Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Enjoy Biggest UK Pokémon Launch Ever

Looks like Smash sales got swallowed up by the Black Friday sales. It would be interesting to see sales figures because I'm sure Smash would have sold more than Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2 and they debuted in 3rd and 7th. Smash Bros 3DS also debuted in 4th.

All I got from this:

Smash Wii U = Smash 3DS
Pokemon Gen 3 Remake A =/= Pokemon Gen 3 Remake B

Silly Europeans.

I couldn't find a copy of Smash U anywhere. Finally decided to get it from Amazon which meant I couldn't play it over the weekend.
The same with Bayonetta 2 which I couldn't find anywhere when that was launched.

Retailers in the UK just don't stock Wii U games because the console has sold so poorly here.

And before anyone says it, I only buy physical copies of games. Why? Because I rather.

Yeah, Wii U presence has pretty much come and gone in the UK.

Saw some demo boothes in GAME for SSB, but the consoles are usually stored behind counters rather than on display, and the games have a section smaller than PSV/3DS/PS3/PS4/360/XBO/Wii. I'm not even joking when I say that the OUYA has more presence in my local GAME store than the Wii U, it literally has a counter that's filled with OUYA consoles, not that that's a good thing for the OUYA.

I'm not surprised by this really. Nintendo released their big holiday game for the Wii U on Black Friday in the UK and then it seems that they under stocked.

I also think a lot who wanted the game bought it on the 3DS already.

Also did they release an official Wii U bundle for this game or are they still pushing Mario Kart 8?

The UK's lack of interest in the wii u is a problem nintendo can't fix now! It's too late and the complete lack of advertising is crazy. Two years ago I bought my Wii U and I'm yet to meet anyone else that owns one.

@FragRed The only (official) Wii U bundles in the UK are Wii Party U, MK8, Wind Waker, NSMBU, Skylanders.

You pretty much have to buy a bundle these days, it's hard to get a Wii U on their own, I'm pretty sure the 32GB has been discontinued as a stand-alone console. The 8GB can still be picked up in places though.

@Boxmonkey I know no one who owns a Wii U. Even parents who were considering buying a Nintendo console have gone for Sony or Microsoft because of the first person shooters their children crave. I know some even chose the Vita over the 3DS because it has first person shooters, even if only a couple of bad ones.

saw the game on the bottom shelve of the wii section in asda lol and havent seen a single advert in the uk for months. and had to change my amazon order as it wasnt gonna come til 19th of december,it really is bad for nintendo over here though not terminally so by any means.

As I understand the Wii U presence is pretty much gone in the UK, so I guess it isn't overly surprising. To not crack the top 10 with one of the biggest games of the year is incredibly disappointing though. I am curious about the actual numbers however, since it's a busy week.

Good news for Pokemon though.

Well that's sad for Smash. Maybe it will improve next time since there's no Black Friday.

The Wii U just doesn't appeal to teens. I've been in some of my major retailers here in Italy. They seem to cram on the PS4 and X1 section. The 3DS is lively though while the Vita e senza vita.

Excellent Pokemon news but it makes me sad that Smash Bros isn't selling more considering how great it is. UK Wii U presence is practically non existent on the high street though so I guess it's not surprising! It's a shame as I believe it's a really great console with a great library now.

I had to shop around for my copy of Smash. £50 in Game was off putting. Picked it up for £40 in tesco.

Wii U is about finished now, yeah?
Wonder what's next?
Implanted micro consoles?
Come on Nintendo.
Stop wasting people's time and stick to the handheld gaming sector.

My people sure are jumping on the doom wagon. As they said Chart Track never accounts for downloads and if there weren't stock shortages it would have been a lot higher

Personally, having bought the 3DS version of Smash Bros and played it fairly regularly since launch, I just didn't feel any real urge to go out and buy the Wii U version.

Finally got my dispatch confirmation from ShopTo this morning, Smash Bros. + GameCube adapter should be with me tomorrow or Wednesday.

Smash Bros U is such an INCREDIBLY HIGH QUALITY title - It is a shame that the lowest common denominator go for PS4 and Bone. - Funnily enough - the guy I spoke to in Game on Black Friday said "PS4 is far outselling XBONE" then 10 mins later he said "XBONE is far outselling PS4" and then he said he wanted a Wii U so .Meh!

