Nintendo's fab Donkey Kong Country sales

By Robert Purchese Published 28 January, 2011

Plus eye-popping lifetime sales disclosed.

In under one month, Donkey Kong Country Returns has trampled to a massive 4.21 million global sales.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - not yet released in Europe - has already amassed 1.38 million sales in Japan and the US.

And Super Mario Galaxy 2 has been bought 6.15 million times since its summer 2010 release.

These numbers tumble from a boring-snoring supplementary money report by Nintendo that only a square-brain would read. Oh. Totals are calculated up to 31st December 2010.

Nintendo singled out first-party games that have crossed the enviable one million mark since April 2010, when its financial year began.

Headline-maker Pokemon Black and White has now clattered to a massive 5.32 million total sales - 5.26 million in Japan alone, after a late mid-September start. (Pokemon Black and White arrives in Europe on 4th March.)

Wii Party, an October release in Europe, has already amassed an impressive 5.07 million sales worldwide.

DS newcomer Art Academy is off to great start too, with 1.52 million sales.

But it was the old-timers that still pulled the biggest strings for Nintendo. New Super Mario Bros. shifted 3.73 million copies on DS from April to December while New Super Mario Bros. Wii shifted 6.58 million copies.

Similarly, Mario Kart DS pulled in 2.8 million sales while Mario Kart Wii attracted 3.95 million.

Wii Fit Plus, meanwhile, flogged a whopping 5.07 million units. The number of Wii balance boards sold during those nine months was 4.5 million. And the global total of big plastic balance boards in homes around the world now exceeds 34 million! Suddenly, doing press-ups on an E3 stage doesn't seem so ridiculous.

The original 2007, E3 Wii Fit announcement. 34 million balance boards later...

Japanese sales for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, which are presumably massive, aren't recorded - Level-5 publishes the game over there. Still, outside of Japan, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future notched 1.87 million sales.

It's a similar story for Dragon Quest IX, which is published by Square Enix in Japan. Sales outside of Japan, however, were 1.02 million.

But perhaps the most alluring curiosity of the boring-snoring money report was lifetime sales of some of Nintendo's biggest games. Not all of the legendary sellers are accounted for, incidentally, just those that can still sell more than one million copies in nine months.

Oh and we've taken Wii Sports out of the list, as it's bundled with Wii consoles here. In case you're wondering, its total is a gargantuan 75.66 million global lifetime sales.

Nintendo DS lifetime sellers (that sold over 1 million copies from April - December 2010):

  • New Super Mario Bros.: 26,210,000
  • Mario Kart DS: 20,700,000
  • Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver: 11,720,00
  • Pokemon Black and White: 5,320,000
  • Art Academy: 1,520,000
  • Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!: 1,152,000

Wii lifetime sellers (that sold over 1 million copies from April - December 2010)

  • Mario Kart Wii: 26,500,000
  • Wii Sports Resort: 26,350,000
  • New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 21,280,000
  • Wii Fit Plus: 17,740,000
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2: 6,150,000
  • Wii Party: 5,070,000
  • Donkey Kong Country Returns: 4,210,000
  • Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition: 1,950,000
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn: 1,380,000
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Niall #1 1 year ago

    Cool story, bro.

  • wizlon #2 1 year ago

    So people like Mario Kart then?

    I would have enjoyed DK: Returns more if they took out the shake to roll gesture, give me a button for that sort of thing. Would love a new DK game on the 3DS, Returns did some amusing things with the background that the 3DS could really take advantage of.

  • Darren #3 1 year ago

    The only games I bought for my Wii last year were Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong Country Returns! :)

    Both are fantastic games but sadly that kind of quality seems to come all too infrequently on the Wii IMO... :(

  • TonyHarrison #4 1 year ago

    Those Mario Kart sales are staggering. It's four years old and sold 1 million in the last 9 months. So more than brand new games like Vanquish, Enslaved, or the latest Castlevania have/will have managed on two platforms in their first year... And just think of the respective budgets.

    Who is it that says Nintendo don't sell software again?

  • sneetch #5 1 year ago

    @wizlon
    I would have enjoyed DK: Returns more if they took out the shake to roll gesture, give me a button for that sort of thing.

    I agree, I just wanted to be able to use my classic controller.

    Similarly I much preferred Mario Kart on Wii using the Cube controller.

  • byakuya83 #6 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • joelstinton #7 1 year ago

    glad good games get all the sales they deserve, just shows that the despite all the shovelware people pick up great games.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #8 1 year ago

    Sorry, made a couple of typos in the Wii sales list - I hope it wasn't too misleading. Missed a zero, embarrassingly. They're now fixed.

