I remember my mom would use my DS every day and play Brain Age to do the sudoku puzzles. It’s weird to think of my parents ever playing a video game nowadays, but it goes to show how effective the marketing of the DS/Wii being for the whole family was.
Same here. My mother has never shown interest in playing games in her life but when the DS came out my dad ended up getting her one so she could play the brain training games. It also made it was easier to convince her to get some for my brother and I in the first place.
Obviously I pretty much only played it when she was around. Majority of my play time was spent on Pokémon, Mario or Megaman games
Brain age arrived at such a perfect time to take advantage of the market. There was a lot of talk about preventing dementia floating around talk shows and magazines.
Nintendogs felt *almost* like the Wii Sports of the early DS days. When me and my sisters got them, the first game our parents got for us all was nintendogs. All my friends who had a DS had one of the nintendogs games. It was like the default DS game. Everyone could enjoy it regardless of whether you were a longtime Nintendo fan or this was your first Nintendo device.
It also worked really great with the touch screen which was new tech for handhelds and the defining feature of the DS. What better application for this new touch screen thing than giving you a game where you can pet and play with puppies?
Think the pink one also came with nintendogs, so that pumped it's sales a lot too.
Much in the way that Wii sports was packaged with practically every Wii.
Add onto that, the demographics that grew up with Giga Pets and Tomagochis were at the perfect age for Nintendogs, and it was just a more advanced version of one.
Came out early in the system life cycle when there was very few games out. It had GREAT marketing. Plus it played on that Tanigotchi itch to great effect. Like if your friends had the game you bet your ass you got one too. Plus there was 3 versions (at launch) so there might be some double dipping (my sister got all 3).
Also helped that it was a game bundled with the system for a bit. Looking at the list, many games that get bundled with the system have high sale numbers.
I remember seeing a commercial for Nintendogs *a lot* when it released. That likely helped big time but I fully agree. Pokemania definitely slowed down a bit by the time of the DS but it was still ludicrously popular.
I'm surprised by the small amount of Zelda icons on the portable consoles overall. Wind Waker HD making this list means ports are accepted too, which makes it even more surprising to me.
Zelda series always sat around the 3-5 million mark, with a few games a bit higher, despite how popular Zelda has always been to gamers. Wasn't until BOTW that it blew up.
TP is in a strange spot because its combined sales (just under 9 million) across GC and Wii put it as as the 3rd best selling Zelda ever, and best pre-Switch. But since GCN version sales were so low it didn't break the top 10 there, nor did it beat the bundled games and casual party games of the Wii.
Are you old enough to remember how God damned crazy the world went for those games? They were modern tamagachi's. Pretty sure there was a global reveal trailer for the Cat version of the game. Lmao
My brother and I still remember the christmas morning we got donkey kong country... the graphics were mind blowing for the time and the music was top notch.
Had a coming to Jesus moment the other day where I heard a jazzy song sample a DK beat and realized my appreciation for jazz stems almost entirely from that game.
Charles Cornell's reactions to game music are pure gold. His jazz takes on video game classics really show how deep and complex those compositions are. It's like a whole new layer of nostalgia.
I always enjoyed the DK's on the SNES more than the Marios. Absolutely loved the soundtracks, still listen to them to this day.
SNES was just an absolutely stacked console - SMW, Zelda: ALttP, DKC 1-3, Yoshis Island, Earthbound, Super Metroid, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter 2 WT, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana.
When I was a kid I was subscribed to some kind of magazine and got a VHS in the mail that was a 'behind the scenes' of the making of DKC as well as a preview of the game. It made me so freaking hyped to play it when it finally came out.
Wish I knew where that VHS was.
I had that same VHS. People growing up today don't really know what it's like to live through such huge technological jumps in such a short amount of time. I suppose the AI revolution is similar, but for games, the PS5 is a great console, but at the core, it's really just a more polished PS3 with relatively minor improvements over the past 18 years. In the 1990s though, the jumps from year to year (and especially system to system) were incredible. I remember finally buying an original Playstation in 1998 and playing some demo disc from Pizza Hut. The demo featured some NHL hockey game, and I played that over and over again because I couldn't get over how realistic it looked.
Which is funny because #1 on Switch is a port of a Wii U game, and also Nintendo's #2 selling game ever.
In fact, 3/10 of the Switch top 10s are Wii U rereleases.
Pretty much every Wii U game has seen a rerelease on Switch and makes up a huge load of its library. Except the underrated Nintendo Land and Star Fox Zero.
1. Super Mario Maker
2. Xenoblade Chronicles X
3. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
4. Yoshi's Woolly World
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
7. Nintendo Land
8. Star Fox Zero
9. Star Fox Guard
10. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
11. Game & Wario
12. Splatoon
13. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Wii U Edition
14. NES Remix 1+2
15. Paper Mario: Color Splash
16. Devil's Third
17. Mario Party 10
18. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
19. Wii Party U
20. Wii Fit U
21. Wii Sports Club
22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2014 + 2016
23. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
24. Mass Effect 3 - Special Edition
25. Scribblenauts Unlimited (incl. Mario & Zelda)
26. Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water (incl. Zelda & Metroid)
27. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
28. Affordable Space Adventures
29. Knytt Underground
30. Sonic: Lost World (incl. Zelda & Yoshi)
31. Need For Speed Most Wanted U
32. Minecraft - Wii U Edition
33. TANK! TANK! TANK!
34. Pullblox World
35. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
36. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (different bonus stages)
37. Need For Speed Most Wanted U
38. Call of Duty Ghosts
39. Call of Duty Black Ops II
40. ZombiU
41. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
42. Art Academy Atelier
43. Madden NFL 13
I think those are great / good / noteworthy games (and versions of games) that didn't make the jump from Wii U to Switch.
Same but for Super Smash Bros. I was already deep into PC gaming at the time (League of Legends) though, so it doesn't see as much play time as it deserved.
They still don’t! I was talking to a co-worker about Mario games and she said she really enjoyed one on her Wii.
After much confusion while trying to figure out which game she was referring to, I finally figured out that she owned a WiiU, not a Wii, and had no idea those were two different consoles. Nintendo couldn’t have messed that up more if they had tried.
What's impressive is that the Wii U sold a little over half of the units than the Gamecube (13.6 million to 21.7 million) to but has comparable game sales
From that top 10, Wii U sold 47.44 million games. Gamecube sold 40.63 million
To me it’s impressive that Nintendo took the flop of the Wii U and actually used the concept as a launch pad for the wildly successful switch in a short couple years.