@Jenraux Same here, Nintendo's section has been taken over by Skylanders, Disney Infinity and PS4. :/

I think people who aren't that rich (like most people) just bought ORAS instead of SSB on launch day bc it's cheaper. that's what I did, will buy smash on xmas.

So many peeps gettin' smash for xmass, the sales 'll pick up soon

I SAID nobody cares about smash bros but Nintendo fans. A ridiculous choice of game to try and push a console to new adopters for Xmas. They needed something big!
Something new, something exclusive that you could play on wii u.
A new F-zero could have been that game. There is nothing out there in that genre that could've matched it. It would be more than capable of having a loud flashy ad campaign that would make people stop and listen AND it would have been awesome.
A new gamer will spot mario and pikachu on the cover of smash bros but will have literally NO idea who the rest of the cast is or have a care to find out.
Utter waste of a xmas period. Nintendo need to be re-hiring within their senior management and marketing sections as the last two years has just been misfire after misfire and I've personally invested over £1500 in my wii u so far so my viewpoint deserves to find an ear somewhere within nintendo somewhere, my purchases go toward paying these idiots who consistently fail their userbase over and over just as everybody else's purchases do. As a loyal customer who is supporting this collossul screw up their should be an avenue of feedback available to us. £1500 would probably have got some decent shares in nintendo at today's pricea

@Wolfgabe Yep! Everyone's all like "aw I'm so disappointed in u Nintendo". Negative headlines make people jump to conclusions apparently.

I would be more interested in the Christmas sales than the launch day sales.

Well, Nintendo's presence in Europe is almost non-existence. They need to do better!

Meanwhile, the game sells half a million copies in two days in North America. Come on, Europe. Why the Nintendo hate?

great news for pokemon sad new for smash.. The wiiu presence here in the US of A is very good on store fronts Gamestop with smash bros and Walmart is really liking the 3ds world bundles but online and tv they still need a lot of help:( All though I did see big hero six yesterday and I saw a MK8 trailer so that was nice.

Skylanders has an area in my GAME store the size of the Wii U, 3DS and Amiibo sections combined! Sad times but unfortunately people in this fair country of mine are basically morons who enjoy 'sick' graphics and guns!

@thesilverbrick Will that 500k be enough to make it a top 10 title in November's NPD? Probably not. Bayonetta was 7th in its first UK chart, but outside the top 10 in North America. Hyrule Warriors was 3rd in its first UK chart, but outside the top 10 in North America. In the Wii U's life it's only had 2 titles appear in the North American top 10 from NPD, Tropical Freeze being 9th and MK8 being 2nd. However in the UK we've had Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (was 7th), Pikmin 3 (was 2nd), Wind Waker HD (was 4th), Tropical Freeze (9th), Mario Kart 8 (2nd), and Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta mentioned above.

It's not Nintendo hate in Europe, it's lack of bloody advertising that's the problem. I've been here in Finland for a few years now and I think I have seen an advert for a Nintendo console or game on the TV once. They don't seem to want to push this console at all.

I would bet the Smash U stock shortages will have had at least a somewhat surmountable effect on sales of the game, especially when you consider that practically every major games outlet (especially those online) appear to have almost no stock.

Nice figures for poogeyz though~

Live by the market, die by the market.

@DESS-M-8 F-Zero has never been a strong seller in the first place, and even if they brought it back, its sales would likely be lessened thanks to Mario Kart 8 using similar gameplay mechanics. So not only would F-Zero not turn things around, but it's likely that the game would flop sales wise.

All the Europeans who love Nintendo are on this site. The others, the majority, hate and are playing their new Ps4 or Xbox1 as we speak. .

@G0dlike Because of course, that's all the Xbox and Playstation has to offer. Surely, they don't have any fighting, racing, JRPGs, or other genres on those platforms besides FPS games, right?

I love my Wii U, but the reality is that outside of Nintendo's own IPs, indies, and games from older platforms, the library is going to have trouble competing with the Xbox One and PS4 going forward. Those systems have support that Nintendo simply does not have.

