New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe & Smash Bros. Ultimate have sold better than predecessors

Update (15/01/19): A chart tracking error incorrectly revealed a 24.8% improvement over the original, which has since been redacted to account for “missing” sales from a number of retailers. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe instead sold 56% higher than the original Wii U version.

Original Story (14/01/19): New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is the latest Wii U port to make it to the Nintendo Switch, and it’s already managed to surpass the original by a considerable margin on release. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has also managed to outsell its 3DS predecessor in Japan just five weeks after launching.

Nintendo hasn’t exactly kept its faith in the biggest Smash Bros. game yet a secret, believing Ultimate to be the Switch’s means of achieving sales goals that were previously thought to be unattainable. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a single title, but Japanese sales figures from the week ending 6th January suggest that this expectation might not be all that unfeasible.

It took 5 weeks for Smash Bros. Ultimate to outdo over 3 years of sales of Smash Bros. on 3DS and become the series' best selling title in Japan at retail.

Digital sales are most likely higher too, the game is very likely at 3m sold by now.https://t.co/5xxIpK9fio pic.twitter.com/a7HCiFTw8E

— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) January 12, 2019

Currently, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tops the series with over 2.6 million units shipped, while the previous best-selling 3DS entry sits at 2.55 million units for its lifetime sales. These figures only account for physical units, but increased popularity in the digital market is only likely to widen the gap, should they be revealed. It seems that the brawler is also doing well internationally, retaining fifth place down from fourth in the UK charts ending 12^th January.

This bump down the list is thanks to New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe going straight to number one, becoming the fourth Nintendo Switch game to do so following fellow Wii U port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Tennis Aces and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on release.

1. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
2. FIFA 19
3. Red Dead Redemption 2
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
7. Battlefield V
8. Grand Theft Auto V
9. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
10. Forza Horizon 4

Although the original New Super Mario Bros. U is the Wii U’s third best-selling game at 5.77 million units behind Super Mario 3D World and Mario Kart 8, the Deluxe version for the Switch is already faring 24.8% better in the physical market during its opening week. Once again, digital sales would more than likely increase this margin significantly.

KitGuru Says: There’s a clear demand for Wii U ports, which isn’t surprising given how poorly the console sold in comparison to the Switch. Are they any other games you’d like to see make the jump?

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