New Super Mario Bros Wii becomes fastest selling Wii game in Japan

It's-a-me! Profit-o!

No surprise, being that its the best game of 2009.

Hasn't Mario always (usually) known how to make coinage.

as a wii owner i simply must say...



you're right. I partially bought it just to justify still owning a wii.

Yeah but Metroid Prime from MP Trilogy was one of the best games I played last year by far.

And I've played Batman AA, MW2, Assassins Creed 2, RE5, Halo: OBGYN, etc.

All good games but Trilogy is one of the best things I've bought in a long time.

Nintendo should be taking notes on this. NSMBWii has been moving consoles (and sales overall) in a way that Galaxy only dreams it could

NSMB Wii was the only Wii game worth buying in 2009? No.

Mad World.

I'm still having an extremely hard time going through Metroid Prime 1. I said the little that I played was really boring, and after another hour it hasn't gotten any more interesting. I really don't see what everyone loves in that game, it completely baffles me.

Its hard to say MP its not dated in some ways, and I had played and loved it before (maybe thwarting my view). But I felt I was being pretty skeptical playing it again and I couldn't help but love it.

If you didn't like MP1 tmac, give MP3 a try.

They're different in approach.

MP is great, but it's an early Cube game so its design is definitely outdated a bit. I know backtracking is part of the Metroid series, but this game took it too far. I did always like the feeling that you are all alone out there.

I bought this pretty much for the same reason as well. What else am I going to play? Imaginez Babiez?

This game is pretty fun, but was it worth 60 bucks? A side-scroller with multiplayer that feels like the exact same game I played when I was 12? The multiplayer is fun, but with everyone getting knocked off the screen and clonking heads, it feels more like a tacked on idea than a concept the game was built around. I mean, it’s cool and the game’s a great shot of nostalgia, but there’s nothing that feels current gen enough about this title for me that makes me feel as if it were truly worth my sixty bucks, or that it was perfectly acceptable for this to be the only solid game Nintendo came out with this whole season.

But, hey. I got to legitimize this purchase somehow. Guess I’ll go back to having my girlfriend yelling at me for bumping her into the lava…

In other news... oh, fuck this.

You know tmac...I agree with you. If it were 2003.

See, when I first got Metroid Prime, I too got bored of it real quickly. I went through the frigate and landed on the planet, and headed to the Ruins...and there is where I got bored. So I put it away and played some other games.

Fast forward almost a year later. I picked it up again. And after the main boss in the Ruins, it REALLY got interesting. I may be wrong, but if your situation is like mine, you got uninterested way too early. Trust me, it gets a whole lot better after the Ruins...

@ tmac
I love MP, all 3 of them. So I'd like to encourage you to play through the game but if you can't even stand a couple hours of it then you should probably just say screw it. It's an FPS but it's slower paced and based more around exploration and puzzles than action. If that's not your thing, then MP isn't for you.

The first time in Joystiq history a troll... wasn't successful? Wow, I suppose we are finally growing up on this blog.

I thought that NSMBWii was great. You can complain about how it's the same game as 20 years ago but it isn't in the exact same way that MW2 isn't just like Wolfenstein.

Hate all you want, I'm multiplatform and New Super Mario Bros. was still my GOTY. People have *different tastes* and yours are *not superior* get over it! Besides, this is relevant as a news piece because it shows a few things:
1.) Home Console titles still have the power to pull big numbers in Japan
2.) Nintendo may have faith in more 2D titles on home consoles between this, Paper Mario, and Warioland Shake it all coming out recenlty... perhaps Metroid really will go back in that direction...
3.) Mario is still big in Japan - and has massive cross-over appeal w/ the various markets on the Wii (in Japan, plenty of "core" gamers game on the wii b/c of exlcusive titles in big franchises there)...

I'm willing to bet that people - "hardcore and casual" alike - will be playing NSMBW years down the road - despite it not being online - because it has all the makings of a classic, and plenty of replay value. I doubt the same will be the case for some of the games people have listed as superior above such as Batman.

And as the appropriately (and hilariously) named "teh troll" asked, what other games were wii owners gonna buy? I know people don't like lists, but I hear this asked so often that I'm going to compile a little list right now... I'm not saying these are all "AAA" games (another increasingly murky/elitist term along with "harcore", "core", and "casual") but they're solid efforts that showcase the diversity available on the Wii platform.