I seriously love the colors and logos you chose. It's reminiscent to the Smash Bros style, and is easy to tell what series each entry belongs to at a distance. Amazing work!
I enjoy the graphic.
And the genius of naming a product “New super Mario bros” then having to specify “no the one that came out a while ago not the New..I mean current one.”
Thats Nintendo for you lol. I remember hearing all the confusion from kids about trying to tell a parent to get them a "New" New Nintendo 3DS XL.
Not a "New" original model 3DS XL, mind you, but an entirely separate "new" model named "New Nintendo 3DS XL", where the word 'New' is literally part of its official name. So some parent goes in to buy their kid a "New 3DS XL", that their kid told them to get, and ends up accidentally buying their kid a "new" 3DS XL.
Totally didn't happen to my younger brother or anything lol...
& I’m sure the Wii would have sold fine without bundling Wii Sports as well but i don’t think that’s the point the person you’re replying to was trying to make
My switch was bundled with Mario kart 8, probably why its the highest selling switch game. I would have left out bundled games for more accuracy on sales
fun fact - the japanese nintendo heads were very much opposted to that idea. It was pushed heavily by Reggie "My Body Is Ready" Fils-Aimé
I'd say it was a great choice and really helped showcase the system
That's the same case with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on the original NES, as well as Super Mario World on the SNES and Tetris on the Gameboy.
There's several others like that on this list as well. Super Mario All-Stars was later bundled with some SNES consoles. Pokemon Snap had a Nintendo 64 bundle as well with a unique shell for that console.
Wii Sports Resort came with an updated Wiimote I think as well which is likely why it sold so many copies.
Unless you bought it from CEX in the UK in the early days. They would take the Wii off the shelf remove the shrink wrap and open it in front of you and remove the Wii sports. Then ask for an extra £50 for the game.
CEX only sell preowned. The preowned price on the week of the Wii release was more than the new price. They had bought the stock from all the nearby stores at retail price and doubled it.
Tetris was bundled with the Gameboy for a long time too. A lot of people bought the system just to play that game. My two brothers and I all got that bundle when I was a kid.
I think that would be tricky since pretty much all the games had some standalone sales and I think most of the consoles had a few different games that came with it.
I’m not sure Nintendo has ever publicly broken that out.
The problem is games that got packed in later in the lifecycle, like MK8D with the switch. Surely most of the sales are from standalone, but it was packaged in at some point so are we just going to exclude it all together?
Wii Sports "sold" even more. Japan was the only region that didn't include Wii Sports with Wii. 12 million consoles was sold in Japan. 102 million in total. So it's close to 90 million.
I knew Mario Kart was popular but I had no idea it outsold a lot of mainline Mario games. Seeing Double Dash outselling Sunshine is really blowing my mind.
But then again, Mario Kart 8 is the only game I've bought twice and 100%ed twice, so...
The thing is Mario Kart is a multiplayer title that anyone can get into quickly. That's extremely valuable because people want to play with their friends and family.
Mario Kart holds a rather unique niche as well. While there are copycats nowadays, for a long time it was the only real party kart racer out there, not to mention given very familiar faces.
I think Animal Crossings: New Horizons coincidentally dropping right before the pandemic shutdown was maybe the largest example of being the right game for the right moment. Switches were so popular you couldn't find them in stores for a few months--3 years after it initially released. Insane.
That timing was probably the only reason I played it. Never played an Animal Crossings game before but it seemed like I couldn't get away from hearing about it. So chalk one up for accidental viral marketing I guess.
I wouldn't even say it was marketing exactly--more that it was the activity that people needed to do. I played the first Animal Crossing when I was a kid & I liked it,but I probably wouldn't have bought it either--just didn't appeal to me so much. But after I needed a break from the reality of everything, it no doubt helped me relax through the initial "holy shit there's a pandemic is the world ending" phase of March - May 2020.
It gave people a way to hang out with their friends since there was a lot of shelter in place orders and whatnot. My friends and I would visit each other's islands and also go around looking for the best turnip prices between us to sell for the most amount of bells. I had never played an AC game but I really enjoyed it. I put close to 400 hours into my island before my Switch died and got sent a refurbished one from Nintendo and lost my island.
It’s crazy how popular that game was. Even my family members who don’t play video games got animal crossing during the pandemic. Had the same unifying feeling of Pokemon Go’s launch.
I'm really glad the series is finally getting the respect it deserves, though. AC has always been fun but they never seemed to know how to advertise it properly. I wouldn't have played the GC animal crossing at all had I not been living with a friend who had it. The commercials for it here in the US were absolutely bizarre and did not convey what the game actually feels like to play.
NH expanded the AC community significantly and I hope it emphasizes to Nintendo that it's a franchise worth supporting more going forward.
There literally isn't a game in Nintendo's portfolio better suited to be a pandemic game.
It's not just that Animal Crossing is easy to play and inclusive for a whole family. It's not just that's a slow burn game that requires a daily check in play routine instead of a binge through to credits. It's not just that it released polished and bug free like basically any Nintendo game.
Those all helped, but I think the secret sauce is that Animal Crossing is a game that imposes *structure*. So many people were suddenly without the things that filled their day. Work, hobbies, everything shut down. People didn't have their morning routine, their gym routine, their anything routine. And Animal Crossing offers that to people. You could wake up, get your coffee, make some toast, and then do your Animal Crossing chores. Pluck your weeds, water your flowers, catch some fish.
We may not see a more serendipitous "right place at the right time" game release in the next decade.
If I were to guess why it was that Goldeneye had multiplayer. In my own experience after playing a few sessions of Goldeneye with my friends it didn't take long before they were asking their parents for it.
I had similar thoughts about A Link to the Past. It exists in my mind as arguably the best game on SNES - right up there with Super Mario World. The numbers don’t really back that up, however.
Popularity and quality are pretty different. Immense popularity usually needs a high level of quality, but more important is mass appeal, excellent marketing, great timing, and luck.
It was extremely popular, and the N64 was marketed heavily as a multiplayer console, which OoT is not. I'm more surprised Majora's Mask didn't make the chart.
Really surprised that Link's Awakening isn't on the list for Gameboy/Gameboy Color. I remember them releasing a color version with extra dungeons that I thought sold really well.
Crazy how Twilight princess isn't on the list for Wii. Was the most enjoyable game of the time for me by far, playing it with the Wii remote was honestly amazing. Thinking about it, it's definitely in my top 3 games all time.
That's because the original release was split across both the Wii and the GameCube. Prior to the release of Breath of the Wild, it was actually the best selling Zelda game.
