Wii Sports Topples Mario Brothers as Best Selling Video Game

by Tina Kells | January 7, 2009 at 04:22 pm

1441 views | 11 Recommendations | 14 comments

According to gamer blogs and video game websites across the Internet, Super Mario Brothers has bee dethroned by Wii Sports.

The popular gaming system's cornerstone game, Wii Sports, has officially toppled the 20-year reign of the king of all video games Super Mario Brothers, to become the best selling video game of all time.

Nintendo and the Mario brothers could not be reached for comment.

Like Super Mario Bros., Wii Sports comes under scrutiny because the majority of the game's sales came because customers purchased it with the console. According to Wikipedia, the best selling games sold outside of bundles are Pokemon Red/Blue and Nintendogs, both of which were sold with multiple versions. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the top selling title to be sold by itself. Regardless, with the popularity of the Wii with casual gamers, the argument can be made that Wii Sports is every bit as influential as those two megahits.

Wii Sports has now passed lifetime sales of Super Mario Bros (NES) to become the number one selling videogame of all time

Including VGChartz software data for the week ending 27th December 2008, Wii Sports has now passed sales of Super Mario Bros (NES) at 40.24 million units, making it the best selling videogame of all time. The game, bundled in every country outside of Japan and South Korea, reached that milestone after 110 weeks of sales.

8 See all footage | View Slideshow

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Flickr Lens

at 10:03 on January 8th, 2009

New Super Mario Bros. DS is one of the best games for Nintendo DS.

Flickr Lens has contributed a photo to this story.

newtreasuresonline.com (not verified)

at 18:16 on January 7th, 2009

I loved super Mario brothers :{

fleurdelacour (not verified)

at 18:46 on January 7th, 2009

I can't complain, I love them both. I love the original Super Mario, but Mario 3 is my all time favorite.

Ps- those are my pictures in the slideshow. you can view more at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/romulanwarbird/sets/

woodpeck

at 03:39 on January 8th, 2009

my wii came with wii sports. could that be why its #1? both games rawk!

jordan

at 07:16 on January 8th, 2009

Both games were the titles that shipped with their respective consoles... maybe it's a function of the Wii's runaway popularity.

kristiegirl626

at 13:38 on January 8th, 2009

My son is four years old, and he absolutely loves playing the Wii. In this photo, he's playing Mario Kart, and I can't wait to introduce him to more fun games like it!

kristiegirl626 has contributed a photo to this story.

kaijalea

at 18:23 on January 8th, 2009

Mario will ALWAYS be #1 to me!;)

kaijalea has contributed a photo to this story.

Marc M (not verified)

at 06:21 on January 9th, 2009

We may be getting a Wii this weekend! Yay!

Matt W (not verified)

at 19:57 on January 9th, 2009

Shame. I love Mario, to me he is always the best video game character and game. Wii Sports isn't even a character, it's just a variety of things to do. I am a die hard Mario fan, and here's what I think: Bull. That is coming from a fanboy, yeah. Anyways, I was hoping Mario bros or Nintendo could speak up, see what they have to say. Sorry Mario, but you'll be back there. You'll always be the Nintendo Mascot! =)

-Keep stomping Goombas! Matt

SupaMario1234567 (not verified)

at 19:58 on January 9th, 2009

-Keep stomping Goombas! Matt

Crash Cortex

at 03:16 on January 10th, 2009

AWW man

Crash Cortex has contributed a photo to this story.

Crash Cortex

at 03:14 on January 10th, 2009

Nice

ripjans - gratis wii (not verified)

at 10:15 on January 23rd, 2009

I reckon I misread the title; thought it was about a new game for the Wii ^^ .... ;)

Monasteraki (not verified)

at 08:19 on January 27th, 2009

It hasn't outsold mario brothers because most of the time the wii comes with a wii sports bundle, you get it whether you like it or not - unlike super mario which you by with your choice. Also, you can not by wii sports on its own from a normal retailer.