People seem to think that the Xbox and Playstation sell only because they have dudebro games. That's not the reason, and it's never been the reason. The Xbox One sold well over black Friday because they had the foresight to lower the price of the system and market the hell out of it. Sony has managed to make the Playstation 4 the "gamer's console" on hype alone.

Nintendo's marketing this generation has been abysmal. They barley have any TV ads anymore despite that still being the best medium to reach everyone including casual buyers who might catch ads during football games.

The reason why the Playstation and Xbox are doing better is because they have a much better market sense right now. They know how to get third-parties to get onboard, they blitz TV shows with ads about their products, and they are willing to lose some money to build up an audience in the long run.

When people go into stores and see the Xbox and Playstation sections that have more games and are bigger then Nintendo's sections, of course most people are going to opt for the Xbox or Playstation. If I knew nothing about video games and was buying it for someone else, I would go with the console that looks like it has more games.

And to be quite blunt, that's not Nintendo.

Stores are not taking away shelf space to be mean to Nintendo, they are doing it because quite frankly Skylanders, Xbox, and Playstation are more popular right now. When the Wii was hot, Nintendo had more shelf space.

I love my Wii U and 2DS, and right now I play them more then my PS3. I think the Wii U is a great system with some cool features. The problem is that Nintendo has lost their ability to reach a mass audience. Maybe tastes in gaming have changed or maybe Nintendo simply forgot how to properly advertise their systems.

Either way, it's not all because gamers want nothing but guns and insane graphics. Fact is, Nintendo will keep struggling until they rediscover their ability to connect with the general audience. Sony had the same trouble with the PS3.

@thesilverbrick Outside of their handhelds, Nintendo has never really popular in Europe. In the late 80's and early 90s' it was Amiga and Sega country and from the Mid 90's through today, its been Playstation and Xbox country.

Nintendo entered later in the European market then Sega, and they have paid the price ever since. It did not help that many of their games ran slower the NTSC version.

I don't think Nintendo really took the European market seriously until the 2000s.

@Caryslan Dudebro games are the main reason actually, they sell about 10 times as much as anything Nintendo puts out.

Nintendo needs a face lift, badly.

I bought smash, done my part.

@Prof_Clayton
People got scared of Team Aqua creating too much water so opted for Team Mamga's vision, pity it doesn't work out that way.

@NodesforNoids that's a foolish thing to do!

@Boxmonkey @FragRed Wii U owners are few and far between here in the UK, but they do exist. Somehow I know 5 of them.

Here we go with people thinking they could run the company better or choose what is best for them because of just a bad news article. Pfft. You guys go ahead I will enjoy my Wii U regardless.

God, The Wii U really is a flop here in the UK.

Pokemon's clearly still huge though.

@Nintendobro
Personally I think I could have done a better job. Seriously though if you think this all comes down to this one bad news article you are way off the mark.

What is being said here is pretty much the same that has been said over a year and a half now... based on numerous "bad news articles".

And yes, I do enjoy my Wii U as you do. However I was lead to believe I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more by Nintendo and that has nothing to do with sales.

The fact that Nintendo find it so hard to supply a handful of games to a small UK base is pathetic. Either they think we don't matter anymore or simply they don't care about the anymore.

I am fed up of having to hunt Wii U games (their biggest games this gen) down because I rather own a physical copy than a download,

MS is a lost cause in Japan but still they make an effort. I am not saying that Nintendo should spend the huge amount MS does, but by the gods at least make an effort.

@Hotfusion I totally agree, I don't know what the hell Nintendo have been playing at recently with their games and accessories here in the UK. Luckily I pre ordered all the Nintendo games I want for this and next year so I shouldn't have a problem, but most people don't and to not be able to get a copy is really pathetic to say the least.

I don't think Nintendo really knows what to do with the European market. It seems like they want to support it and grow their market share with some exclusives and deals, and then they go and totally screw it all up by under stocking games and accessories as if they don't care about us.

@Caryslan I don't remember my local Game or HMV ever giving much space to the WII regardless how popular it was. Was always one wall for Xbox and one wall for PlayStation with Nintendo in the corner or a shelf. But I guess that was just my local shops, wouldn't surprise me. They were crap.

@FragRed Its the same at my local game stops they put everything Wii U in the back. I was just about to ask the employees there why would they do such a thing. Shame shame shame.