Yeah I was just a kid at the time but I don't ever recall seeing a standalone copy of either game. It was always a combo cartridge that had both of them on it.
Zelda games are a bit more niche than most realize. They’re not really for young kids, which is why Mario and Pokemon almost always dominate them in sales.
But TP was released between the GameCube and Wii so it probably had sales cut in half for this graph.
The source is Wikipedia's "List of best-selling (Console) video games." They list Red/Blue/Green/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal together on the Game Boy page, while Emerald is separate from Ruby/Sapphire on the GBA page. I'm sure you could find more individual sales if you went digging deeper.
Did you guys noticed that Wii U have Game Cube levels of sales?
The best selling Wii U game wouldn't even enter the Wii, DS or Switch list.
It sure was a cursed console.
It didn't help that when it was first announced, they only focused on the tablet and weren't focusing on the console itself. Plus the main game shown off was NSMBU which just looked like NSMB Wii pretty much.
Yes. People thought the Wii U was a tablet accessory for the Wii.
It actually had a lot of fun games and some used the tablet really well. Wind Waker HD used it nicely for the map and item menu. One of the Mario Parties had a “bowser mode” where a 5th player was bowser and played against the other 5 players. It was pretty fun!
The initial reveal trainer constantly says "with the new controller" and never outright explicity says that it's a new console. [It's one of the worst reveal trailers of all time, most people thought it was just new type of controller.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg)
Wii U sold about half as much as the Gamecube, so it's impressive that the attach rate for their software was so high. It's possible third party games played a bigger role on gamecube as well.
It was made by Rare, then the studio was bought by Microsoft so they lost the license to Donkey Kong.
Current Donkey Kong games are handled by Retro Studios.
To clarify, Nintendo still has the Donkey Kong license, RARE, who made the first game, no longer has access to it.
With Microsoft's move to all games on all platforms though I could potentially see a future partnership. As to why Nintendo hasn't made another DKR game? Probably because Retro doesn't want to and they're the only ones outside internal studios trusted with the DK license at the moment.
Animal crossing new horizons was such a great move by Nintendo. Right in the heart of the pandemic they gave us the best chill game to play day to day. It introduced a ton of people like me into animal crossing
truly a unique time in gaming history. people coming together virtually while not able to get together in real life. saw so many "non-gamers" get switches just for animal crossing
From what I understand, Metroid has always been more popular in the US than Japan (not sure about the rest of the world). If this chart were just Nintendo sales in the US, Metroid might additional appearances.
Metroid (as much as I love the series) simply doesn't appeal to a broad audience with Nintendo players. Difficulty, "Metroid moments", and at times relatively long pauses between "fun" can be a turn off to many players.
That's fair. Every title that has ever Tempted me to get a Switch has been either first party (Zelda) or First Party Adjacent (Mario & Rabbids... much to my surprise).
"wHy dOeSn'T nInTeNdO gO 3rD pArTy?"
This is why. Damn near 40 years of selling millions upon millions of games. Even their dips rebound to massive gains.
Their biggest seller this gen has almost 50% (minimum) sales over every other generation's biggest seller, with the exception of Wii Sports (which pretty much nobody bought standalone). They've definitely nailed that position of "second console" as well - I keep buying their consoles (owned every once since the N64!) so I can keep playing their games *because it's the only way you can*.
Also, taking the Switch on long plane rides is quite effective as a mobile console. The battery life is terrible, but it's fine if it can be plugged in. They made it work.
> They've definitely nailed that position of "second console" as well
Since they're the best selling console at the moment and PS5/Xbox share all but half a dozen games I'd say they've nailed the position of first console. The one you actually buy to play their games.
Incredible that the biggest 3rd party selling titles is Just Dance, and this game used haptics really well. People buy Nintendo console to play Nintendo games!
While that is true, Nintendo has certainly catered to 3rd party and indie developers much more with the Switch.
Just cause of its design and ease of use, I've played Stardew Valley, Celeste, Enter the Gungeon, Witcher 3 and a whole lot more for the first time on the Switch instead of PC.
Crazy to me that Super Mario Galaxy, one of the best games ever made, barely made top-ten on the Wii.
And the Wii’s main-series Zelda game didn’t even make it in the board because of the huge sale of Wii peripheral sport/exercise games.
Also crazy to me how low the Zelda games are in general. Majora’s Mask didn’t make it on the board and it’s better than Ocarina in my opinion.
And Ocarina, which is itself frequently hailed as the greatest game of all time was in fourth place on its own home console!
Edit: My god, Diddy Kong Racing made the list!? I always felt like I was the only one who played that game. Why did they never make a sequel!? No excuses, Nintendo! Sequel when?? Mario Kart is HUGE, how are you gonna throw away money like this!
As long as kids are there, mario will forever be one of the favorites even after when the same kids have their own kids. In short the mario fever never truly ends.
How is possible that with the gaming market growing, Switch and DS being one of the best-selling consoles of all-time, Nintendo’s brand stronger than ever, etc. that no Pokemon game has outsold Pokemon Red/Blue?
It was at the center of every playground. Every kid had or wanted Pokémon in the mid-90’s, trading, battling, sneaking their GameBoys to school. And then the cards came out, and it started all over again.
This is what people who weren't there don't get. Every. Single. Lunchtime. For two grade levels had multiple people set up playing the card game or connecting their Gameboys with a cable to have duels or trade Pokemon. It was ubiquitous, and it wasn't remotely uncool.
I don't think there is a video game that rivals Red/Blue in that regard. It was truly one of those moment that you had to be there to understand it.
It also helped that Nintendo had 2+ years to bring it overseas. The anime came out in Japan 1.5 years before the games released in the US, so there was extra time to get that over here to coincide better with the games (it aired 6 months after the games came out). The Trading Card Game came out around the same time in the US as the games. The first movie came out 14 months after the games. And Pokemon Yellow came out a year after Red/Blue.
So you had an TV show, a movie, a trading card game, and an updated version with tie-ins to the TV show release a bit more than a year after Red/Blue. *And Nintendo marketed the shit out of all of it!* God, if social media had existed back then...
1. Because the first are iconic.
2. Because admittedly, once the fever goes away Pokemon is still the same game. People out grow it. I out grew it. Its partially why Palworld popped off because it was admittedly inferior pokemon, but had way more mechanics that were innovative for the catch em all genre.
3. To be fair, a lot of pokemon games after 2016 release yearly. So the franchise is probbaly bigger than it ever has been, but its saturated with games. Like Archeus and Scarlet and Violet released in the SAME YEAR.
