Nintendo Reveals the Top Selling 3DS and Wii U Games
By Dalton Cooper 25 October 2016
Nintendo announces updated sales figures for Wii U and 3DS software, revealing the top 10 best selling games for each system, and proving Mario is still a money maker.
In Nintendo’s latest financial earnings report, the company spoke about its hardware sales, as well as its future plans to increase profitability with ventures like Super Mario Run on iOS and the impending release of Pokemon Sun and Moon. While Nintendo and many of its fans are looking to the company’s future, the Big N also took some time to offer updated sales figures for its top selling games on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
For Wii U, the best selling game is still Mario Kart 8. The latest entry in Nintendo’s long-running racing game franchise, Mario Kart 8 has an impressive attach rate, with almost 70% of all Wii U gamers owning a company of the game. The continued success of Mario Kart 8 should come as no surprise, as the game was the fastest-selling Wii U game at launch, selling 1.2 million units in its first three days on sale and giving Wii U hardware a much-needed shot in the arm when it released two years ago.
The rest of the 10 top selling Wii U games consist mostly of other games starring Mario in some capacity. In fact, only two games on the list don’t feature Mario in some form, those being The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Splatoon. Splatoon has almost sold five million units to date, and considering its status as a new IP, those numbers are even more impressive, with the game outselling the likes of Super Mario Maker and Mario Party.
- Mario Kart 8 – 8 million
- New Super Mario Bros. U – 5.45 million
- Super Mario 3D World – 5.19 million
- Nintendo Land – 5.13 million
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 4.99 million
- Splatoon – 4.57 million
- Super Mario Maker – 3.73 million
- New Super Luigi U – 2.74 million
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – 1.98 million
- Mario Party 10 – 1.94 million
Nintendo 3DS software, meanwhile, has performed better than Wii U games, in large part thanks to the fact that the 3DS has outsold Wii U by almost 50 million units worldwide. Pokemon X & Y were the best selling 3DS games, with Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire also selling a respectable 13.18 million units, which bodes well for the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon.
Mario Kart 7 sold 13.94 million units, outselling its successor on Wii U, and proving the continued strength of the Mario Kart series, as well as the Super Mario brand. Speaking of Mario, he appears in the majority of the top selling 3DS games, just as he did on Wii U, but 3DS has more non-Mario titles that cracked the top 10, including games like Animal Crossing, Tomodachi Life, Ocarina of Time 3D, and of course, Pokemon.
- Pokemon X & Y – 15.64 million
- Mario Kart 7 – 13.94 million
- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire – 13.18 million
- Super Mario 3D Land – 10.98 million
- New Super Mario Bros. 2 – 10.6 million
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 10.34 million
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS – 8.35 million
- Tomodachi Life – 5.3 million
- Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – 5.03 million
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – 4.52 million
What these sales show is that a portion of consumers are willing to buy Nintendo consoles to play Pokemon, Mario Kart, and games with Mario in them in general. However, there are many other gamers that Nintendo needs to appeal to in order to improve its home console sales, and it may be aiming to do just that with its next console, the Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch reveal trailer showed that popular franchises like Super Mario, Splatoon, and Mario Kart are in development for the system, but it also highlighted other experiences, like Skyrim. If Nintendo is able to provide the first-party exclusives that people buy its systems for, and is able to complement that lineup with strong third party support, then Nintendo Switch may return the Big N to its glory days.
Source: GameSpot
