Serious Nintendophiles and Smash fans—as if those two are ever separate things—prepare to facepalm as a bunch of people still call some of the most popular video game characters of all time by the wrong names! It’s OK, though; Smash Bros. for Wii U is now the Wii U’s fastest-selling game in the United States!
Nintendo sent out the news this morning that the Wii U version sold 490,000 copies between digital and retail over its launch weekend and unseated previous fast-mover Mario Kart 8. I guess that’s why the 3DS version’s For Glory mode has suddenly seen a drop in tough competition; everyone is playing it on Wii U now instead.
And the game isn’t even out in other territories yet. That means Nintendo is set to log some impressive numbers once the game launches in Europe, Japan, and Australia, though they’ll have to sell a few more Wii U consoles if they want to get close to Smash Bros. Melee or Brawl‘s overall sales numbers. Melee sold over 7 million copies and was the GameCube’s best-selling game, but more than 20 million GameCube consoles were sold. Meanwhile, just over 7 million Wii Us have gone home with happy shoppers, so the game would practically have to hit a 100% attach rate with consoles to sell as well as its GameCube iteration, and Brawl sold even better.
Still, that’s with current Wii U sales numbers. If Smash Bros. can cause the Wii U to move off of store shelves, there’s no telling how well it could do, which I wouldn’t doubt with such a big game moving into the holiday season. But it’s still not exactly comforting to see that everyday people still have no idea who the characters—one of the main draws of the game—even are. Let’s try again in a year and see if the game’s popularity can change that.
(via Polygon)
- Today’s teens can’t handle Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64
- Here are Nintendo’s characters in an Avengers mashup animation for added confusion
- We’ve long thought Smash could be a much needed Wii U system-seller
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