Super Mario Bros. Wonder Also Had A Strong Start In The US

Pretty good, I wonder (pun intended) how it'll continue to sell in the coming months

I haven't bought the game yet.
2D platformer games are very low priority for me.
I still busy hunting for 3rd party games.

shocking spiderman 2 outsold mario considering it is on the ps5 with 46 million console while the switch has over 130 million consoles..

Well deserved Mario Wonder is fantastic!

This will keep selling for years to come. It is a cooler game than it is a good one, but it is still very good, and definitely does enough to make it an essential 2D platformer. I wish they had done away with more of the standard tropes and leaned into it being more it's own game.

@EaglyBird yeah, though idk if wonder is exactly single player heh
also amazing pfp

@johnedwin if I had to wager, ps5 owners are generally adults with more stable incomes to afford the game on launch.
There are a decent chunk of people on switch who fit that description as well, but the majority of switch owners are children or families who might have to budget often, thus they'd have to wait till Black Friday or Christmas to get it.

@johnedwin Mario sales numbers are physical only. Spider-man 2 numbers are physical + digital.

@link3710 huh? Then why isn't Mario's also Digital/physical? That's weird

@link3710 and you know…spider-man 2 is in console bundles. Kind of another important distinction between the two.

Yeah, these results aren't that fair towards Mario since Nintendo doesn't provide digital. Mario could've very well been #1, just like in Japan.

Regardless, well deserved for an amazing 2D Mario title.

I wouldn't expect Wonder to beat Spider-Man. I am glad Mario is doing well. It's a fantastic game.

@Anti-Matter dont worry, we know

I wonder what the tally is if you add in digital.

@johnedwin I wouldve bet my house (if i had one obvs) on you saying that.

(And more to the point, it didn't seem to hamper Wonders overall sales)

It says it right there in the article

note: digital sales for Nintendo published titles are not inluded in the title sales ranking charts

Pretty obvious Mario Wonder would have been number 1 if digital sales were included, I'd wager there's a lot of people who got the game in the 2 for £84 voucher deal on the eshop.

I actually am planning to get a PS5 next year so I can play "Spider-Man 2" (and "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart").

@johnedwin

There is a 135 million Switches sold in the US?

@UltimateOtaku91

Not obvious at all. Spiderman is huge in America.

Spiderman 2 was immediately the 4th best selling game of the year in US and Mario Wonder was 21st. Don't think digital sales will see it jump 18 places.

Also Wonder still sold fantastically for a game only announced a few months back and will have the stronger legs.

@liljmoore

Blame Nintendo, they refuse to give out digital sales data.

I’ve actually stopped playing it. It’s way too slow to get going for someone that’s been playing Mario games for 30 years. I’ll go back to it likely but I’m certainly not in love with it. Yet.

I think it is fantastic (Mario Wonder). People should play the whole thing, it keeps getting better. A few days ago I was thinking: It is of course standing on the shoulders of giants, but it might just be the best 2D Mario now.

It is a bit short but honestly, I’m not sure one of the classics would take longer to beat (and 100%). On the contrary. Just collected the final seed and it shows 15h of playtime. The coins are going to take several more hours.

@NintendoWife I loved it… but I really felt it was way too easy (well, except for the special world). And the multiplayer isn’t as fun as the lesser NSMB series.
Even with those shortcomings, I loved it, think I havent that much fun since Galaxy

@Zequio Yes it is a bit easy. But just a little, personally I wouldn’t need ultra-frustrating levels. Multiplayer I’m probably not going to try for lack of an opportunity. And agreed, it really reminds of Galaxy in the way it’s made.

@Mimochamp I’m on the very very very last level also, last night I died probably 50 times. I wish the game had more hard levels like this, I find them completely addictive. The rest of the game outside the special worlds felt too easy

Why does the US info always have to be so vague?

@MooseTinsel I like the "Black Friday" thing. That's what I was doing to see if Target or any place did the buy 2 get 1 free. That's the only reason I hadn't bought it. But then yesterday my friend surprised me with it for my birthday so what a time to be alive!

I think that of the Xbox, PS5 and Switch users, Nintendo buyers are the ones who least buy First Party games as digital media. Nintendo's audience seems to be the one that values ​​physical media the most among the 3.

The game deserves the success. Well done, Nintendo.

If you recall, Nintendo was citing Super Mario Bros. Movie as a reason it has seen increased sales and engagement across the Mario brand. Well for me, Super Mario Bros. Wonder actually got me more interested to go back and play other titles.

