Keep on grabbing those coins

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]