Top 10 best-selling Wii games since launch
Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 6:23pm by Boss Hog
According to the official U.S. bean counter of video games, by way of Forbes, these are the most popular Wii games in life-to-date sales:
- Wii Play
- Mario Kart (I told you we were right)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Wii Fit
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Guitar Hero III
- Mario Party 8
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Mario & Sonic: Olympic Games
- Link’s Crossbow Training
Unsurprisingly, only 20 percent are non-Nintendo games. Penny for your thougthts?
December 15th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Wii Play is not a fair number one.
As many people wanted extra controllers for all the fun with all the new found casual gamers, they just bought Wii Play because it came WITH a Wii mote.
Mario Kart is the true number one here.
Mario & Sonic was not such a good game, however it sold like crazy. I hope that this encourages SEGA and Nintendo to create a 3d Platform game staring BOTH together. Now I would buy that !
It is strange that Number 1 and Number 10 best selling games of all time on the Wii are merely Tech Demos….
December 15th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I’m really happy to see that Mario Galaxy sold so well, it takes a lot of sales to beat Guitar hero 3 on the wii!
December 15th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Well, it’s hard to be on the top floors of the skyscraper when you weren’t even there for the groundbreaking.
If 3rd parties wanted sales like Nintendo, they should have brought Nintendo-caliber effort to the fold instead of pointing at “casuals” and slurping up whatever ridiculousness Michael Pachter spews.
Hopefully they “get it” now, as the smart, profit-minded side of Square-Enix decided to put DQX on the Wii. We’ll just have to see if third parties want to make money this generation instead of stroking reviewer egos.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games? Seriously? Number 9?
-punches self in the gut river city style-
Barf.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
@ Wii Wii:
Sadly, Wii Play does count. You see, people weren’t forced to choose the Wii Play/Wii Remote bundle as they could have just as easily chosen a lone Wii Remote for $10 cheaper. And while mentally, I’m inclined to dismiss Wii Play and not even consider that it took the top space, the ugly truth is that it did and it has had that place for a while now.
Anyway, I’m a little disappointed to see Mario Kart Wii so high on this list. I’m a firm believer that that game is so unfairly difficult that it’s, at times, beyond playability. Smash Bros. was wonderful, Mario Galaxy was a masterpiece, and Wii fit was a clever novelty and I’m not surprised it is where it is on the list, though I’m sad that it sold more than Galaxy. But whatever.
It’s really not a horrible list of games. Save for Mario Party 8 (which I have heard was not so great) and GHIII, I’ve played all of them and owned most of them. There could be worse games on this list.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Where the hell is Metroid?!
December 15th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Metroid sadly sells poorly since left the 2D style, believe it.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
No surprise, 1st party titles have always been the big sellers on Nintendo systems. If 3rd party developers want those level of sales, then maybe they should try to make a solid product like they used too.
I admit, I’m a little miffed how Mario Kart outsold Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. Then again, personal taste doesn’t translate into fact.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I suppose Carnival Games just missed the cut. I thought that game was a surprise hot seller.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Wii Play is a good value; it is easily the best $10 game disc sold for the Wii, which is not a tall order given the lack of competition. The statistics show that people understand that, and are buying it for the value. If some high-quality games were released at affordable prices ($20-$30 seems about right) it almost certainly wouldn’t top the list. Even Wii Music would be tempting at such a reasonable price.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Wow, I’m surprised that Link’s Crossbow Training was in the top 10. I thought it was awesome, and definitely a great value for $20 along with the Zapper, but outside of my direct circle of friends, I really didn’t know many other people that bought it. Like, I don’t know, did any of you ever hear anybody talking about how well Link’s Crossbow Training was selling? Yeah, neither did I.
I’m also disappointed that Metroid Prime 3 didn’t sell as well, but unfortunately it was also expected. I’d be interested to see the rest of the top sellers to see where it actually did rank. I’m also interested in how high RE4: Wii edition and Umbrella Chronicles ranked.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Yeah, this list is pretty unsurprising. Wii Play has been in the top10 sales lists since the thing came out. Whether the disc is really anything more than a tech demo, on the surface it’s a great value.
I’m happy for Mario Galaxy too for beating out GH3 – as much as I love GH games, Galaxy deserves to be in a lot of homes and is a showcase for what the Wii can do.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
stupid! games sales don”t always reflect the quality! mario kart isn’t that good