2013 is well and truly the Year of Luigi, with Mario's sibling locking out the Japanese sales charts again this week. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon sold another 56,562 copies, bringing its lifetime total to over half a million units.
Card Fight!! Vanguard Ride to Victory!! was in second place, with news that it shipped with game-breaking bugs clearly not putting off the vast majority of buyers.
In third place was Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which has now shifted an incredible 3 million copies in its homeland — an amazing feat when you consider that the game launched in Japan in November last year.
Here's the top ten for your viewing pleasure. Numbers in brackets are lifetime sales to date.
1) [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo, 03/21/13) – 56,562 (515,975)
2) [3DS] Card Fight!! Vanguard Ride to Victory!! (Furyuu, 04/11/13) – 44,538 (New)
3) [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/12) – 36,709 (3,062,077)
4) [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 (Namco Bandai, 03/21/13) – 12,799 (370,758)
5) [PS3] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 (Konami, 03/21/13) – 8,059 (149,725)
6) [Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition (Namco Bandai, 11/29/12) – 6,983 (449,305)
7) [PSV] Muramasa Rebirth (Marvelous AQL, 03/28/13) – 6,492 (63,287)
8) [PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 (Konami, 03/21/13) – 6,487 (124,326)
9) [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) – 6,473 (1,996,530)
10) [PSP] Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment (Namco Bandai, 03/14/13) – 6,435 (186,444)
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 24
Too bad it won't even get close to the one million mark.
wow a Wii game made it to 6th place
@DarkCoolEdge With 400k in the US it should have passed the 1million world wide.
I wonder if that Japanese audience can appreciate a game made in Canada?
It looks like they do!
It really deserves that spot.Also, I want Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition in west.
@sgotsch I know. I was obviously talking about Japan. At least it has sold more than the original Luigi's Mansion did.
AC:NL - 3 million down, 124 million to go
Go Luigi go!
Luigis Mansion is harder than it looks. I am just past B-1 Haunted Towers and I needed to check youtube previews twice to get past that stage.
By the way some of those youtube walkthroughs are really good.
@DarkCoolEdge Why won't it sell over a million?! It's only been out for a short time in Japan and these type of game sell long after they release. I can see it easily getting over a million yes just in Japan!!
Note too self, Pick this game up after getting my headsets
What is up with that Taiko Drum Master game? I swear it's been in the charts for months XD
Great game,desserves rto do well.
@AJWolfTill - People misread it as Taiko Drunken Master and think it's a party game based on a Jackie Chan movie.
You see this Nintendo? A good, 3D roaming, home console style game selling well on the 3DS. more of this please, not 2D half-makes.
I still need to buy Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon!
@Dpullam - DO IT. Seriously, though, it's a really solid game.
It's so encouraging to see this game doing well! Can't wait for Next Level's future offerings now.
It's doing great, but still a bit of a shame that it doesn't look like it has a chance of surpassing the sales of the lazy cash in that is NSMB2. Next time Nintendo are trying to decide wether to give us a new entry in a long dormant series (F-Zero for example), or get the interns to crank out another 2D Mario, you know what they're going to go with.
@Peach64 Luigi's Mansion is more niche than a 2D Mario game which has casual appeal (hence a larger audience).
A lot of their dormant series are pretty niche as well. If people really wanted the games they would have bought them, which doesn't appear to be the case. The last console F-Zero game only sold 650,000 copies WORLDWIDE which would be pretty poor sales considering the amount of resources that would have gone into a game like that.
Not to mention they have their investors breathing down their necks as well.
Hm...Animal Crossing's popularity in Japan is pretty scary. Though I wonder if it'll manage to surpass Wild World's 11.85 million worldwide sales; its Japan based sales haven't quite reached the mark of Wild World's Japanese sales (though this isn't factoring in eShop sales so maybe its getting close).
@Ernest_The_Crab Yup, I know why they make the games they do. It's just unfortunate that the 'safe' games outweigh the innovative ones so heavily. All we can do is keep buying the more niche stuff when it's as good as Luigi's Mansion and Fire Emblem: Awakening.
It is an amazing game, one of the best I have played for years. Nintendo really are on a roll!
Luigi's Mansion is great! I hope it continues to sell, I was surprised by just how much fun the single-player is.
Hadn't planned on picking up until they announced multiplayer, but I would have missed out if I hadn't. GREAT title.
Wow! And it continues to climb!
Just played the Luigi demo in Target for a good 10 or 15 minutes and it looked great. My only dislike was the X+B buttons for looking up and down, could have really used a 2nd thumb nub, but it was serviceable. Moving the 3DS around helped while vacuuming, which of course made me think it would be more fun on the WiiU Gamepad. May need to buy a 3DS XL when Dream Team comes out. Maybe we'll get a better branded one than that green Luigi siloutte.
WOW! Luigi that vacuum cleaner isn't just for sucking up ghosts anymore! It's for sucking up cash now!
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