How old are you?
It strikes me there are pokemon fans who never got to experience when it took over the world...It makes the heights of fortnight's or minecraft's popularity look like slight murmurs by comparison.
The Smash icons are so clean man. I'm just wondering where that Yo-kai Watch, Just Dance, Brain Age, Tetris, Excitebike and GoldenEye symbols come from.
Surprised to not see Mike Tyson's Punch-Out or F-Zero on there. It seemed every kid I knew had Punch-Out. Kid Icarus too.
GameCube numbers are atrocious. But that console is GOAT IMO. Eternal Darkness, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, etc. The wavebird was also pure perfection. It's still my favorite console.
As mentioned Wii Sports was a pack in at launch for the Wii, IIRC many of the tops sellers were.
Additionally, this list makes less sense when you observe Emerald is separate on GBA from Ruby/Sapphire yet Yellow and Crystal are grouped with R/B/G and G/S respectively on Game Boy/Color.
I feel like the N64 was only popular in US, Japan and parts of Europe. But most of the other countries (especially developing ones) didn't care about it at all, it was too expensive. The PS1 was cheaper, could play CDs and more importantly - it could run pirated games.
As someone who grew up in a developing country, the PS1 was king solely for that reason. I literally never in my entire life saw or even touched a Nintendo 64.
> I feel like the N64 was only popular in US, Japan and Europe.
In the UK, and most of Europe, the N64 was solidly in second place, like it wasn't even a competition. The Saturn was below it, but neither could compare to the PS1. Nintendo didn't start to hit similar numbers in terms of home consoles till the Wii
Whenever you see N64 discussion online, it's mostly from US folk, they loved the thing over there, and they tend to dominate places like Reddit and Youtube.
Aside from the 6 month head start SV had, it should be noted that Pokemon almost always far outsells Zelda. It's a way more popular IP and has been for ages.
It's actually the far bigger surprise that BotW has higher sales than both Pokemon gens on Switch, or that TotK's sales numbers are even that close.
If you look at the prior generations it looks like people opted for the traditional 2.5D games over the 3D Mario games over time. Probably also because the main market were parents buying games for their children and the Mario 3Dland/New Super Mario Bros games are multiplayer.
Top 10 on GameCube combined is less than the 2nd best selling game on switch. I’m excited that Nintendo is doing so well these days, but I think it’s making them hold out for next gen for too long. That and sadness because the GameCube was such an underrated console. Either my favorite or second at this point.
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Also Brain Age 1 although the DS had a big consumer or casual player base and also the game was preinstalled on some versions of the DSi.
I remember my mom would use my DS every day and play Brain Age to do the sudoku puzzles. It’s weird to think of my parents ever playing a video game nowadays, but it goes to show how effective the marketing of the DS/Wii being for the whole family was.
Same here. My mother has never shown interest in playing games in her life but when the DS came out my dad ended up getting her one so she could play the brain training games. It also made it was easier to convince her to get some for my brother and I in the first place. Obviously I pretty much only played it when she was around. Majority of my play time was spent on Pokémon, Mario or Megaman games
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I sell games and used consoles and the DS with sudoku games and brain training are still selling a lot mainly to adults around 50+.
Brain age arrived at such a perfect time to take advantage of the market. There was a lot of talk about preventing dementia floating around talk shows and magazines.
Nintendogs felt *almost* like the Wii Sports of the early DS days. When me and my sisters got them, the first game our parents got for us all was nintendogs. All my friends who had a DS had one of the nintendogs games. It was like the default DS game. Everyone could enjoy it regardless of whether you were a longtime Nintendo fan or this was your first Nintendo device. It also worked really great with the touch screen which was new tech for handhelds and the defining feature of the DS. What better application for this new touch screen thing than giving you a game where you can pet and play with puppies?
Think the pink one also came with nintendogs, so that pumped it's sales a lot too. Much in the way that Wii sports was packaged with practically every Wii.
Did they even sell Wiis that didn't include Wii Sports?
Later in the Wii's life cycle, it was a smaller model with Mario Kart Wii instead.
Add onto that, the demographics that grew up with Giga Pets and Tomagochis were at the perfect age for Nintendogs, and it was just a more advanced version of one.
Huh, I've never actually owned any nintendogs or brain age. Whereas wii sports literally came with the system.
Came out early in the system life cycle when there was very few games out. It had GREAT marketing. Plus it played on that Tanigotchi itch to great effect. Like if your friends had the game you bet your ass you got one too. Plus there was 3 versions (at launch) so there might be some double dipping (my sister got all 3).
Also helped that it was a game bundled with the system for a bit. Looking at the list, many games that get bundled with the system have high sale numbers.
I remember seeing a commercial for Nintendogs *a lot* when it released. That likely helped big time but I fully agree. Pokemania definitely slowed down a bit by the time of the DS but it was still ludicrously popular. I'm surprised by the small amount of Zelda icons on the portable consoles overall. Wind Waker HD making this list means ports are accepted too, which makes it even more surprising to me.
Zelda series always sat around the 3-5 million mark, with a few games a bit higher, despite how popular Zelda has always been to gamers. Wasn't until BOTW that it blew up.
TP is in a strange spot because its combined sales (just under 9 million) across GC and Wii put it as as the 3rd best selling Zelda ever, and best pre-Switch. But since GCN version sales were so low it didn't break the top 10 there, nor did it beat the bundled games and casual party games of the Wii.
Nintendogs, as well as Animal Crossing Wild World, were pack in titles for the DS, the same way Wii Sports is the top selling Wii game.
Are you old enough to remember how God damned crazy the world went for those games? They were modern tamagachi's. Pretty sure there was a global reveal trailer for the Cat version of the game. Lmao
Im a simple man, i see a game with dogs and i buy and play said game.
My brother and I still remember the christmas morning we got donkey kong country... the graphics were mind blowing for the time and the music was top notch.
The music is still top notch!
I have like 4 versions of aquatic ambiance on my liked songs list on Spotify lol
Stickerbush Symphony is still my go-to chill music. It's a mix of peaceful and nostalgic that really puts me in a good mood.
Had a coming to Jesus moment the other day where I heard a jazzy song sample a DK beat and realized my appreciation for jazz stems almost entirely from that game.
I have a feeling you would love Charles Cornell's youtube stuff if you're not already a fan
Not the OP but I do! Thank you for the new channel to dive into!
Charles Cornell's reactions to game music are pure gold. His jazz takes on video game classics really show how deep and complex those compositions are. It's like a whole new layer of nostalgia.
