New Super Mario Bros. Wii Sees Biggest Wii Debut Ever In Japan

Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold 936,734 units in its first week in Japan -- the biggest debut to date for a Wii title in that country. The figures come courtesy of Famitsu, translated by consumer weblog Kotaku. This release performance means NSMB Wii has outdone Nintendo's previous chart-crusher, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which sold 816,000 units in its debut week. In its release week, NSMB Wii led sales on Nintendo's platform in the U.S. and UK as well as Japan. Along with Activision's Modern Warfare 2, it appears likely to lead holiday sales for the balance of 2009. Some analysts have predicted the game can actually beat the record-breaking Modern Warfare 2 in terms of worldwide lifetime sales -- especially due to Mario's advantage in Japan, where MW2 is not a particularly popular franchise. EEDAR's Jesse Divnich points to the longer legs a rare franchise successor like NSMB Wii can have as opposed to one that receives regular installments, and suggests Miyamoto's latest full project could sell 15 million units in its lifetime.