I can only speak for myself, but I see plenty of good games on the Wii in '09 which were either exclusives, or ones where Wii was the lead platform:

A Boy and His Blob
Boomblox Bash Party
Broken Sword: Director's Cut
The Conduit
2x DDR games
Dawn of Discovery
Deadly Creatures
Dead Space: Extraction
Excitebots
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Grandslam Tennis
Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus
Hudson's Hard Working People
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
House of the Dead: Overkill
Just Dance
Klonoa
Marble Saga Kororinpa
Let's Tap
Little King's Story
Madworld
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Metroid Prime Trilogy
The Munchables
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 3
New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis
New Play Control! Pikmin
OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers
Overlord: Dark Legend
Phantom Brave: We meet Again
Punch-Out!
Rabbids Go Home
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Rune Factory Frontier
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Sonic and the Black Knight
Spore Hero
Spyborgs
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
Tony Hawk Ride / Skate It / Shan White Snowboarding World stage
Ultimate Shooting Collection (Radio Allergy, Karous, Chaos Field)
Virtua Tennis 2009
We Ski & Snowboard
Wii Fit Plus
Wii Sports Resort

And some other decent multiplatform titles and ports:

Astro Boy
Band Hero
Beatles Rockband
CoD Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition
Dead Rising Chop til you Drop
DJ Hero
Ghostbusters: The VideoGame
Guitary Hero: 5, Smash Hits, Metallica, and Van Halen
James Cameron's Avatar
The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga
Lego Indiana Jones 2
Lego Rockband
Madden and a slieu of baseball and football titles
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Mini ninjas
Pro Evo Soccer 2010
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero
Rygar: the battle of Argus
Samurai Showdown Anthology
Tornado Outbreak
Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010

And then they're were imports like:

Another Code R: A Journey into Lost memories (JPN/Eur)
Fragile
Arc Rise Fantasia
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
Monster Hunter G
Monster Hunter 3
NPC: Chibi Robo
NPC: Pikmin 2
One Piece: Unlimited Cruise Ep. 1
One Piece: Unlimited Cruise Ep. 2
Sin & Punishment 2
Samurai Warriors 3
Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Taiko: Drum Master
Takuto of Magic
Tales of Graces

And plenty of good WiiWare titles that I won't get into.

Really? Besides Mr. Khan, how many Joystiq commenters only own a Wii. Seriously, raise of hands, folks. ...Nobody? Huh. You know, maybe it's just because I'm not 13, but I don't have to "justify" owning a Wii. I bought MP Trilogy because I love those games and Wii controls make them even better. Remember when there were no good games on the PS3? Because I do. I know we joke about it but that really used to be the case. So when the PS3 had no good games I was rocking out on my Wii with Fire Emblem, Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Brawl, etc. So now the Wii is suffering and I play my PS3 and 360 more. In fact, the only console that I own that hasn't had a drought of good games has been the 360. Multiple consoles FTW!

Thanks - and i know you're right so I won't make a habit of it... it just pains me to have a year where i enjoyed the Wii more then my PS2, 360, DSi, and classic consoles, yet people hated on it's 09 line up soooo hard, and just wrote off so many games as if they didn't exist b/c they were from smaller developers or not heavily marketed sales juggernauts. Especially Easter developed titles that weren't Nintendo 1st party.

"In fact, the only console that I own that hasn't had a drought of good games has been the 360."

Surprising as it may sound.... gotta disagree with you there champ.

Unless you are a big fan (read: fanatic) of FPSs and/or third person shooters, then yes, there are in fact plenty droughts of good games on the 360. Now granted, 90% of this sites commentors are exactly that, and are most likely primarily 360 owners.

a.k.a. downvote away!!!

All of this and they still couldn't find someone to come up with a better title.

"Really? Besides Mr. Khan, how many Joystiq commenters only own a Wii."

I did. I only bought a PS3 because my friend was selling his cheap.

Hate all you want, but the truth is a good chunk of the reason why this game sold so well is because it has the Mario brand slapped onto it. Not to say it was a bad game but Mario sells.