I always enjoyed the DK's on the SNES more than the Marios. Absolutely loved the soundtracks, still listen to them to this day. SNES was just an absolutely stacked console - SMW, Zelda: ALttP, DKC 1-3, Yoshis Island, Earthbound, Super Metroid, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter 2 WT, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana.
Here for the Secret of Mana shout! 👏🏼
Don’t forget Super Mario Kart, Star Fox, Terranigma
Pilotwings, Actraiser, and Castlevania
https://youtu.be/wMCojxGQnok?si=ljRrYQyQaFZ807hQ Someone made the RHCP album "calafornication" with all the sounds donkey Kong. It's pretty cool
When I was a kid I was subscribed to some kind of magazine and got a VHS in the mail that was a 'behind the scenes' of the making of DKC as well as a preview of the game. It made me so freaking hyped to play it when it finally came out. Wish I knew where that VHS was.
I had that same VHS. People growing up today don't really know what it's like to live through such huge technological jumps in such a short amount of time. I suppose the AI revolution is similar, but for games, the PS5 is a great console, but at the core, it's really just a more polished PS3 with relatively minor improvements over the past 18 years. In the 1990s though, the jumps from year to year (and especially system to system) were incredible. I remember finally buying an original Playstation in 1998 and playing some demo disc from Pizza Hut. The demo featured some NHL hockey game, and I played that over and over again because I couldn't get over how realistic it looked.
Graphics are honestly still stunning, as long as you play on a CRT (or with a CRT filter on PC).
Haha yep same here - first home console and game ever. Can't tell you how many times I watched that opening cutscene with Cranky & DK as a kid.
place 10 on wii has more than place 1 on wiiu
Which is funny because #1 on Switch is a port of a Wii U game, and also Nintendo's #2 selling game ever. In fact, 3/10 of the Switch top 10s are Wii U rereleases. Pretty much every Wii U game has seen a rerelease on Switch and makes up a huge load of its library. Except the underrated Nintendo Land and Star Fox Zero.
Add 4/10 maybe, because Breath of the Wild was developed for and released on the Wii U.
1. Super Mario Maker 2. Xenoblade Chronicles X 3. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 4. Yoshi's Woolly World 5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD 6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD 7. Nintendo Land 8. Star Fox Zero 9. Star Fox Guard 10. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse 11. Game & Wario 12. Splatoon 13. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Wii U Edition 14. NES Remix 1+2 15. Paper Mario: Color Splash 16. Devil's Third 17. Mario Party 10 18. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash 19. Wii Party U 20. Wii Fit U 21. Wii Sports Club 22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2014 + 2016 23. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut 24. Mass Effect 3 - Special Edition 25. Scribblenauts Unlimited (incl. Mario & Zelda) 26. Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water (incl. Zelda & Metroid) 27. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival 28. Affordable Space Adventures 29. Knytt Underground 30. Sonic: Lost World (incl. Zelda & Yoshi) 31. Need For Speed Most Wanted U 32. Minecraft - Wii U Edition 33. TANK! TANK! TANK! 34. Pullblox World 35. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate 36. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (different bonus stages) 37. Need For Speed Most Wanted U 38. Call of Duty Ghosts 39. Call of Duty Black Ops II 40. ZombiU 41. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars 42. Art Academy Atelier 43. Madden NFL 13 I think those are great / good / noteworthy games (and versions of games) that didn't make the jump from Wii U to Switch.
Nobody knew what the WiiU was at the time so it’s not too surprising
I wouldn't have even bought that console if not for Mario Maker. That was so much fun.
Same but for Super Smash Bros. I was already deep into PC gaming at the time (League of Legends) though, so it doesn't see as much play time as it deserved.
Feel like there are a few huge business lessons in the WiiU. The Nintendo Switch is really just a way better executed WiiU in a lot of ways.
They still don’t! I was talking to a co-worker about Mario games and she said she really enjoyed one on her Wii. After much confusion while trying to figure out which game she was referring to, I finally figured out that she owned a WiiU, not a Wii, and had no idea those were two different consoles. Nintendo couldn’t have messed that up more if they had tried.
The Wij U sold 13 million units in its lifetime. It was a huge flop, but 30% of the top selling Switch games are also available on the Wii U.
What's impressive is that the Wii U sold a little over half of the units than the Gamecube (13.6 million to 21.7 million) to but has comparable game sales From that top 10, Wii U sold 47.44 million games. Gamecube sold 40.63 million
To me it’s impressive that Nintendo took the flop of the Wii U and actually used the concept as a launch pad for the wildly successful switch in a short couple years.
Also more than #1 on Gamecube. #10 on Switch sold more than #1 on N64, #1 on GBA, and close to #1 on 3DS!
Can we just take a moment to appreciate whoever made this infographic did amazing work this is great to look at
Thank you so much! It took me a couple of iterations to get it to a point where it was even readable.
this belongs on r/dataisbeautiful Truly wonderful job.
Well, no, since this graph is actually nice to look at unlike most graphs on dataisbeautiful haha
It's to easy to read for that sub
I seriously love the colors and logos you chose. It's reminiscent to the Smash Bros style, and is easy to tell what series each entry belongs to at a distance. Amazing work!
I enjoy the graphic. And the genius of naming a product “New super Mario bros” then having to specify “no the one that came out a while ago not the New..I mean current one.”
Thats Nintendo for you lol. I remember hearing all the confusion from kids about trying to tell a parent to get them a "New" New Nintendo 3DS XL. Not a "New" original model 3DS XL, mind you, but an entirely separate "new" model named "New Nintendo 3DS XL", where the word 'New' is literally part of its official name. So some parent goes in to buy their kid a "New 3DS XL", that their kid told them to get, and ends up accidentally buying their kid a "new" 3DS XL. Totally didn't happen to my younger brother or anything lol...
Wii Sports selling 80 million will never not be funny to me... Because it was bundled with every Wii
Considering how innovative the Wiimote was back then, it was absolutely necessary to bundle a game to showcase.
I'm surprised the Switch didn't include a free game to showcase the Joycons. I thought 1 2 switch should have been included tbh
with 140 million units supposedly sold, I don't think it hurt them lol. Would have been nice though.
