN IT MUST BE TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you think those Wii Black Friday sales figures were good you should see what the Xbox 360 sold...
Not surprising, so many stores were offering the console/mario or zelda bundles for $169.99 around here on Black Friday - so you could basically get the game for free. The cheap Wii's surely did well too.
500k is a new record!? That's...kind of sad. I mean, Zelda is supposed to be HUGE, the Wii's last great game, and the number of people who own a Wii is ridiculous. 500k seems pathetic.
pathetic compared to black ops sales and mw3
@Popyman re: I mean, Zelda is supposed to be HUGE, the Wii's last great game, and the number of people who own a Wii is ridiculous.
you do realise the vast majority of people who own a wii own more games such as just dance than mario, zelda games.
but anyway, 500k is still an impressive figure
And half of the SM3DL buyers didn't even know about the game before the PETA campaign.
@misswliu81: Yes, but there sure as hell should be more than 500,000 people who would buy Skyward Sword.
500k would be kind of impressive for the first day, but it took an entire week for it to get there...
@Popyman re: that is true. it shouldn't really have taken until black friday for those sales to escalate.
This is awesome news, hopefully it would be a trifecta, where Mario Kart 7 would also set a record when it comes out!
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