New Super Mario Bros Hits a Double
The game has hit the top of both the US and Japanese charts. Is a triple on the cards?
It's been a long time - a really long time - since the world was last gifted a new 2D platforming Mario game. It was so long ago, in fact, that there was every chance that gamers just wouldn't be interested in this sort of game anymore. They are, if sales of New Super Mario Bros are anything to go by.
Recent numbers out of both the US and Japan have Mario's new DS game outselling everything else by far, according to reports by US site Gamasutra.
In Japan, the game has been out for a fortnight now and in that time it has managed to sell through all 1.2 million copies sent out so far - around 900,000 of those coming in just the first few days.
This is having a good effect on hardware sales too. The DS Lite is the runaway leader on the Japanese hardware sales chart, and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently revealed that the company has now sold more than 8.5 million DSs.
Things are much the same in the US. The latest US sales charts, compiled by NPD Group, put New Super Mario Bros at the top for May, ahead of Square Enix-Disney mash-up Kingdom Hearts II.
Will New Super Mario Bros claim victory in all three regions at the same time? We'll find out at the end of the month when the game makes its welcome debut in Europe.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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