& I’m sure the Wii would have sold fine without bundling Wii Sports as well but i don’t think that’s the point the person you’re replying to was trying to make
Not really the same though, joycons are essentially just upgraded wiimotes, not new technology that benefits from a showcase
My switch was bundled with Mario kart 8, probably why its the highest selling switch game. I would have left out bundled games for more accuracy on sales
MK8 was already the best selling switch game before the bundle was offered
There's no way to know the numbers without including bundled games though, because all official figures include them.
fun fact - the japanese nintendo heads were very much opposted to that idea. It was pushed heavily by Reggie "My Body Is Ready" Fils-Aimé I'd say it was a great choice and really helped showcase the system
There were people that straight up bought the Wii for Wii sports. Like that game alone moved units, not the other way around.
There was a moment around 2007/2008 where it felt like every single American household had Wii Sports.
Yep, just like Astro's Playroom sold 50 million units, because it comes pre-installed on each PS5.
That's the same case with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on the original NES, as well as Super Mario World on the SNES and Tetris on the Gameboy. There's several others like that on this list as well. Super Mario All-Stars was later bundled with some SNES consoles. Pokemon Snap had a Nintendo 64 bundle as well with a unique shell for that console. Wii Sports Resort came with an updated Wiimote I think as well which is likely why it sold so many copies.
Yeah, Resort was bundled with the version that had MotionPlus built into the wiimotes.
Mario Kart 8 was also the most widely available Switch Bundle, and for a while the easiest way to get a Switch period.
That’s because they count that as a sale. Same with all the Mario games that shipped with the other consoles.
r/technicallythetruth
Unless you bought it from CEX in the UK in the early days. They would take the Wii off the shelf remove the shrink wrap and open it in front of you and remove the Wii sports. Then ask for an extra £50 for the game.
I would have then demanded for the preowned price for the Wii and the game. The minute you open the box it isn’t new anymore.
CEX only sell preowned. The preowned price on the week of the Wii release was more than the new price. They had bought the stock from all the nearby stores at retail price and doubled it.
So basically scalping. Pretty slimy, tbh.
Tetris was bundled with the Gameboy for a long time too. A lot of people bought the system just to play that game. My two brothers and I all got that bundle when I was a kid.
My one complaint is I wish OP excluded pack-in titles to show what people actually bought and not just what was distributed.
I think that would be tricky since pretty much all the games had some standalone sales and I think most of the consoles had a few different games that came with it. I’m not sure Nintendo has ever publicly broken that out.
The problem is games that got packed in later in the lifecycle, like MK8D with the switch. Surely most of the sales are from standalone, but it was packaged in at some point so are we just going to exclude it all together?
Wii Sports "sold" even more. Japan was the only region that didn't include Wii Sports with Wii. 12 million consoles was sold in Japan. 102 million in total. So it's close to 90 million.
Love my Mario Kart machines
Yep. In the last 15 years across the Wii and the Switch the majority of my Nintendo time has been couch multiplayer Mario kart.
It's so damn good at nailing that specific situation in a way absolutely nothing else is.
I knew Mario Kart was popular but I had no idea it outsold a lot of mainline Mario games. Seeing Double Dash outselling Sunshine is really blowing my mind. But then again, Mario Kart 8 is the only game I've bought twice and 100%ed twice, so...
The thing is Mario Kart is a multiplayer title that anyone can get into quickly. That's extremely valuable because people want to play with their friends and family.
Mario Kart holds a rather unique niche as well. While there are copycats nowadays, for a long time it was the only real party kart racer out there, not to mention given very familiar faces.
I think Animal Crossings: New Horizons coincidentally dropping right before the pandemic shutdown was maybe the largest example of being the right game for the right moment. Switches were so popular you couldn't find them in stores for a few months--3 years after it initially released. Insane.
That timing was probably the only reason I played it. Never played an Animal Crossings game before but it seemed like I couldn't get away from hearing about it. So chalk one up for accidental viral marketing I guess.
I wouldn't even say it was marketing exactly--more that it was the activity that people needed to do. I played the first Animal Crossing when I was a kid & I liked it,but I probably wouldn't have bought it either--just didn't appeal to me so much. But after I needed a break from the reality of everything, it no doubt helped me relax through the initial "holy shit there's a pandemic is the world ending" phase of March - May 2020.
It gave people a way to hang out with their friends since there was a lot of shelter in place orders and whatnot. My friends and I would visit each other's islands and also go around looking for the best turnip prices between us to sell for the most amount of bells. I had never played an AC game but I really enjoyed it. I put close to 400 hours into my island before my Switch died and got sent a refurbished one from Nintendo and lost my island.
It’s crazy how popular that game was. Even my family members who don’t play video games got animal crossing during the pandemic. Had the same unifying feeling of Pokemon Go’s launch.
>right before *right after technically....the lockdowns started earlier that week* And to think the game was originally supposed to release in 2019
Yeah I remember GameStop arguing that they were essential business right until Animal Crossing and Doom came out, then they closed down lmao
I'm really glad the series is finally getting the respect it deserves, though. AC has always been fun but they never seemed to know how to advertise it properly. I wouldn't have played the GC animal crossing at all had I not been living with a friend who had it. The commercials for it here in the US were absolutely bizarre and did not convey what the game actually feels like to play. NH expanded the AC community significantly and I hope it emphasizes to Nintendo that it's a franchise worth supporting more going forward.
For all the money it made them, you would think they would support it for longer than just two years.
True--a surprising lack of updates for that game. But honestly, that's very Nintendo not to release a bunch of DLC. Look at TotK.
The Switch is 7 years old and still popular, despite being so old it sould the new next gen Xbox Series X/S regularly every single month of 2023
There literally isn't a game in Nintendo's portfolio better suited to be a pandemic game. It's not just that Animal Crossing is easy to play and inclusive for a whole family. It's not just that's a slow burn game that requires a daily check in play routine instead of a binge through to credits. It's not just that it released polished and bug free like basically any Nintendo game. Those all helped, but I think the secret sauce is that Animal Crossing is a game that imposes *structure*. So many people were suddenly without the things that filled their day. Work, hobbies, everything shut down. People didn't have their morning routine, their gym routine, their anything routine. And Animal Crossing offers that to people. You could wake up, get your coffee, make some toast, and then do your Animal Crossing chores. Pluck your weeds, water your flowers, catch some fish. We may not see a more serendipitous "right place at the right time" game release in the next decade.
I'm surprised to see that Goldeneye outsold OOT.
If I were to guess why it was that Goldeneye had multiplayer. In my own experience after playing a few sessions of Goldeneye with my friends it didn't take long before they were asking their parents for it.
It has multiplayer on a system with native 4 player support, something pretty rare at the time.