I’ve got my SNES classic hooked up and I’ve been jumping on SMW and SMB.3 (NES ROM on SNES) as well as Super Mario Maker 2 (SMM2). I haven’t played SMM2 since 2020 and wow does it still hold up.

If you’re addicted to 2D Mario like I am right now, I can’t recommend SMM2 enough.

Imagine Wonder style was added as a final DLC next year? OOOOF

@johnedwin I bet Mario will have more longevity as far as sales. And if you are a Ps5 owner, exclusives are pretty rare. So it was probably more of a day one purchase. I know at least a few people who intentionally put off Wonder for Christmas

Given the sales trends for past Mario title, it was clear for a while that Wonder would never have the same massive launch sales that we saw with Zelda or Pokemon. The Switch install base is huge but that doesn't mean every game is going to obliterate sales records. Games like the Mario platformers will have good (but far from record-smashing) launch sales followed by a huge holiday boost and strong legs the following year.

On the other hand, Spider-Man 2 is basically Sony's Tears of the Kingdom (i.e. a highly-anticipated direct sequel to a previous highly-acclaimed massively successful open-world action-adventure game) so enormous launch sales were to be expected despite being a PS5 exclusive.

It's the season of "put it on your Christmas list" for everything kids ask for. I know I've put off purchasing Wonder just for that reason (I want it for Christmas). They'll sell more, don't worry.

Regarding its being the fastest-selling Mario game, most 2D Mario games in the past cost hundreds of dollars, adjusted for inflation, because they were launch titles and required buying a console. And 2D sells better than 3D.

Considering that nowadays, almost half (sometimes even more) of sales today are digital, it's not a stretch to think that maybe Mario Wonder was the #1 selling game in October!

@UltimateOtaku91 you would think with a 132 to 46 million advantage they would be on top even so very impressive for the ps5 with a 46 million console base..

Absolutely well deserved. Wonder is up there with World for me in regards of 2D platformers and I'm not even finished with it yet. The amount of pure fun and creativity in these courses show the EPD team haven't lost their magic making 2D Mario games. I think with digital sales included Mario could've beaten Spidey here in the US.

Nintendo only publishes sales figures when they have a reason to, and when they do they do include digital sales.

@johnedwin You keep talking about 132 mil switch units. This article is about Mario and Spidey sales in the US not the world. The 132 mil switch units sold is GLOBAL units. Not US ones. Your huge install base you're thinking of is irrelevant to this article and discussion.

NA sales is like a guessing game nowadays, you just had to take the words of analyst instead of just showing a chart like what the British and the Japanese are doing. Good for Spider-Man 2 though I think it just feels too much like more of Miles Morales.

@NintendoWife
It's awesome and in the top 3 of 2D Super Mario games but I can't put it ahead of World or SMB 3.

@Gamer83 Absolutely valid! I’m not sure they can be compared straight either, because the other ones are so old now, yet were so groundbreaking back then. SMB3 was magical, I remember the hype. But if you just take them today, I have a feeling Wonder is the most entertaining. Now that I am busy collecting everything I’m becoming aware of how great it controls. Super satisfying, Nintendo are the masters of this.

There's definitely some nostalgia involved when talking about older games so it's definitely not a 1:1 comparison but I do think SMB 3 and World hold up extremely well even today. If all were released at the same time? I'd probably go back and forth between 3 and Wonder but there was so much about World that still has it above all the other Mario games for me. That's not to talk down on Wonder. I love it, it's my favorite game this year and one of my favorite in the entire Switch library. Controls great like you said, looks great, the sound design is top notch, and has some of the best level design out there. The overworld is fantastic and fun to explore. Really my only complaint is lack of boss variety.

@liljmoore Nintendo doesn't report digital sales.

Man I actually really dislike this game and I have to wonder if not being number 1 is due to lack of people streaming/hyping it on Twitch, TikTok etc because after the first couple days we all saw how patronizing the lack of difficulty and constant bombardment of dialog was and it lost any potential cool points. Yeah it's shiny and silly but the random Wonderseed gimmick is all flash and no substance, no real sense of accomplishment for completing them, it's the video game equivalent of Telletubbies where these odd colorful critters are convincing your toddlers that they're being entertained by giggling and saying "again, again!" as if putting them in a trance instead of actually making them think or learn. The idea of putting the real meat at the end of the game in the special levels instead of working up to that way sooner shot them in the foot and will keep a lot of people from replaying it or even bothering to ever get to the end at all.

@John_Deacon Nintendo First Party digital? Or smaller games?

What i see is:

• nintendo games? Physical
• non nintendo games? Digital

@John_Deacon probably Mario Wonder sells so much more phisicals than digitals.