Back in the big time

After last week's excitement with 3DS XL arriving, and seeing some inevitable bumps in software sales, it's time to survey the scene and see whether the new handheld has brought a sustained boost to Nintendo's UK sales. The answer? Just about.

In terms of Nintendo exclusive titles, there are an encouraging five within the top 20 this week, according to the latest figures from UKIE. Rather predictably, Mario & Sonic at the London Olympic Games is still happy with bronze in third place, while Mario continues to do the business with Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land in 15th and 18th respectively. In some good news for its longevity, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is still holding its own in 19th, while kiddie-friendly DS title Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo sneaks into 20th.

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That's a pretty good effort for the top 20, considering the competition in the all format chart, but it's the inclusion of Wii Music in 26th place that's the biggest surprise. We've seen some old Wii titles survive in the top 40 by virtue of being in hardware bundles, but we have no idea how this title arrived back on the scene. In any case, we checked and double checked, and UKIE says it was amongst the 40 best-sellers in the UK last week — the only Wii exclusive in the list — so the old remote-waving midi-rocking title clearly still has life in it yet.

A decent week for Nintendo in the UK, with an encouraging presence in the top 20. It's not long until a certain golden platformer arrives, so it'll be interesting to see where that lands in the chart.

[source ukie.info]