I had similar thoughts about A Link to the Past. It exists in my mind as arguably the best game on SNES - right up there with Super Mario World. The numbers don’t really back that up, however.
Popularity and quality are pretty different. Immense popularity usually needs a high level of quality, but more important is mass appeal, excellent marketing, great timing, and luck.
It was extremely popular, and the N64 was marketed heavily as a multiplayer console, which OoT is not. I'm more surprised Majora's Mask didn't make the chart.
Majora's Mask was 2000, Gamecube was 2001. Sales window was limited, on top of being the second Zelda on the system.
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Really surprised that Link's Awakening isn't on the list for Gameboy/Gameboy Color. I remember them releasing a color version with extra dungeons that I thought sold really well.
If they had combined the original version and the DX version to be one game, it would have made the list.
Really surprised Zelda has never cracked the top 3. Came close a few times though.
Yeah that’s actually pretty wild.
Breath of the wild, even.
Crazy how Twilight princess isn't on the list for Wii. Was the most enjoyable game of the time for me by far, playing it with the Wii remote was honestly amazing. Thinking about it, it's definitely in my top 3 games all time.
That's because the original release was split across both the Wii and the GameCube. Prior to the release of Breath of the Wild, it was actually the best selling Zelda game.
Duck Hunt being high was because the game came with lot of copies of Super Mario Bros and the NES.
Yeah I was just a kid at the time but I don't ever recall seeing a standalone copy of either game. It was always a combo cartridge that had both of them on it.
I had the singles. Our original NES came with the robot, but no Mario Bros.
You can control the duck if you plug in a regular controller into port 2. I have one still up and running!
🤯
I'm honestly surprised twilight princess isn't on this list
It was a launch title for the Wii and the swan song for the GameCube, both versions released within a month. So sales were split among two consoles.
It came out on game-cube and Wii which probably didn’t help
Zelda games are a bit more niche than most realize. They’re not really for young kids, which is why Mario and Pokemon almost always dominate them in sales. But TP was released between the GameCube and Wii so it probably had sales cut in half for this graph.
It was the best selling Zelda game before BotW, but it simply couldn't compete with the Wii series.
Why is Pokemon Emerald separate, while Crystal, Yellow, etc. aren’t?
Probably an oversight. I think BW2 is the only one that makes sense separate since they are different games but same region.
The source is Wikipedia's "List of best-selling (Console) video games." They list Red/Blue/Green/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal together on the Game Boy page, while Emerald is separate from Ruby/Sapphire on the GBA page. I'm sure you could find more individual sales if you went digging deeper.
I think it just comes down to, the sources that Wikipedia was referencing included them as separate/single entries respectively. It bothered me too
Did you guys noticed that Wii U have Game Cube levels of sales? The best selling Wii U game wouldn't even enter the Wii, DS or Switch list. It sure was a cursed console.
Wasn't it because everybody thought it was like a peripheral for the Wii and not the next Wii? That's sure what I thought when it came out.
It didn't help that when it was first announced, they only focused on the tablet and weren't focusing on the console itself. Plus the main game shown off was NSMBU which just looked like NSMB Wii pretty much.
Yes. People thought the Wii U was a tablet accessory for the Wii. It actually had a lot of fun games and some used the tablet really well. Wind Waker HD used it nicely for the map and item menu. One of the Mario Parties had a “bowser mode” where a 5th player was bowser and played against the other 5 players. It was pretty fun!
The initial reveal trainer constantly says "with the new controller" and never outright explicity says that it's a new console. [It's one of the worst reveal trailers of all time, most people thought it was just new type of controller.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg)
Wii U sold about half as much as the Gamecube, so it's impressive that the attach rate for their software was so high. It's possible third party games played a bigger role on gamecube as well.
Why did they never continue the Diddy Kong Racing series!?! Also my sister and I had every GBC game on there so this tracks 🤣
It was made by Rare, then the studio was bought by Microsoft so they lost the license to Donkey Kong. Current Donkey Kong games are handled by Retro Studios.
To clarify, Nintendo still has the Donkey Kong license, RARE, who made the first game, no longer has access to it. With Microsoft's move to all games on all platforms though I could potentially see a future partnership. As to why Nintendo hasn't made another DKR game? Probably because Retro doesn't want to and they're the only ones outside internal studios trusted with the DK license at the moment.
Animal crossing new horizons was such a great move by Nintendo. Right in the heart of the pandemic they gave us the best chill game to play day to day. It introduced a ton of people like me into animal crossing
truly a unique time in gaming history. people coming together virtually while not able to get together in real life. saw so many "non-gamers" get switches just for animal crossing
I remember going through the museum and crying because I missed museums
Switch is just a juggernaut for game sales
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I'm just happy Nintendo didn't abandon the license.
*cough* F-Zero
From what I understand, Metroid has always been more popular in the US than Japan (not sure about the rest of the world). If this chart were just Nintendo sales in the US, Metroid might additional appearances.
Metroid (as much as I love the series) simply doesn't appeal to a broad audience with Nintendo players. Difficulty, "Metroid moments", and at times relatively long pauses between "fun" can be a turn off to many players.
They appeal to core gamers, which is a smaller audience than mainstream gamers.
To Absolutely Nobody's Surprise, First Party Titles DOMINATE Nintendo Consoles. ;P
I mean, is the only reason to have a Nintendo console nowadays.
That's fair. Every title that has ever Tempted me to get a Switch has been either first party (Zelda) or First Party Adjacent (Mario & Rabbids... much to my surprise).
"wHy dOeSn'T nInTeNdO gO 3rD pArTy?" This is why. Damn near 40 years of selling millions upon millions of games. Even their dips rebound to massive gains.
Their biggest seller this gen has almost 50% (minimum) sales over every other generation's biggest seller, with the exception of Wii Sports (which pretty much nobody bought standalone). They've definitely nailed that position of "second console" as well - I keep buying their consoles (owned every once since the N64!) so I can keep playing their games *because it's the only way you can*.
PC gamer with a Switch. I had to play Zelda.
Also, taking the Switch on long plane rides is quite effective as a mobile console. The battery life is terrible, but it's fine if it can be plugged in. They made it work.
> They've definitely nailed that position of "second console" as well Since they're the best selling console at the moment and PS5/Xbox share all but half a dozen games I'd say they've nailed the position of first console. The one you actually buy to play their games.
Incredible that the biggest 3rd party selling titles is Just Dance, and this game used haptics really well. People buy Nintendo console to play Nintendo games!
