New Super Mario Bros. Wii


Nintendo has to be happy with topping the console sales charts over in Japan for the first half of 2010…even if they did so with a game they actually released last year. In fact, if you’re worried that the Japan game marketplace is stagnant and littered with sequels and casual titles, these latest figures — announced in the new issue of Famitsu magazine — won’t make you feel any less uneasy.

According to Famitsu’s stats, the top selling game of 2010 so far is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with 1,401,895 copies — yes, in 2010 alone. The platformer, originally released December 3, 2009 in Japan, has continually been the top sales leader for the Wii ever since, breaking three million in sales after only seven weeks on the market. It’s also been a huge asset to hardware sales over there, with over 700,000 Wiis sold in Japan in the month of December.

Otherwise, the sales charts offered few surprises to those familiar with the Japan game business. Dragon Quest games took the second and third sports on the list, and the head-scratchingly popular Tomodachi Collection placed fourth — again, despite coming out over a year ago. Even Mario Kart DS, which has now been available for over four and a half years, took #67 on the charts with 72,774 copies sold so far in 2010. Eesh. (The best selling non-sequel title that actually came out this year: Namco Bandai’s God Eater, at 605,000 copies.)

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