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New Super Mario Bros. Wii Becomes Fastest Game to Top 15m

by Jacob Mazel, posted on 02 July 2010 / 4,252 Views

Mario is officially back.

With a mere 32 weeks on the market, Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold 15.05m units worldwide. Even against Nintendo's storied history of Mario platformers, that total puts the title sixth all time among Mario platformers in seven months of time on the market. That is a great sign for the title, as Nintendo games tend to sell well for years. Furthermore, New Super Mario Bros. Wii reached 15 million units eight weeks faster than Wii Sports Resort, the previous record holder. It is by far the fastest time any game has reached 15 million units on a single platform. Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, available for the two HD platforms - which have a slightly bigger base than Wii - reached 15 million units combined at an earlier date than New Super Mario Bros. Wii while launching at roughly the same time primarily on its enormous 8 million unit launch week. However, NSMB Wii holds the record for fastest title to reach 15m units on a single platform.

Since launching on November 15 in the Americas, New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold 7.09m units in the Americas, 3.93m units in Japan, and 4.03m units in Others through June 27, 2010. It is the sixth Wii game to top 15 million units worldwide and only the 22nd title of all time to top 15 million units on a single platform. Currently, NES, GB, SNES, PS2, GBA, DS and Wii are the only six platforms even to have titles which have topped 15 million units worldwide. During the entirety of the 2000s decade (2000-2009), only 14 games sold 15 million units - and that is with multiplatform releases and single platform exclusives combined. For the current generation of systems, comprised of Wii, PS3, X360, DS, and PSP even fewer games have topped 15 million units worldwide on one or many platforms.

Current Era (Wii, PS3, X360, DS, PSP) 15 Million Sellers

1) Wii Sports - 63.72m

2) Wii Play - 27.48m

3) Nintendogs - 23.74m

4) Wii Fit - 22.57m

5) Mario Kart Wii - 22.46m

6) New Super Mario Bros. DS - 22.12m

7) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (X360 & PS3) - 19.21m

8) Brain Training - 19.18m

9) Mario Kart DS - 18.16m

10) Pokemon Diamond / Pearl - 17.51m

11) Wii Sports Resort - 16.15m

12) New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 15.05m

Several other games, like Grand Theft Auto IV (over 14m for PS3/X360), Wii Fit Plus (nearly 13m), and Brain Training 2 (over 14.5m on DS) will eventually top 15m units. Upcoming releases like the 2010 Call of Duty, and GTA Next may also top 15 million units. But the 15 million club is still a very exclusive list that generally takes years to join. By the time November 2010 rolls around, when New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be a year old, the game should be at nearly 20 million as sales did not dip below 100,000 per week until week 32. Furthermore, the game continues to attach at a higher rate (78k NSMB Wii for168k Wiis this week - 47%) than its penetration rate, suggesting that the percentage of Wii owners with NSMB Wii will continue to grow from the current level of 21% (15.05m/72.3m). By the time NSMB Wii and the Wii itself stop selling, the attach rate could easily be 25% putting the title in 30m or more homes worldwide. In Japan, NSMB Wii has attached to three out of every eight Wiis - but the Americas stands at 21%, while Others is at only 14.5%. Even if those rates were to remain constant throughout the rest of the generation, and it looks like they're rising rather than flatlining - Wii sell through of 16m in Japan, 50m in Others, and 55m in the Americas would put the game at 24.8m units lifetime. So the odds are in favor of NSMB Wii topping at least 25 million worldwide, and 30 million or more is not out of the question.

Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com


22 Comments

wiisley64
wiisley64 (on 05 July 2010)

For a guy who usually does sales analysis like this he's not being listed in the vgchartz the team or contributors credits, what's up with that?

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TheSource
TheSource (on 03 July 2010)

I made a mistake. I've edited the piece. Was working on the assumption that with two platforms (double the time) Modern Warfare 2 was at 15m at a slower rate. Obviously with an 8 million unit launch week that wasn't the case.

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--OkeyDokey--
--OkeyDokey-- (on 03 July 2010)

@ dunno001 That is the dumbest logic I've ever heard.

