One of the "big" news stories over the past few weeks has been how and where Nintendo's recent New Super Mario Bros. Wii is climbing through the sales chart. You have probably seen the story everywhere: the game hit the 10 million mark worldwide and has surpassed Super Mario Galaxy's sales. Ok, that's nice... but so what. I think that there is more to the story about the games success than most people are acknowledging...
In the gaming world, the benchmark of sales is usually considered 1 million sold. This is the mark where most games qualify to get moves to best seller and "hit" status and generally where a game gets called a "huge success". having that thought in my mind, I decided to look at how well Mario has faired with his various games and hitting that 1 million mark... and was blown away.
According to the sales numbers listed on VGChartz.com, which may debated on occasion, Nintendo's pudgy plumber has had 64 games surpass that major benchmark. that is SIXTY FOUR separate games, all of which have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide... not including the Smash Bros. games. If you add those in, there are 3 more titles for the list. Does anyone else find this astounding? Not only are their 64
67 games on that list, but the total worldwide sales for all of those titles is over 400 million.! Its there anything that Mario touches that doesn't turn to gold?
Just in case you are curious, here are the worldwide sales of the games (grouped by generation) that Mario has taken to platinum status:
NES- 69.83 million Mario games sold
Super Mario Bros. 40.24 mil
Super Mario Bros. 3 17.28 mil
Super Mario Bros. 2 7.46 mil
Dr. Mario 4.85 mil
Gameboy- 45.84 million Mario games sold
Super Mario Land 18.14 mil
Super Mario Land 2 11.18 mil
Dr. Mario 5.34 mil
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe 5.07 mil
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese) 2.65 mil
Mario Bros. 2.28 mil
Mario Tennis 1.18 mil
SNES- 48.93 million Mario games sold
Super Mario World 20.61 mil
Super Mario All Stars 10.55 mil
Super Mario Kart 8.76 mil
Super Mario World 2 4.12 mil
Mario Paint 2.75 mil
Super Mario RPG 2.14 mil
Nintendo 64- 39.59 million Mario games sold
Mario Kart 64 9.87 mil
Super Mario 64 11.89 mil
Super Smash Bros. 5.55 mil
Mario Party 2.70 mil
Mario Party 2 2.50 mil
Mario Tennis 2.32 mil
Mario Party 3 1.91 mil
Mario Golf 1.47 mil
Paper Mario 1.38 mil
Gameboy Advance- 28.87 million Mario games sold
Super Mario Advance 5.49 mil
Super Mario Advance 2 5.46 mil
Mario Kart Super Circuit 5.45 mil
Super Mario Land 3 5.19 mil
Super Mario Advance 3 2.91 mil
Super Mario Bros. (Classic NES Series) 2.25 mil
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga 2.12 mil
Gamecube- 35.48 million Mario games sold
Super Smash Bros. Melee 7.08 mil
Mario Kart Double Dash 6.96 mil
Super Mario Sunshine 6.28 mil
Mario Party 4 2.47 mil
Mario Party 5 2.08 mil
Paper Mario 2.05 mil
Mario Party 6 1.63 mil
Super Mario Strikers 1.58 mil
Mario Party 7 1.53 mil
Mario Golf Toadstool Tour 1.53 mil
Mario Power Tennis 1.22 mil
Mario Superstar Baseball 1.07 mil
Nintendo DS- 67.05 million Mario games sold
New Super Mario Bros. 21.06 mil
Mario Kart DS 17.40 mil
Super Mario 64 DS 8.16 mil
Mario Party DS 6.42 mil
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 4.72 mil
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story 2.23 mil
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2.20 mil
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 1.86 mil
Mario & Luigi Partners in Time 1.55 mil
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 1.45 mil
Wii- 74.23 million Mario games sold
Mario Kart Wii 20.93 mil
New Super Mario Bros. Wii 10.91 mil
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 9.20 mil
Super Mario Galaxy 8.47 mil
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 7.52 mil
Mario Party 8 6.98 mil
Super Paper Mario 2.89 mil
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2.75 mil
Mario Strikers Charged 2.17 mil
Mario Super Sluggers 1.25 mil
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control) 1.16 mil
Please forgive and flaky math in there... even if I did make a mistake along the way, that is a TON of games...
