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Nintendo software and hardware sales data from 1983 to present

Sterok

Member
So the Wii U has 12 million sellers. Mario Party and Toad will probably hit that eventually. Maybe Pikmin. Then there's Pokken and Zelda for future games. Wii U might cap out at 17 million sellers over its lifetime, which isn't too bad considering the overall state of the system.
 
Ōkami;184703243 said:
Wouldn't be surprised if half of its sales or so where from the US.
I think we got numbers in December NPD or something and it was at around 480k without digital or something around that range.
 
I'm surprised how low Sunshine sold tbh. Thought it did better. I know it's the black sheep of the 3D Mario games but it's still a fun little romp.
 
I'm done with updating the spreadsheet but I'm too tired to update OP now (I will update the old data as December 2014, the rest will still be until March 2015).
Will do in a few days.

DKCTF LTD as December 2014 = 1.12M


Read OP.

Pikmin 3 isn't a million seller, at least as December 2014.
Same for the Platinum trinity.
Wonder why they didnt put this in their fiscal year report but Im happy it got over 1 million. :)
 

Rodin

Member
I'm surprised how low Sunshine sold tbh. Thought it did better. I know it's the black sheep of the 3D Mario games but it's still a fun little romp.

Very close to 6 million and third best selling GC game behind Mario Kart and Smash Bros. doesn't really sound that low to me.
 

Madao

Member
so, i guess DKCTF getting that high is bad news for Metroid since it's ahead of mp2 and could end ahead of mp3.

a third DKC for NX would be a better investment than mp4.

Very close to 6 million and third best selling GC game behind Mario Kart and Smash Bros. doesn't really sound that low to me.

it looks small when you realize SM64 sold 11 million twice. even Galaxy 2 got really close and it was a late Wii game.
 

Madao

Member
Twilight Princess (Wii+GC) final LTD (before a digital re-release/remake) = 8.69M
.

what's OoT's grand total?

i'm getting 11.3 million (7.6 N64 + 3.7 3DS) but i suppose the 3DS release is still adding sales. same with MM + MM3D.
 

Mory Dunz

Member
DK
DONKEY KONG
(still sad...)

Hm, wonder how much a TPHD would do. It's hard to compare it with WWHD because WWHD had a bundle.
 

TheMoon

Member
I'm done with updating the spreadsheet but I'm too tired to update OP now (I will update the old data as December 2014, the rest will still be until March 2015).
Will do in a few days.

DKCTF LTD as December 2014 = 1.12M

Wait, so it had already shipped over a million by last December? That's a lot better than I expected.
 

TheMoon

Member
Nintendo has yet to list Tropical Freeze on their Wii U sales site, so I suspect they haven't sold a million yet. Maybe they will by the end of this quarter.

That list is never complete. A ton of games we know have sold over a million are missing from those (like FE Awakening and a ton of Wii games).
 

Celine

Member
Wonder why they didnt put this in their fiscal year report but Im happy it got over 1 million. :)
DKCTF was released in February 2014 thus its sales were split on two fiscal years (in neither of which it shipped 1 or more million units).

Nintendo has yet to list Tropical Freeze on their Wii U sales site, so I suspect they haven't sold a million yet. Maybe they will by the end of this quarter.
How I've written in OP, all data is shipment sales reported by Nintendo.
However not every data was taken directly from the Nintendo official site (as The moon said many million seller games were never reported on it).
Because these kind of data is hard to come by for "common people" I decided to create this very own thread for everybody.
Otherwise this kind of data would have been know only by a handful of saleagers here.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Do we have any update on Yoshi's New Island? The last (sell-through, so shipment obviously is a bit higher) number I have, which include France up to 21.05.2014, Japan up to 21.12.2014 and USA up to June of 2014, is 596k so, considering it has been included in the Nintendo Selects line, I still have some hope it might crack the million or at least get close to it...
 

