NPD video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella, who regularly provides data about US gaming habits, was recently asked by a follower to name the best-selling third-party game on each Nintendo platform in terms of dollar sales rankings.
The list started out with the Nintendo 64 generation and ran right through to the current one. Take a look below:
This latest list is not to be confused with the one shared by Piscatella earlier this year, which covered North America's top ten best-selling third-party games of all-time across Nintendo platforms. Guitar Hero: World Tour is the only game from the above list to feature on the previous list – where it placed first.
Do you own any of the games on this list? Comment below.
[source nintendoenthusiast.com]
Comments 49
I'm happy that Sonic Adventure 2 remains the best selling third party GameCube game, it was an awesome introduction to the Sonic series for Nintendo fans.
Ahhh I remember 100%’d Sonic Adventure 2 and unlocking Green Hill Zone .... it was really hard
I've never played any of those games before. I play manly games like RPG's, JRPG's, strategy games and some others. Those kinds of games make you grow hair on your chest and in other places. I bet most people don't realize that life is an RPG. I have different skills and abilities and my level could be my age I guess. All I need to do is go to the local armorsmith for some armor and weaponsmith for a sword and shield. Oh I forgot, there are hundreds of classes, like doctor, dentist, stripper, wrestler, cop, soldier, archer, plumber, noble, CEO, baker and many others. Just remember not to form a party of the same thing like bakers because you can be attacked by bandits, ninjas and goth people at any time. But you can also go train in the wild wilderness or just a park for experience. Hehe
Eh, only one that was even remotely shocking was LEGO dimensions.
Not surprise at all with WCW/NWO
This list is a little surprising but to be honest they mostly make sense.
N64 - WCW/NWO Revenge - this and the other N64 wrestling games are the best on any console (imho).
NGC - Sonic Adventure 2 - As a SEGA fan I was glad to see this on a Nintendo console. Sad my Dreamcast was no longer getting support but loving my little purple cube I owned this on both the consoles.
Wii - Guitar Hero World Tour - I honestly thought this would be a Just Dance game. Just think how many of those fake plastic guitars are now sitting in attics and cupboards... or landfill.
Wii U - LEGO Dimensions - This surprises me, but it clearly clicked with the Nintendo fan base. Just imagine if the Wii U was popular we might still have LEGO Dimensions games.
Switch - Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Okay, this one is a no brainier as it has Mario in it and is a great game.
Reminder that this is based off dollar sales not actual copies sold, and both Guitar Hero WT and Lego Dimensions were both very much above standard retail price.
Me and my brother used to play WCW vs NWO revenge all the time on N64 and i wasn't even into wrestling! It was just really fun! I would always be that Ninja wrestler guy who's name escapes me. He had a move where he'd grab the other guy around the neck with his ankles and slam him to the mat! I would always climb the corner ropes and do this sweet looking spin flip off the top too!
Good times!
@Kienda Funny, there are also ports of LEGO Dimensions for PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 (which are more popular than the Wii U) and STILL isn't popular enough.
In fact, the only reason we're not getting a sequel or even more DLC for the first game is because of copyright issues.
Never expected the Lego do so well, I had no Wii U either so I have not been really looking out for games on that platform except Xenoblade and Mario Super 3D world.
Hope to see ports, no scratch that better a remake of Sonic Adventure 2 someday. It would do the Sonic franchise way more justice then SEGA gives it.
I know Mario and Rabidds was made by Ubisoft, but due to it featuring Mario, I pretty much group it with the first party releases. Not a surprise it sold so much due to this exact reason
We were a lucky bunch to grow up with Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. I spent countless hours playing it with friends, in the Chao gardens, and rocking out to its (still) amazing soundtrack.
A top 10 would be interesting.
Nintendo never owned Rare and Rare franchises so the N64 should be a Rare game.
@glaemay But Nintendo was the publisher of Rare’s games, so they are first party.
Those are a bunch of
mediocre titles...
Oh, God. I remember Guitar Hero World Tour, I would sing . . . and it sounded awful.
What? Sure, I've played guitar hero, most of the songs on expert are harder to play than on real guitar xD
But really? The only other I like is Sonic Adventure 2. Not at all my favourite 3rd party games, at all.
*sniff*Im having nostalgic emotions over sonic adventure 2
That.....was when sonic was good
@SpiderSquid plus the fact they can charge more for just making single games at full priced with just one licence and using the same engine/gameplay style they been milking since PS2 Lego Star Wars
@JoakimZ ah rare.........the creator of sea of thieves I love that game
It's easy to forget how big WCW was with the NWO storyline back in the 90s.
I honestly wonder if more people played Sonic Adventure 2 on gamecube, as opposed to dreamcast.
@Madder128
Gamecube was my first experience with either of the Sonic adventure games. Never had a dreamcast. The thing was gone before i even knew it existed.
@OYUMN
Correction sega Genesis was when Sonic was good. Have you played sonic adventure recently? It wasn't great then and certainly doesn't hold up now.