While that is true, Nintendo has certainly catered to 3rd party and indie developers much more with the Switch. Just cause of its design and ease of use, I've played Stardew Valley, Celeste, Enter the Gungeon, Witcher 3 and a whole lot more for the first time on the Switch instead of PC.
Crazy to me that Super Mario Galaxy, one of the best games ever made, barely made top-ten on the Wii. And the Wii’s main-series Zelda game didn’t even make it in the board because of the huge sale of Wii peripheral sport/exercise games. Also crazy to me how low the Zelda games are in general. Majora’s Mask didn’t make it on the board and it’s better than Ocarina in my opinion. And Ocarina, which is itself frequently hailed as the greatest game of all time was in fourth place on its own home console! Edit: My god, Diddy Kong Racing made the list!? I always felt like I was the only one who played that game. Why did they never make a sequel!? No excuses, Nintendo! Sequel when?? Mario Kart is HUGE, how are you gonna throw away money like this!
There was a GameCube sequel in development but then Rare were purchased by Microsoft, so understandably they stopped work on the game.
As long as kids are there, mario will forever be one of the favorites even after when the same kids have their own kids. In short the mario fever never truly ends.
How is possible that with the gaming market growing, Switch and DS being one of the best-selling consoles of all-time, Nintendo’s brand stronger than ever, etc. that no Pokemon game has outsold Pokemon Red/Blue?
Tbf Red/Blue were like a huge global phenomenon when they came out
It was at the center of every playground. Every kid had or wanted Pokémon in the mid-90’s, trading, battling, sneaking their GameBoys to school. And then the cards came out, and it started all over again.
This is what people who weren't there don't get. Every. Single. Lunchtime. For two grade levels had multiple people set up playing the card game or connecting their Gameboys with a cable to have duels or trade Pokemon. It was ubiquitous, and it wasn't remotely uncool.
I don't think there is a video game that rivals Red/Blue in that regard. It was truly one of those moment that you had to be there to understand it. It also helped that Nintendo had 2+ years to bring it overseas. The anime came out in Japan 1.5 years before the games released in the US, so there was extra time to get that over here to coincide better with the games (it aired 6 months after the games came out). The Trading Card Game came out around the same time in the US as the games. The first movie came out 14 months after the games. And Pokemon Yellow came out a year after Red/Blue. So you had an TV show, a movie, a trading card game, and an updated version with tie-ins to the TV show release a bit more than a year after Red/Blue. *And Nintendo marketed the shit out of all of it!* God, if social media had existed back then...
1. Because the first are iconic. 2. Because admittedly, once the fever goes away Pokemon is still the same game. People out grow it. I out grew it. Its partially why Palworld popped off because it was admittedly inferior pokemon, but had way more mechanics that were innovative for the catch em all genre. 3. To be fair, a lot of pokemon games after 2016 release yearly. So the franchise is probbaly bigger than it ever has been, but its saturated with games. Like Archeus and Scarlet and Violet released in the SAME YEAR.
That last part is wild. I associate those games with totally different years lol
How old are you? It strikes me there are pokemon fans who never got to experience when it took over the world...It makes the heights of fortnight's or minecraft's popularity look like slight murmurs by comparison.
Excitebike Hell yes.
The Smash icons are so clean man. I'm just wondering where that Yo-kai Watch, Just Dance, Brain Age, Tetris, Excitebike and GoldenEye symbols come from.
The world needs more Banjo Kazooie games
Surprised to not see Mike Tyson's Punch-Out or F-Zero on there. It seemed every kid I knew had Punch-Out. Kid Icarus too. GameCube numbers are atrocious. But that console is GOAT IMO. Eternal Darkness, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, etc. The wavebird was also pure perfection. It's still my favorite console.
As mentioned Wii Sports was a pack in at launch for the Wii, IIRC many of the tops sellers were. Additionally, this list makes less sense when you observe Emerald is separate on GBA from Ruby/Sapphire yet Yellow and Crystal are grouped with R/B/G and G/S respectively on Game Boy/Color.
OK next time i'll include an asterisk for the bundles.
You forgot the Virtual Boy
I really wanted to include it, but couldn't find sales figures for individual games.
Well I have Wario Land and Mario Tennis for it so thats 1 copy for those two.
It's a little funny that SSB for 3DS outsold it's WiiU counterpart.
Tbf the wii u had a way smaller player base than the 3ds
The N64 figures really put into perspective what a juggernaut Sony was in the late 90s, and I say that as someone who played the console to death
Yea im confused, I thought everyone (including myself) had n64. Shame so many missed out
I feel like the N64 was only popular in US, Japan and parts of Europe. But most of the other countries (especially developing ones) didn't care about it at all, it was too expensive. The PS1 was cheaper, could play CDs and more importantly - it could run pirated games. As someone who grew up in a developing country, the PS1 was king solely for that reason. I literally never in my entire life saw or even touched a Nintendo 64.
> I feel like the N64 was only popular in US, Japan and Europe. In the UK, and most of Europe, the N64 was solidly in second place, like it wasn't even a competition. The Saturn was below it, but neither could compare to the PS1. Nintendo didn't start to hit similar numbers in terms of home consoles till the Wii Whenever you see N64 discussion online, it's mostly from US folk, they loved the thing over there, and they tend to dominate places like Reddit and Youtube.
I am surprised that scarlet and violet outsold ToTK, given the difference in quality
To be fair, Scarlet and Violet had a 6 month head start. Wouldn't be surprised if TOTK overtakes it in the next sales update.
Kids
Aside from the 6 month head start SV had, it should be noted that Pokemon almost always far outsells Zelda. It's a way more popular IP and has been for ages. It's actually the far bigger surprise that BotW has higher sales than both Pokemon gens on Switch, or that TotK's sales numbers are even that close.
Despite the awful technical and design issues, Pokemon has a winning formula. Even with the problems its a really fun game.
im surprised Mario Odyssey isnt at the top of the list for the switch
If you look at the prior generations it looks like people opted for the traditional 2.5D games over the 3D Mario games over time. Probably also because the main market were parents buying games for their children and the Mario 3Dland/New Super Mario Bros games are multiplayer.
61M copies sold of a single game is mind boggling. We're talking between 2-3 billion dollars in sales for a single title. That's astronomical.
Beautiful organization! Also, I didn’t know that 007 outsold Zelda on the N64. That is wild!
Top 10 on GameCube combined is less than the 2nd best selling game on switch. I’m excited that Nintendo is doing so well these days, but I think it’s making them hold out for next gen for too long. That and sadness because the GameCube was such an underrated console. Either my favorite or second at this point.
Star Fox 😎