Despite releasing with some relatively lukewarm review scores, New Super Mario Bros. 2 once again proved Mario’s video game sales prowess by becoming the best-selling title in the US on a per-SKU basis for August 2012.
According to NPD, New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold 240,000 units during its debut month. This put the game just 7,000 units behind all versions of Darksiders 2 combined. What makes the sales feat even more impressive, is that NSMB 2 was only on sale for five days during the reporting period.
Nintendo also found success slightly further down the August 2012 individual SKU chart, with Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] for the 3DS landing in the #2 spot with 180,000 units sold.
Overall, Nintendo reported that 3DS software sales shot up 68% from July. Similarly, 3DS hardware sales (bolstered by the launch of the 3DS XL) increased 36% in August over the prior month.
Full press release below:
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 EMERGES AS THE BEST-SELLING VIDEO GAME OF AUGUST
Sept. 6, 2012
Even with only five days of reported data, Nintendo 3DS XL and New Super Mario Bros. 2 still had major impacts on the August video game market. The new hardware, which features 90 percent larger screens than the original Nintendo 3DS, and the new side-scrolling Mario adventure both launched on Aug. 19 and helped Nintendo achieve the following:
Nintendo 3DS software sales increased by more than 68 percent over sales in July.
Nintendo 3DS hardware sales increased by more than 36 percent over sales in July.
The No. 1 and No. 2 top-selling software SKUs for the month are both exclusive to Nintendo 3DS. New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold more than 240,000 units to finish No. 1, and KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance] from Square Enix sold more than 180,000 copies to finish No. 2.
“Software sells hardware, and no one sells either quite like Mario,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “In addition to helping New Super Mario Bros. 2 get off to a great start, Nintendo 3DS XL is driving increased interest in titles such as Kid Icarus: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7. These games have been on the market for more than six months but provide a completely new experience on the larger screens. Combine these titles with the upcoming Paper Mario: Sticker Star and a robust list of third-party games, and Nintendo 3DS is poised to be high on holiday wish lists this year.”For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.
* Note that all data referenced in this document is from The NPD Group’s August report and is for the United States only.