This Week In Sales: Wii U Debuts With Mario And Monster Hunter

Period: The week of December 3rd – December 9th (2012)

Recommended Videos

Top-seller: Yakuza 5 – 356,757

Nintendo 3DS sales: 75,126 | Total sales: 7,318,510

Nintendo 3DS XL sales: 136,373 | Total sales: 1,480,868

PlayStation Vita sales: 11,039 | Total sales: 1,074,621

Wii U sales: 308,142 | Total sales: 308,142

<< Last week’s software sales chart

 

The Wii U launched in Japan this past weekend. Nintendo released their latest console on December 8th, and it sold 308,142 units at launch. Here’s how that stacks up compared to the last few major console launches in Japan, with all figures provided by sales tracker Media Create:

 

PlayStation 3: 81,639 (2006)

Wii: 350,258 (2006)

Nintendo 3DS: 374,764 (2011)

PlayStation Vita: 324,859 (2011)

 

The highest-selling Wii U game was, of course, New Super Mario Bros. U, with 163,528 copies sold. That’s a far cry from New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s debut of 934,739 copies sold. For what it’s worth, New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s launch figures accounted for four days of data, whereas U only has two days, and the game also sold to a significantly larger Wii userbase upon release.

 

Meanwhile, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate sold 106,388 copies, which isn’t bad considering that this is the fifth game based on Monster Hunter 3 and is virtually identical to the Nintendo 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, which has been available for over a year now in Japan.

 

Nintendo Land, however, did not do very well. The game wasn’t bundled along with the Wii U Premium Set in Japan and sold a mere 72,121 copies. Ouch. Maybe we’ll see sales pick up over time, but that doesn’t make for a very good first impression.

 

The real story of Wii U’s launch will be told over the next few weeks, as we find out how it holds up over the holidays. Nintendo and third-parties have been cagey with details on major game announcements outside of the “launch window,” which extends up until March 2013, so the Wii U has a lot to prove.

 

The top-20 chart for the week was as follows:

 

Lw Tw Title Weekly Sales Total Sales Sys. Publisher
New 01. Yakuza 5 356,757 New PS3 Sega
New 02. New Super Mario Bros. U 163,528 New WiiU Nintendo
New 03. Paper Mario: Sticker Star 129,054 New 3DS Nintendo
New 04. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate 106,388 New WiiU Capcom
04. 05. Animal Crossing: New Leaf 89,195 1,301,507 3DS Nintendo
New 06. Nintendo Land 72,121 New WiiU Nintendo
03. 07. Taiko Drum Master: Super Splendid Edition 58,655 174,610 Wii Namco Bandai
08. 08. New Super Mario Bros. 2 47,929 1,501,086 3DS Nintendo
05. 09. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Labyrinth 43,005 212,524 3DS Pokémon Co.
02. 10. Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney 29,271 158,127 3DS Level 5
01. 11. The 2nd Super Robot Taisen OG 24,175 241,885 PS3 Namco Bandai
06. 12. Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational 22,645 161,381 PS3 Sony
13. 13. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) 17,742 54,067 3DS Capcom
07. 14. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Subtitled) 17,237 250,821 PS3 Square Enix
New 15. ZombiU 13,000 New WiiU Ubisoft
17. 16. Run for Money Tousouchuu 11,512 263,402 3DS Namco Bandai
21 17. Pokémon Black/White 2 11,498 2,858,740 DS Pokémon Co.
16. 18. Style Savvy: Trendsetters 11,286 199,291 3DS Nintendo
22. 19. Taiko Drum Master: The Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb 9,306 282,180 3DS Namco Bandai
26. 20. Mario Kart 7 8,611 1,851,264 3DS Nintendo

 

Sales data acquired from 4Gamer, Media Create and Geimin.net.


Siliconera is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Reminder: Online Services For 3DS and Wii U Will End in April 2024
nintendo 3ds wii u online
Read Article Nintendo Offers Free Repairs to Users Affected by the Noto Earthquake
Nintendo offers free repairs to Switch 3DS and Wii U affected by Noto Peninsula earthquake
Read Article Nintendo Will Discontinue 3DS and Wii U Online Functions in 2024
nintendo 3ds wii u online
Read Article Dragon Quest X Online 3DS & Wii U Service Ends, New Expansion Revealed
Dragon Quest X Online 3DS Wii U service ends 7.0 expansion
Read Article Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 Wii U Maintenance Finally Ending
Splatoon Maintenance Mario Kart 8 Wii U
Related Content
Read Article Reminder: Online Services For 3DS and Wii U Will End in April 2024
nintendo 3ds wii u online
Read Article Nintendo Offers Free Repairs to Users Affected by the Noto Earthquake
Nintendo offers free repairs to Switch 3DS and Wii U affected by Noto Peninsula earthquake
Read Article Nintendo Will Discontinue 3DS and Wii U Online Functions in 2024
nintendo 3ds wii u online
Read Article Dragon Quest X Online 3DS & Wii U Service Ends, New Expansion Revealed
Dragon Quest X Online 3DS Wii U service ends 7.0 expansion
Read Article Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 Wii U Maintenance Finally Ending
Splatoon Maintenance Mario Kart 8 Wii U
Author
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.