Mario is no longer the top selling game of all time

[The Mike]

Wii Sports is best-selling game ever
Jock blockbuster topples Mario.
By Ben Silverman
Well, that didn't take long.

According to game-tracking website VGChartz, sales of Nintendo's pop-culture phenom Wii Sports have surpassed those of legendary platformer Super Mario Bros., making the breakout Wii title the best-selling video game of all time. And it only took two years and two months to do it.

The data is based on cumulative worldwide sales figures ending the week of December 27, 2008, which indicate that lifetime sales of Wii Sports have exceeded Mario's staggering 40.24 million units.

Shocked? Don't be. Unlike most video games that can be bought at retail, Wii Sports comes bundled with the Wii hardware in every territory other than Japan and Korea. In other words, if you bought a Wii, you bought Wii Sports whether you liked it or not (chances are, you liked it). With over 45 million Wiis sold worldwide to date, it's only logical that Wii Sports would start smashing records sooner or later.

And before you brand Wii Sports a false champion due to being bundled with hardware, consider that Super Mario Bros. was also sold as a bundle with the original Nintendo Entertainment System during its mid-80's heyday. Plus, Wii Sports has been a major hit even in non-bundled form, topping Wii sales charts in Japan at over 3.2 million copies sold in 2008 alone.

A new version of the game, Wii Sports: Resort, is due out later this year.

 

[Blackhole]

Yeah? Super Mario Brothers is still better than Wii Sports...

Although I do love that Golf game...

 

[plasmid303]

Do you know how many Mario-branded games Nintendo has sold over the years?

Let's see them do that with the Wii ____ brand. (Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Music, etc etc).

 

[darkknight]

Mario kicks ass!

 

[Darth Caedus]

Yeah? Super Mario Brothers is still better than Wii Sports...

Although I do love that Golf game...

Yea, the golf game is badass. -11 is my top score.

 

[occulum]

bowling is the addiction in my house and across my friends ...

 

[siquisiri]

Either way, the money goes to the same coffers.

 

[Darth Caedus]

bowling is the addiction in my house and across my friends ...

My buddy tossed his controller through TV while playing the Bowling,

 

[SwedishHeat]

Do you know how many Mario-branded games Nintendo has sold over the years?

Let's see them do that with the Wii ____ brand. (Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Music, etc etc).

Yeah, that's a bit of a misleading factoid, I'm not surprised to read that Wii Sports sold more copies than the original Super Mario Bros, but in reality Mario as a character/brand, I'm sure, has sold way more copies that Wii Sports.

 

[occulum]

My buddy tossed his controller through TV while playing the Bowling,

I have bounced mine off the wall too.
its the only time one's been thrown so far tho...

 

[EVILFACE]

Tetris is prolly the top selling game.

 

[LipSmack]

doesnt this game come with the wii?

 

[MadCow]

doesnt this game come with the wii?

Yeah which makes it a stupid benchmark. Then again, most of the original NES systems after Robby the Robot came with SMB 1...

 

[plasmid303]

It's not a stupid benchmark, but it does seem inaccurate and misleading. Like Evilface said, Tetris should be the true best selling game ever, considering it was packaged with the original Gameboy and has been on almost EVERY ELECTRONICS platform ever conceived.

 

[MadCow]

It's not a stupid benchmark, but it does seem inaccurate and misleading. Like Evilface said, Tetris should be the true best selling game ever, considering it was packaged with the original Gameboy and has been on almost EVERY ELECTRONICS platform ever conceived.

Good point...

 

[plasmid303]

Good point...

Okay, maybe it's a little stupid.

 

[ironwez20]

i always felt that sonic was better then mario could ever be imo.

 

[plasmid303]

i always felt that sonic was better then mario could ever be imo.

That's a fair argument, but only if you were speaking of the old 16-bit Mario and Sonic games. recent, current-gen Sonic games are trash *cough* Sonic Unleashed *cough*, while Mario games are still good.

 

[Moonloop]

That is cheating, wii sports only sold so much because it comes with the damn console.

 

[ironwez20]

That's a fair argument, but only if you were speaking of the old 16-bit Mario and Sonic games. recent, current-gen Sonic games are trash *cough* Sonic Unleashed *cough*, while Mario games are still good.

woah sonic unleashed was a great game reviewer's are very mean to sonic because they think that's what people want in to hear but gta4 didnt get bad reviews from ign and gamespot because they know people wanna hear good stuff about it. i also have to disagree the mario game's are boring now and get so much praise for nothing it make's no sense ,sure sonic isnt perfect but without the werehog sonic unleashed wouldve been perfect imho.