Celine

Member
Do we have any update on Yoshi's New Island? The last (sell-through, so shipment obviously is a bit higher) number I have, which include France up to 21.05.2014, Japan up to 21.12.2014 and USA up to June of 2014, is 596k so, considering it has been included in the Nintendo Selects line, I still have some hope it might crack the million or at least get close to it...
Another million seller.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Another million seller.
So, you have an update confirming Yoshi broke the million? That's fantastic, thank you :). I can't wait for your update! Where do you get those numbers by the way (if you can talk about this)?
 
DKCTF LTD as December 2014 = 1.12M


Read OP.

Pikmin 3 isn't a million seller, at least as December 2014.
Same for the Platinum trinity.
Well if im reading right the figures do include bundled and digital sales. Taking that into consideration Tropical Freeze selling over a million most not mean much for Nintendo since the game has been discounted and even given for free in more than occasion as far as i can remember.

so, i guess DKCTF getting that high is bad news for Metroid since it's ahead of mp2 and could end ahead of mp3.

a third DKC for NX would be a better investment than mp4.
Well in a shortsighted way it seems to make sense and Nintendo tends to be like that XD

i just think is not just a wise move to prioritize DK again:

1) They are letting the Metroid to get too cold, which translates in a potential devaluation for the franchize.

2) In terms of NX (home consoles specially). Even if they can gather more sales from DK is more valuable for them to have a Metroid game for NX Because of various factors:

2a) It diversifies their potential line up since Nintendo isn't getting short on platformers.
2b) It can potentially attract a less typical Nintendo like customer.

3) Even if it was due to the platform's fault, the sales gathered by the latest DK entry shouldn't justify getting the priority again. Also for some strange phenomena, critics and public in general underrated the game. Given these reasons, it doesn't seem worthwhile to put Samus in cryostasis yet again, even if the risk is bigger the potential rewards for a well executed Metroid game are considerable.

Generally speaking, think Nintendo shouldn't experiment much with the Metroid formula, safe for presenting the game in different perspectives (3D, FPS or 2D) but always retaining the core experience. i even would argue they should return the series even more to a retro style type of gameplay and difficulty but with cutting edge presentation. If FROM software has achieved mass success with a somewhat oldschool style sensibility (to the point of making Soul games almost an annual franchize) there's no reason and old style Metroid game couldn't emulate similar success.
 

Celine

Member
I've updated OP with older games data updated as December 2014 which means no changes for NES, SNES, N64, GB and some updates for GBA,3DS, GC, WiiU which were previously updated as December 2006 for GBA/GC and December 2013 for WiiU/3DS.
Note that while the report cites the figures are update as December 2014 I believe this is true only for WiiU and 3DS.
For GBA and GC I believe they are updated as 2009-2011 (after that I think they were considered legacy hardware, some games like Pokémon shipped a few more units after).
Shipment figures updated "as March 2013" came directly from Nintendo.

List of changes:
Super Mario Advance 4: 5.12 -> 5.43
Super Mario Advance: 5.25 -> 5.57
Nintendogs + cats: 3.50 -> 3.63
Zelda ALBW: 2.51 -> 2.90
Super Mario Advance 3: 2.76 -> 2.83
Metroid Prime: 2.78 -> 2.84
The Legend Of Zelda: Link To The Past (GBA): 2.72 -> 2.82
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team: 2.20 -> 2.36
Classic NES Series "Super Mario Bros.”: 2.26 -> 2.27
Animal Crossing (GC): 2.23 -> 2.27
Paper Mario: Sticker Star: 2.21 -> 2.24
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: 2.02 -> 2.22
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: 2.09 -> 2.15
Mario Party 5: 2.15 -> 2.17
Mario Party 7: 2.04 -> 2.08
Super Mario Strikers: 1.55 -> 1.60
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: 1.52 -> 1.76
Kirby And The Amazing Mirror: 1.46 -> 1.47
Pokémon Rumble Blast: 1.35 -> 1.38
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity: 1.27 -> 1.32
Kid Icarus: Uprising: 1.23 -> 1.27
Mario Tennis Open: 1.21 -> 1.25
Mario Party: Island Tour: 1.14 -> 1.68
LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins (Outside Japan): 1.20 -> 1.33
New Style Boutique: 1.03 -> 1.24
Yoshi’s New Island: new -> 1.29
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze: new -> 1.12


Added this note in OP (and changed another one).