That's great to see WCW/NWO Revenge on top for the N64. I thought WWF No Mercy would've topped it, but that WCW Roster was loaded. Macho Man, Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, the NWO with Hogan, Goldberg, Scott Steiner...man what a great game.
I do remember going with my friend to EB games to get the game after school. We came back and played for hours. Ah, the N64. Still the greatest console I've ever played, with the gamecube right behind it.
@Zeldafan79 that was Akiman! Also known as THQ man!
I call foul, just by looking at the Wii games. Just Dance 2 on Wii sold 5 million copies, Just Dance sold 4.3. Guitar Hero III, Michael Jackson, Deca Sports, Epic Mickey, and Game Party sold 2 million each. Monster Hunter Tri and EA Sports Active sold over 1.8 Mil. Carnival Games sold 1.5 Million, and only then did Guitar Hero: World Tour sell 1.33 million.
WCW vs nWo Revenge is the best wrestling game of all time, and it’s easily on the top 3 of beatbox fighting games of all time. Such a fantastic game! We used to play this game all the time with my brothers and cousins. I have such good memories with this game.
@Kienda the original Smackdown series on PS1 had a better single player but No Mercy is a strong multi-player favorite.
@Darknyht it's not how much the games sold, it's how much revenue it produced (e.g. Guitar Hero at $100 can sell half as much as Just Dance at $50)
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was my second most favorite game in the GC (after WindWaker)! I would love to see a HD remake of that game.
I'm surprised Namco Museum for GBA is not on the list.
LEGO Dimensions should've been ported to Switch for that system's launch the same way Skylanders Imaginators was.
@Zeldafan79 it was really something, shame it never took off.
@NotoriousWhiz the Smackdown series on PS1 was amazing. I have great memories of those games.
I agree with you on the multiplayer though. Most of the N64 wrestling games I only played multiplayer as two of my friends had them and would bring them over. So that might be why my view is shifted towards them.
Those are exactly what I expected, actually.
I didn't expect a WCW game of all things, to be the best-selling 3rd party N64 game. Then again, I did play one of the N64 wrestling games at a relative's house long ago. Perhaps that one was it.
Anyway, loved Sonic Adventure 2 Battle as a kid, and I still do. It was the first Sonic game I ever had, given that I never had a Sega console growing up. Out of all the 3D Sonic games I've played, this one's probably my favorite. Sure it ain't perfect, but I like a lot of the levels, the soundtrack is awesome, and it has a great multiplayer mode. The Sonic and Shadow levels are the best for sure, but I also like blasting enemies with Tails and Eggman. Good times. Wouldn't mind seeing SA2 on the Switch!
I should put more time into Mario + Rabbids one of these days. From what I've played, I like it.
@NotoriousWhiz The math still doesn't quite add up. Using the percentage of sales from a Gamasutra article for Guitar Hero (showing which bundle was purchased), they netted 165.47 million on sales. Even if half of the 5 million of Just Dance 2's sales were at $30, they still netted 225 million on sales. Was DLC that popular on the Wii console with extremely limited storage?
So yeah, I think those numbers might be a little suspect.
EDIT: Guitar Hero World Tour might of been the most profitable venture because the markup on those plastic instruments were ridiculous.
@Xylnox If You like strategy, why don't you buy Mario Rabbids ?
@Joriss Damn right. Revenge, and more specifically No Mercy, is still a blast to play.
@Xylnox Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a tactics turn-based RPG game and is really good so that one is right around your alley.
I still remember when my friend showed me Sonic Adventure 2 ten years ago. Still one of my all-time favorites. And I'm hoping that we could get it on Switch.
Man N64 and PS1 wrestling games were the height of wrestling games IMO, so it's not too shocking on that one. It's too bad the games stink so bad now.
Sonic Adventure 2 was a launch game for the GameCube if I remember correctly. I really didn't like the Knuckles and Blaze levels at times but had lots of fun with the game otherwise. Still love Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Heroes too and glad I got to experience the games despite not owning a Dreamcast.
@dougphisig
Especially the games in which we were able to create our own characters. I never was a big player of wrestling games, but I played WWF Attitude to hell back then.... I mean, I still miss character creators like these in games... We were litterally able to create wrestling versions of Ronald McDonald, The Hulk, KFC Colonel Sanders, and so many more... this was hilarious... especially with friends and when alcohol was involved.
@Realnoize Soulcalibur has a character creation system.
too funny, that wrestling game was one of my favorite games to play on the n64 as a kid.
For whatever reason I only got SA2 after all the other Sonic games on the 'Cube and as such I have the least amount of love for it, though I still love it, I've never been a fan of how rough the character models look.
Especially after seeing how colorful and beautiful they look in Heroes.
No, those sucks. I don't enjoyed them. I don't mind Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 for Dreamcast but they still are bad to my opinion. So 3rd party in this list is an opinion and not a fact. So they sucks.
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