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liamtoh669
liamtoh669 (on 03 July 2010)

I love how people are trying to poo-poo on this. Let's put it this way. NSMB Wii is a MONSTER hit. It's already hit 15m in an amazingly fast time, and there's a realistic chance that it could double that number within it's lifetime sales. Not bad for a 2D platformer with a MIDI soundtrack!

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dunno001
dunno001 (on 03 July 2010)

Ugh from the HD fans trying to attack the article. Like it or not, TheSource is correct. When MW2 launched, after 7 days, it had 1 week in sales on the PS3 AND 1 week of sales on the 360, effectively giving it 2 weeks of sales, and of which, meant 2 weeks of essentially "first week" sales. Factoring this delay, NSMBWii did still do it faster. I'm not going to say that MW2, as a property, didn't do it faster, but for a single game, it remains NSMBWii. What the whiners are doing is essentially combining 2 games to pit them against 1. If we really want to play that game, then NEITHER of them has hit 15 million yet, leaving the record with the one declared.

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Metallicube
Metallicube (on 03 July 2010)

Look at it this way, if NSMB Wii was on two platforms like MW2 is, it probably WOULD have been the first game to 15 million. It's really not a fair comparison when you have a game available on two platforms compared to a game available on just one. NSMB Wii will still outsell the game when it's all said and done anyway on both platforms, so it doesn't really matter.

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FlowingIce
FlowingIce (on 03 July 2010)

Both were the fastest in one way or the other. MW2 for multi-plat, and NSMBW for single-plat. Everyone should be getting that now anyways.

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tyig
tyig (on 03 July 2010)

Next thread: "fastest selling co-op enabled, december released, published by US company, with more than 6 hour campaign duration to top 15 million"

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Carl2291
Carl2291 (on 03 July 2010)

I agree with making the thread, it's a huge milestone to make on a single platform, and even bigger when it's done so quick. But... Modern Warfare 2 IS the fastest game to reach 15 Million copies sold. Doesn't matter if it's multiplat. The fact is, Modern Warfare 2 hit the milestone a long time ago. I just think the "Single platform" thing should be mentioned in the title.

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Beuli2
Beuli2 (on 03 July 2010)

NoirSon "This is why Nintendo has such problems with 3rd parties. They keep out doing them to such a degree, most have decided they don't want to play anymore." So, you're blaming Nintendo for thir parties being so mediocre? Also, in other words, you mean all of Sony's and Microsoft's games must suck too.

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hunter_alien
hunter_alien (on 03 July 2010)

Congrats ;-)

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tehkyle00
tehkyle00 (on 03 July 2010)

@okeydokey: did you read anything but the headline dude? NSMB Wii is the fastest to reach 15 million ON A SINGLE PLATFORM. Modern Warfare 2 hasn't reached 15 million on a single system yet.

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tyig
tyig (on 02 July 2010)

Tetris is the best selling game of all time.Oh wait, it's on 102910 platforms so it's not the best selling game anymore. Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

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--OkeyDokey--
--OkeyDokey-- (on 02 July 2010)

If VGChartz wants to be respected they have to stop spreading lies like this. Modern Warfare 2 holds the record.

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Bobbuffalo
Bobbuffalo (on 02 July 2010)

Classic mario was highly missed and now he is back with a vengeance C:

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Salnax
Salnax (on 02 July 2010)

Do the Mario!

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tyig
tyig (on 02 July 2010)

"Not really, Modern Warfare 2 had double the time effectively by being on two platforms." Are you serious?This argument fails.

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Shanobi
Shanobi (on 02 July 2010)

DOOOOOOOMED.

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TheSource
TheSource (on 02 July 2010)

Not really, Modern Warfare 2 had double the time effectively by being on two platforms.

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Carl2291
Carl2291 (on 02 July 2010)

Misleading title, but oh well. MW2 officially has the title.

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Imphamis
Imphamis (on 02 July 2010)

I wouldn't be surprised if this game eventually knocks Wii Sports off it's throne and becomes the next most sold game of all time for it's predecessor.

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solracbrit
solracbrit (on 02 July 2010)

Congratulations Nintendo!!!!!

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