Note about Pokémon:
Take with a grain of salt Pokémon shipment for Red/Blue/Green, Yellow, Gold/Silver and Crystal because the only official shipment data reported by Nintendo is that all those titles combined shipped about 76 million units.
Please take the combined figure instead of the single entries for those games if you need an official source.
 

Celine

Member
There are some fixes I'm going to do later.
I forgot to update Paper Mario 2:
Paper Mario Thousand year door: 1.66 -> 1.91

Also Zelda ST is 2.96 not 2.93 (typo).
Zelda Oracles is 3.99 not 3.98 (typo)
DQIX (outside Japan) is 1.12 not 1.11 (typo again).
 
For some reason i didn't register Kid Icarus was over a million. Not bad considering the game seems to have a very limited physical run or at least it doesn't get restocked often. You even see the physical version going over the price in lots of places. The eShop discounts have been rare and of an small proportion. Not to mention the impact the "peculiar" controls might have had on the game's reputation XD

So it's save to say that the game has been profitable and maybe worthwhile to consider for future exploits of the IP, specially when it was resurrected afer years of hibernation.
 

openrob

Member
11206101_1915377485354309_4466728071545374475_n.png


This is a graphic I made a little while ago and though it might be interesting to look at this as well. Sorry it isn't comprehensive. Only done it for the UK, but should be interesting to see in compared to the US/JP
 

TheMoon

Member
11206101_1915377485354309_4466728071545374475_n.png


This is a graphic I made a little while ago and though it might be interesting to look at this as well. Sorry it isn't comprehensive. Only done it for the UK, but should be interesting to see in compared to the US/JP

Comparing UK only to NA and JP isn't very useful at all. Too many people still think UK = EU.

Btw it's called Game Boy Advance. Not Advanced.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Happy to see Yoshi's New Island at 1,3 million, this makes it almost certain it has passed a million in sell-through, too :). Thank you for your great work!
 
Surprised to see the Star Fox series sold so well, to be honest, considering everyone saying they sell too little (even though the best selling Metroid game sold less than the best selling Star Fox and Metroid still gets more entries made).
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
11206101_1915377485354309_4466728071545374475_n.png


This is a graphic I made a little while ago and though it might be interesting to look at this as well. Sorry it isn't comprehensive. Only done it for the UK, but should be interesting to see in compared to the US/JP

Pls NX, break 100k firt week.
 

Celine

Member
There are some fixes I'm going to do later.
I forgot to update Paper Mario 2:
Paper Mario Thousand year door: 1.66 -> 1.91

Also Zelda ST is 2.96 not 2.93 (typo).
Zelda Oracles is 3.99 not 3.98 (typo)
DQIX (outside Japan) is 1.12 not 1.11 (typo again).
Updated the images in OP with these small fixes I announced a few weeks ago.
Not the charts but the difference is quite small (300K) which is negligible in the grand scheme.
The thread will be updated again sometime in May 2016 when Nintendo releases the full fiscal year results.

Oh and for those curious Professor Layton and the miracle mask is another million seller for 3DS worldwide (I don't know the split between Japan and the rest of the world though).
 

Celine

Member
Added another million-seller in the 3DS list.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask has sold 1.02 million units outside Japan (where Nintendo has published the game) as September 2015.

Source: Nintendo

Of course PLMM worldwide LTD is a bit higher.

I don't expect this relatively old game to ship much more in the coming years so the figure can be considered close to definitive.

Updated the graphs too.
 

Nerrel

Member
If anything, this really demonstrates how badly Nintendo really does need to move on from Wii U and release NX in 2016. It doesn't matter how great their software is, the sales will languish on this system. The fact that Mariokart 8 managed to move a comparatively humble 5 million is borderline miraculous considering that they system barely has 10 million units sold.