@Hotfusion Great point I agree. And wow thats bad.

@Bolt_Strike you've missed the point entirely, and unfortunately if you don't remember, F-zero wow HUGE for the SNES as there was nothing like it, it was huge for n64. It has been over ten years since there's been a game like that, introducing it tone new generation of cod/fifa gamers would've at least presented something new. Smash does not. I'm saying it is probably one nintendos most unique IP's at the moment and there is nothing on the market like it, it would have had a better crack at the xmas market this year than smash.

@DESS-M-8 if you enjoy the games, who cares how much it sells ?? ?? That said , this doesn't include digital numbers and it was said that Smash on 3ds had more digital sales than normal. So maybe that's how it went here too. Take these figures with a grain of salt

@DESS-M-8 If anyone's missed the point, it's you. All of what you're saying has little to no bearing on F-Zero's chances of a revival, the most important factor is sales.

The dudebro market isn't going to care about F-Zero. They've already written Nintendo off for having inferior graphics and "kiddy" games, and if Zelda and Metroid isn't going to change their minds, neither will F-Zero. Also, "huge" obviously doesn't mean sales because no game after the first one cracked 1 million in sales, and the sales are what matters. Also, it's not unique, Mario Kart 8 does antigravity as well and blurred the lines between the two IPs. The last thing people are going to think about F-Zero is that it looks unique.

@rockodoodle Sales do matter in a sense because they influence what games come out in the future. If your favorite game doesn't sell very well then odds it's not going to get a sequel.

Regardless, I love my Wii U, like a sibling perhaps! I have now owned it for 2 years and a day, and aside from holidays, always get 5 minutes of genuine enjoyment out of it every day! Long may it continue

@G0dlike exactly how i feel.... I got mine 19 months ago and for the most part it has been an awesome investment ..

Well, it had more pre orders than MK8, which as a stand alone/unbundled title is the most successful on the console so far. I'll bet ssb has comparable numbers when all is said and done

@Bolt_Strike probably means that people like him and me don't care about sales we are having too much fun with the Wii U to even care.

I love my Wii U, I really do, but I'm extremely frustrated with Nintendo's horrendous marketing campaign. I live in Canada and I haven't seen one, not ONE Bayonetta 2 TV spot. I actually had to hop on youtube in order to watch the B2 North American commercials. This isn't a new problem either. It's been a problem since the Wii U day one launch. In fact the Wii U launch commercials were absolutely atrocious. The cheesy family oriented commercials were a huge fail and completely scared away the serious hardcore gamers. I'm starting to wonder if Nintendo has all but given up on the Wii U behind closed doors. Just feeding us enough to keep us on board until the next system release. Keep in mind I'm just frustrated because I love the system so damn much. =(

@Boxmonkey

I hear you, dude!

@Bolt_Strike hahahahahaha
This is just futile, will just leave it as youre wrong and have missed THE point.

My point has nothing to do with F-zero.

My POINT is that smash was pointless for its intended sales purpose and something fresher was needed. My proferring of F-zero was as an example. It is also a valid example as it fills the required marketing criteria. When it was new and fresh it was massive and it was imitated Endlessly. F-zero faired less well later as the market was flooded with Wipeout and various other high speed anti gravity games and ultimately out marketed and super ceded by Wipeout.

Mariokart is nothing like F-zero as F-zero was not about anti gravity, it's key ISP was speed, pure eye bleeding speed. Your vehicle clocked at 1500kmh and it looked and felt like 1500kmh. The anti grav added the risk element in that you constantly felt like your vehicle was trying to take off and you were struggling to maintain its grip to the road as you hurtled along at a speed ensuring you were constantly on knife edge between victory and self destruction.

THAT does not come close to resembling a description of mariokart.

It has been ten years since the gaming industry has seen a game like this and ten years is a typical generational cycle for new gamers. If F-zero was ever going to have a chance, it would be now when there is a market gap for it.

Smash does not and people, except nintenfans, don't care. I'm not having a go at you, I've bought and thinking a brilliant game. But when I see my favourite console which I've invested in substabtially making wrong moves over and over and support waning and waning, my concerns over the lifespan of my investment begin to grow. Nintendo need to start making smart calls to start moving hardware numbers.

