New Super Mario Bros. Wii Passes 10 Million Units

Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros Wii has passed 10 million units sold worldwide since it released late in 2009, putting it well past Super Mario Galaxy's life to date total in the U.S. The figures come from a Nikkei.net report translated by consumer weblog Kotaku, which breaks down the global totals: NSMB Wii has sold 3 million units in Japan, where it launched on December 3; 3 million copies in Europe, where it launched November 20, and 4.5 million units in North America, where it launched November 15. Super Mario Galaxy has sold 4.1 million units in North America since 2007. The game's design hearkens back to the two-dimensional, sidescrolling style of earlier Mario titles; in comments to the press, designer Shigeru Miyamoto has said the game aimed to address both longtime Nintendo fans and new Wii owners seeking an accessible touchpoint to the franchise. The numbers would seem to suggest that these traits successfully generated more mass appeal for NSMB Wii than for the three-dimensional and far less familiar Super Mario Galaxy, which sent the plumber navigating more innovative spherical space environments. New Super Mario Wii's greater sales success also comes despite being 10 points lower-rated on Metacritic than Super Mario Galaxy, the former scoring a rating of 87 and the latter 97.