TL,DR: Zelda U coming to NX.
 
Does anyone know if sales figures exist for later release more niche titles like romance of the three kingdoms or mega man 6, rc pro am 2, duck tales 2, etc.

I'm wondering what a “minimum order" from nintendo looked like at the end of the system's life. That probably changed over time as well. During the boom of the late 80s those minimum orders might have been higher.

I can't see it being lower than 50,000 at any point in the system life cycle.. Or could it have been?
 
Looking at this it's so obvious why they didn't choose to release Metroid or Zelda to die on the Wii U. They'd rather use those to jumpstart a new generation so the sales ceiling isn't so low.
 

TheMoon

Member
Looking at this it's so obvious why they didn't choose to release Metroid or Zelda to die on the Wii U. They'd rather use those to jumpstart a new generation so the sales ceiling isn't so low.

Hi, there is a new Zelda game releasing on Wii U this year. It seems you're not aware. :)
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
So the 3DS has the lowest software sales compared to all of Nintendo's handhelds, while the Wii U has the 2nd lowest software sales overall for Nintendo.

No wonder Nintendo wants to move on from both towards the NX Platform (more so from the latter than the former).
 

Andrey

Banned
So weird to see that Wii U was Iwata´s ultimate failure. It went 10x smaller installed base from Wii to U.

If NX succeeds, they rise to the heavens, if it fails, they sink into hell.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
So weird to see that Wii U was Iwata´s ultimate failure. It went 10x smaller installed base from Wii to U.

If NX succeeds, they rise to the heavens, if it fails, they sink into hell.
And what of the handheld side of things (which will probably help with the likelihood of success for the NX Platform)?
 

DrWong

Member
So weird to see that Wii U was Iwata´s ultimate failure. It went 10x smaller installed base from Wii to U.

If NX succeeds, they rise to the heavens, if it fails, they sink into hell.
:]
So if they win they win. If they lose the lose. That's your prediction?
 

Celine

Member
Does anyone know if sales figures exist for later release more niche titles like romance of the three kingdoms or mega man 6, rc pro am 2, duck tales 2, etc.

I'm wondering what a “minimum order" from nintendo looked like at the end of the system's life. That probably changed over time as well. During the boom of the late 80s those minimum orders might have been higher.

I can't see it being lower than 50,000 at any point in the system life cycle.. Or could it have been?
I don't think it was ever as high as 50K.
On NES the minimum order quatity was initially 10K and later rose to 30K.
On N64 it was again 10K, with 5K as minimum for reorder.
 

Celine

Member
I'm going to update the thread in the coming minutes with the past fiscal year data.
Apparently DS shipped another 10K units :-O
 

Celine

Member
Done.
I've udpated OP with data of the fiscal year ending 2016.

As of March 2016 Nintendo published more than 320 million seller and has sold more than 1,62 billion games.

A few interesting points:

- 3DS first-party software total sales surpassed N64 first-party software total sales this past fiscal year.
- WiiU tie ratio between first-party software sales and total software sales is now the highest of every Nintendo system (surpassing N64).
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
- WiiU tie ratio between first-party software sales and total software sales is now the highest of every Nintendo system (surpassing N64).

Not exactly a great metric for success.

A low install-base, a niche die-hard fanboy consumer, and a lack of third party titles would yield those results.
 

Celine

Member
Not exactly a great metric for success.

A low install-base, a niche die-hard fanboy consumer, and a lack of third party titles would yield those results.
It's just a tie ratio that highlight the influence of first-party software compared total software sales which is especially relevant for Nintendo because they are by far the number one publisher on their systems.

For example GameCube too had low install base (just not as low as WiiU) yet at the same time the ratio between first-party total software sales and system total software sales is much lower than WiiU or taking another case of study 3DS ratio is much higher than GBA.
These results highlight different market conditions, not just related to the install base.
 
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