    @byakuya83, thank you for your support.
    Edited by Bertie at 28/01/11 @ 17:03

  • Golgo #9 1 year ago

    I don't understand maths (translation, for Americans: 'math'), but I understands thems to be big numbers.

  • KDR_11k #10 1 year ago

    Now imagine what the return on investment is for those games. Absolutely insane.

  • Raiten #11 1 year ago

    @TonyHarrison, do remember that while enslaved and castlevania are good games, they were released on consoles where majority of people hapily ignore such releases and buy the next yearly iteration of an overhyped avarage/crapy/bugriden fps game instead.

  • kinky_mong #12 1 year ago

    Well deserved figures for DKC Returns and SMG2, both absolute gems that were the highlights of last year for me.

  • tancredo #13 1 year ago

    I would think these numbers include software + wii packs plus individual software sales

    Being part of a pack makes it a less impresive number, taking into account the number of wiis sold during these years and Nintendo's tendency to include their own software with the console for the longest periods of time.
    (I mean, you could hardly buy a Wii without a Sport Resort game attached for 2-3 years straight)

    But still very impressive overall

  • NotSoSlim #14 1 year ago

    I wonder how many third party games come anywhere near those figures

  • Incarta #15 1 year ago

    Nintendo in "We sold a moon-load of software!" shocker!!!

  • VeggieWokker #16 1 year ago

    Other M is nowhere to be seen :p. Up yours, Sakamoto...

  • Sid-Nice #17 1 year ago

    These sales figures are rather mediocre when you consider how well Kinect is doing; this time next year Kinect will have out-sold the Wii Balance Board.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 1 year ago

    this time next year Kinect will have out-sold the Wii Balance Board.

    Eh? Kinect and the balance board are two totally different things.

    On topic though: I'm glad that DKCR is selling well. I never imagined it being THAT good. It's easily one of the top 5 games for the Wii. It's a game that managed to glue me to the TV even though I have way too many other things to do and even now that I completed it I am still going back to collect all the KONG letters and puzzle pieces. It really is that good.

    I would also like to thank Retro for having the guts to bring out a difficult game. I haven't had such a wonderful challenge in years. The game is never unfair and incredibly well balanced and even though I have lost over 20 lives in some stages in mere minutes it never got frustrating. Please, make more challenging games like this!
    Edited by Der_tolle_Emil at 28/01/11 @ 21:23

  • jonsaan #19 1 year ago

    No wonder I haven't been able to buy Epic Yarn. Why on earth is it not released in EU? It's this kind of BS that makes me not sure about buying a 3DS.

  • cw- #20 1 year ago

    Haven't bought a game for my Wii since Mario Kart. Am toying with the idea to get Dead Space Extraction and DK:R though.

  • byakuya83 #21 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • Ashcroft #22 1 year ago

    NSMB Wii has been out for less than 14 months, and it's sold over 21,000,000 copies?

    How did they even manage to make the discs that fast?

  • alcides #23 1 year ago

    SM all stars is proof that the Wii crowd will mindlessly flock to whatever they're thrown and be content. Lucky for them there are games like Mario Galaxy 2 and DK Returns in the pack.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #24 1 year ago

    Yeah, how dare we stupid idiots buy a collection with the best platformers on one disc for a budget price!

  • smelly #25 1 year ago

    @Sid Nice - and this time next year - there still wotn be anything worth playing on it.

  • Number1Laing #26 1 year ago

    SMG2 and DKCR were two of the best three games released in 2010 IMO, so it's good to see they found success in the marketplace.

  • martinh #27 1 year ago

    pffft. These sales figures are nothing. My Poncho Action game 'PONCHINATOR' sold over 78 million copies in Game Dev Story.

    Beat that, Nintendo.

  • Sid-Nice #28 1 year ago

    @smelly;You've changed your tune; I can remember when you defended the Wii against the masses who claimed "There aren’t any good games on the Wii."

  • Basoy #29 1 year ago

    How is this possible? What about all those dusty Wiis and atrocious attach rates?

  • Z101 #30 1 year ago

    @smelly: Next year this time we have played: Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pikmin 3, Zelda - Skyward Sword, New Kirby game, a Vitality Sensor game, de Blob 2, Conduit 2, the New Fatal Frame game, Pandoras Tower, Rodea: The Sky Soldier, Rune Factory: Oceans, The Grinder, Earth Seeker, Night of the Sacrifice ... and some other new games that Nintendo will announce at E3.

    2010 was software wise the best year for the Wii so far. 2011 seems to get even better :)
    Edited by Z101 at 01/02/11 @ 12:51