Banking on smash as a xmas console seller is not a smart move

@rockodoodle sales matter big time as sales of hardware increases investment in software development and also is directly proportional to the lifespan of a console. I don't want the wii u to only have another 2 years before nintendo need to launch another console, especially when it's capable of another 4 at least.

Well, I've got to say Nintendo chose a terrible day to launch Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Amiibo. I got Omega Ruby for me and Alpha Sapphire for my BF. Amiibo and Super Smash Bros. has to wait at least a week, probably more... I still haven't had time to get Bayonetta 1 & 2 either.

The game was shipped in so few amounts, hence why it didn't sell.
Also made me laugh that in my local game, smash wasn't even in the top 5 Wii U games, Sonic Boom was number 1.

@rockodoodle and MK8 had the free game promotion which was a huge incentive for a lot of people. I think when the digital numbers come in, we will see a different side to the story.

@DESS-M-8 No, I got your point. You're the one who's wrong, and you keep going in circles with the same nonsensical argument which I've refuted over and over instead of listening to logic and reason. People do not care about "fresh", they buy the same kind of games over and over again. That's why CoD outsells everything and every Mario game this gen has been a rehash of the same formula. Because rehashes sell. The series doesn't sell well enough to make an impact and vague, non-gameplay mechanic elements like speed and risk are not unique enough for fans to care. It's simply not as beloved as you think it is, you're going to have to face facts.

Is the Wii U performing better or worse than the Gamecube? I feel that the Wii U is doing worse.

@Bolt_Strike you either don't know the meaning of the word refuted or you don't really know how to read. At no point have you addressed the only point I was making, so how could you have understood it, let alone refuted it??? And you openly admit to not using logic or reason, not really sure where you were going with that one.
For your review;my point:
Smash brothers is not a system seller.
Nintendo put a lot behind smash intending it as a system seller.
Smash is not a system seller.
Nintendo believe smash is a system seller.
Smash is not a system seller.

If my point is not any more clearer then I apologise.

My suggestion:
Nintendo need to push a lot into something not directed solely at nintendo fans, some thing big that encompasses a great demographic of potential gamers. Not something niche, like smash.

My example:
An exclusive IP that has little competition in today's market. F-zero.
This is a mere suggestion of a title that is readily available to nintendo that would have a chance at decent sales.
This is by no means a prediction that this title would sell a million wii u console units, just putting forward an example that illustrates what nintendo need to look at.

If you took personal offence at my point that nintendo were wrong to bank on smash being a xmas season console seller? Then you're either 8 years old or very sensitive. Or are you actually Sakurai!!!???

Either way I apologise, as I didn't mean my factual observation to cause any offense.

@DESS-M-8 If Smash isn't a system seller, then neither is F-Zero since that series sells even less. Let's review some sales figures to put things in perspective:

F-Zero- just over 1 million

Super Smash Bros.- 5 million
F-Zero X- 500,000

Super Smash Bros. Melee- 7 million
F-Zero GX- 250,000

Super Smash Bros. Brawl- 12.14 million
Super Smash Bros. 3DS- 3.22 million
Super Smash Bros. Wii U- 490,000 so far

Do you get it yet? Let me spell it out for you. Smash sells 10 times as much as F-Zero. So what game do you think makes a better system seller? IDK about you but I sure wouldn't trust the one that struggles to crack 1 million.

As for your entire suggestion, it wouldn't work at all. Most of the demographics that Nintendo doesn't appeal to wouldn't be enticed by a potentially unique game, they don't care about Nintendo's first party library. They're mainly interested in three things:

1. Better graphics. Wii U is behind in this regard.
2. Good third party library. Most of Microsoft and Sony's fans want to play stuff like CoD, Assassin's Creed, and so on. Wii U's third party support is evaporating, so none of the games that they like are on the console.
3. Multimedia. The casuals flock to mobile devices because they can do other things, like online, movies, apps, texting, etc. They're not going to be interested in a device like the Wii U that mainly does games.

Nintendo isn't fixing any of these things anytime soon. In fact all of this goes against Nintendo's core philosophy, so if they're going to stick with the "unique, high quality experiences on gaming centric devices" route they may as well not even bother with those demographics. In that case, they only have one other option to keep from fading into irrelevancy, which is to pursue another blue ocean market. I've been over this three times already, if you don't get it, that's your problem.

