3DS dominating Wii U
Nintendo has updated its list of best-performing first-party software to reflect its recent earnings report. Unsurprisingly, Mario is making his presence felt all over the charts, especially when it comes to kart racing.
As of December 31, 2015, Mario Kart 8 takes the checkered flag on Wii U; it finished with a healthy lead of more than two million sales over second place New Super Mario Bros U. Seven of the top ten Wii U titles featured the Mario franchise in some capacity — even in the case of New Super Luigi U which went out of its way to exclude the character Mario.
On the 3DS side, Mario Kart 7 came up short of taking the title from Pokemon X/Y. The 2013 Pokemon game sits at 14.46 million lifetime sales, almost twice as many as Mario Kart 8 on Wii U.
It’s important to note that these charts take sales from console bundles into account. Therefore, these numbers aren’t purely a popularity contest, as some units will have been moved on the backs of the hardware. Here are the top ten best-selling first-party games through December 31, 2015 on both Wii U and 3DS.
Wii U:
- Mario Kart 8 — 7.24 million units
- New Super Mario Bros. U — 5.08 million units
- Nintendo Land — 5.02 million units
- Super Mario 3D World — 4.63 million units
- Super Smash Bros for Wii U — 4.61 million units
- Splatoon — 4.06 million units
- Super Mario Maker — 3.34 million units
- New Super Luigi U — 2.42 million units
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD — 1.69 million units
- Mario Party 10 — 1.65 million units
3DS:
- Pokemon X/Y — 14.46 million units
- Mario Kart 7 — 13.03 million units
- Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire — 11.46 million units
- Super Mario 3D Land — 10.63 million units
- New Super Mario Bros 2 — 10.04 million units
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf — 9.86 million units
- Super Smash Bros for 3DS — 7.92 million units
- Tomodachi Life — 4.89 million units
- Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon — 4.75 million units
- nintendogs+cats — 3.96 million units
Top Selling Software Sales Units [Nintendo]