@Bolt_Strike
?????? You've been over nothing and addressed nothing.
Smash doesn't sell consoles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nintendo thinks it does!!!!!!!!!!!! Nintendo are wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did the exclamation marks help????? The above is the only point I made, your laboured opinion over F-zero has got nothing to do with anything. I couldn't care if they brought F-zero out or not.

Bottom line is nintendo NEED to shift more hardware units, not for me, for them, to make the wii u a financially viable platform.
They believed smash would do that.
Nintendo were wrong....... Again.
Why you're going on about completely unrelated sales figures if software units is backward and nonsensical. Nintendo need a strategy for how to sell the wii u, plain and simple.

Forget F-zero, that seems to bother you so much, the point is that they need something, something big, something not smash. They believe smash would turn the tide for them.they were wrong.

I really can't see or understand what it is you think you're debating about, it's like you've read that I said "smash is rubbish, F-zero is legend, F-zero would sell 10 million hardware units this xmas" and then got insanely enraged.
I know you got a bit lost trying to use the word "refuted", Do you not understand the meaning of the word "point" either, as you seem to keep using it and referring to it, but actually talking about anything but.

@DESS-M-8 You said that a unique game would help sell Wii U's. I said that outside demographics would not care about unique games. If you can't see that as a clear counterpoint than you're the one who doesn't understand the argument. You're right that Smash Bros. is not doing enough to sell consoles and Nintendo needs a better strategy, but "unique games" is not going to be that strategy. What Nintendo needs is a change in approach, most gamers do not care about having a gaming centric console with unique first party exclusives. I've said all of this in my previous comments, if you missed them then you weren't really reading them.

@Bolt_Strike
They will sell more consoles by doing the same as everybody else? This just gets better and better.

I'd stop now before you hurt yourself hahahahaha

@DESS-M-8 You're obviously blind to the truth. Look at the sales figures. Look at what other gamers talk about. It's incredibly obvious that they don't care about innovation and creativity.

I would watch this video, it's very eye opening when it comes to sales trends in the industry (it is wrong about one thing in that it fails to take into account the casual market on the Wii, but aside from that they seem to be spot on):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxhs-GLE29Q

@Bolt_Strike the truth of what? You're arguing a point that nobody has made. I'm not talking sales figures of obscure one off games.
I'm saying nintendo need a BIG game with mass market appeal that is exclusive. In the case of the snes it was actually F-zero, in the case of PlayStation it was final fantasy, in the case of ps2 it was metal gear 2, Xbox it was splinter cell, wii it was wii sports ps3 it was uncharted, 360...... I have no idea why anybody bought that piece of crap.
It doesn't have to be something mould breakingly weird and obscure. It has to have something that everybody wants to see because it stands out so much. Radical graphic engines normally seem to do it, but Nintendo seem hell bent on regurgitating the soft focus disney look of late when they were so close with twilight princess

@DESS-M-8 Obscure one off games? When did I ever mention that? Mass market games don't sell well on Nintendo consoles, they're lucky to even get 1 million in sales, so obviously the mass market gamers aren't impressed with those kinds of exclusives.

@Bolt_Strike you mentioned obscure one off games like F-zero don't sell. F-zero on snes, by your quote, sold a million units. That was huge back I'm
1990, especially for a new IP that nobody had ever experienced.
Mass market games don't sell well as since the gamecube, nintendo hardware has always been under powered and suffered graphically, so multipkatform games go to higher spec.
What nintendo need is something huge that will draw millions of gamers to expand userbase to warrant third parties developing for wii u to supply a demand, as opposed to porting for wii u to make a small return.
An IDEA that would be a mass draw would be for nintendo to finally develop a home console version of pokemon, globally connected, full length RPG I'm full HD that has a full counterpart version available on 3DS that is integral to the game and can crossover, they are already showing that's possible with monster hunter and smash. Doing it with a game as big as pokemon and to supply a demand that has been ongoing now for over a decade would be massive. They incorporate Amiibo into that equation tying into the "gotta catch 'em all" ethos, and they're onto something that could be bigger than the wii was at its peak.