Wii surpasses N64 in sales, becomes fifth best-selling console of all time

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2:03 PM on 10.30.2008, Chad Concelmo

54 comments | 9024 views

Wii surpasses N64 in sales, becomes fifth best-selling console of all time photo

#Nintendo #Nintendo 64 #Sales #wii

It’s official: the Wii has become the fifth best-selling console of all time (excluding handhelds), recently surpassing the Nintendo 64 in total lifetime sales. No real big surprise here, but it is pretty impressive how the Wii has already passed the N64 and GameCube in only two short years.

The Nintendo 64 sold 32.9 million total units and the Wii has currently sold 34.55 million. At this rate, the Wii genuinely has the chance of passing the Super Nintendo at 49.1 million and the original NES at 61.91 million. Wouldn’t that be crazy? The Wii: the greatest selling Nintendo console of all time. Not that I don’t like the Wii. It’s just ... my precious Super NES ... my beloved ...

What do you think? Are you surprised by this accelerated success? Do you think the Wii has the potential to eventually beat the PlayStation 2 as the top-selling videogame console ever (for the record, the PS2 is the king of the hill with a whopping 140 million)? Like me, are you depressed for no good reason that the Super NES may lose its high-ranking spot?

... my beloved ...

[Via GoNintendo -- thanks, Jonathan!]

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48 comments | showing # 1 to 48

Jesus H Christ

inb4 twilight princess was a gcn game

NotAZombie

I'm depressed people keep buying the damn thing. It's not like it provides competition in a good sense to the 360 or PS3. All it does is make them try and access the "casual" market buy making things like Home and the NXE. Thanks Nintendo!

ScottyG

What's number two on the best selling list? The PSX?

I suppose it really depends how quickly Nintendo comes out with a new console and continues to support the Wii. I can definitely see it passing the SNES (*sniff*) and the NES (*sniff*), but really don't think Nintendo will keep it around long enough to pass the PS2.

Chad Concelmo

@Jesus H Christ,
Tell that to the Wii copy sitting on my shelf right now. ;)

pendelton21

The Wii will never suprass the SNES...in my heart...

Chad Concelmo

@ScottyG,
Yeah, the PSX with, like, 100 million or something. :)

Ravana

That pic is way too much awesome for this early in the moron-ing. I care less about the SNES, and more about watching all the fanboys and girls duking it out, preferably with sharp objects and swinging controllers. Bring on the flames!

Also, you can't look at the Wii's success as anything comparable to past N consoles despite the record sales...the Wii is for a larger demographic, but the core players will always know the older systems rocked their socks. How many people even touch their Wiis much anymore?

Wait, don't answer that.

Older Nintendo consoles were played on a much more frequent basis. Screw the stats and polls! Look at the dust on all those Wiis!

Seth338

I own a Wii and i love it, for not being broken like my 360 is :(

Seth338

@Ravana: I'm a somewhat hardcore gamer and i play the Wii almost every day. Trauma center has been holding strong for a long time, challenging me to go up the difficulty levels. Brawl is pure distilled awesome and my whole house is getting competitive over Wii sports records and scores.

In short Wii is awesome, and it's sales aren't a fluke.

king3vbo

No, not my precious SNES!!!

BeZen

<rant>
I hate these "of all time" lists, especially when they are only given in absolute numbers. It's like the Titanic being the highest grossing movie of all time - when after accounting for inflation Gone with the Wind was over a billion dollars. Give me sales of console/sales of all consoles or sales/period of time or something!
</rant>

Jonathan Holmes

There is two ways of looking at this.

First the pessimistic way, which is "Nintendo isn't hardcore anymore and they're succeeding?? OH NOES!"

Then there is more optimistic way, which is "Nintendo put more 1st party hardcore games in two years (Metroid Prime 3, Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Wario Land Shake It, Smash Bros. Brawl) on the Wii than they normally release in the entire lifetime of one of their other consoles. For this, they are being rewarded."

I think the truth lies somewhere in between.

nademagnet

Cute Pandas! :3

DarkSaint76

I think if they get more quality games released, they have a shot at besting the PS2 in sales.

bastardmaster

Guesstimation of how much bigger that number would be if people that wanted a Wii could actually find their Wii?

But I can't see this passing the PSX even. Eventually everyone who can be tempted to waggle will have waggled. Seeing as Nintendo isn't catering to people that will buy software rather to people that will impulse buy hardware, the glow of their Wii Sports will dim after a week and the console will collect dust. As I've seen with just about everyone who got their hands on one. I give the strong sales another year and a half, then big N will have to think of whats next.

With hardware shortages that should stop em a little short of 140 million.

Holyetheline

Wow. That's some success.

John Johnson

It shouldn't really count anyway because the most appealing thing to me about the Wii is the virtual console: I get all those sweet oldschool games for relatively cheap and they're guaranteed to work - no getting out of breath blowing required.

SephirothX

@ Squawk:
Expanding your target market is one thing. Changing your target market and saying the games released for your original market are 'conservative' or 'lacking' is a totally different thing.

Face it. Nintendo's taking a massive dump on their original fanbase and submitting to nothing short of the almighty $

NotAZombie

@ Squawk

Bull shit they haven't abandoned the hardcore.

Two words, E 3.

SephirothX

Also. Twilight Princess is a GC game. Just like RE4 is a GC game and just like Conkers Bad Fur Day is an N64 game.

Dyson

The Ocarina fan should be winning because it was a better game.

<3 from Dyson

</3 for Twilight Princess

michiyoyoshiku

Too Bad Reggie is the one buying all of them.

Chad Concelmo

@Dyson,
Hahahahaha. <3

naia-the-gamer

LoL Dyson.

I'm going to be in a corner with Pendelton21 hugging and caressing my SNES regardless of how anything else sells.

I'm not surprised that it outsold the gamecube, and not even that surprised it outsold the N64. What surprises me is how FAST they outsold both of them.

eternalplayer2345

The snes can't loose to the wii that's like damaging to my world view

digtastik

The Wii is huge(no pun intended). Nintendo has expanded their market for sure. Yeah, people complain about the types of games that are prevalent in the Wii library, blah blah blah. Don't buy them if you don't like them. I think I have less than 10 games. That's ok.

One thing I do like about this expanded market though - more parents are gaming. So what if they like Wii sports exclusively and think it's the best thing ever. I wish I could have gotten my folks even remotely interested in playing games when I was a little kid. My mom struggled with the concept of pressing a single button and seeing something happen on the tv. The NES had TWO buttons; that was just too much for her. They own a Wii and I think it's funny now after all these years, but alot of kids and parents are playing together more now. I don't see that as a bad thing.

No matter how high the sales numbers go, it'll never replace my favorite system. It's just a different world these days, that's all.

falinter

Wii will not beat PS2 this time.

Wii HD will.

KyleGamgee

As opposed to looking at the numbers of consoles, if you look at the perspective of how many total games there were at the time of the SNES and how many there were at the time of the PS2 and total number of games now with the Wii, the SNES is still extremely impressive.

I think it has something to do with ActRaiser. Consoles with ActRaiser do well. (and Super Metroid)

KyleGamgee

gameRs

total number of gameR...
fail

atastysammich

Are those pandas fightin', lovin', or both?

Sam Spectre

There are a lot of housewives interested in waggle...

welkstar

The PS2 sold 140 mil?

Holy smokes!

Sloth

It shouldn't be too surprising that the Wii's doing so well. It's being marketed differently to the N64 (which will always be my favourite console) and is more commercially successful as a result.

Whilst I respect the hardcore gamer viewpoint that the Wii isn't fully catering for the late teens/twenty-somethings/older crowd that grew up on the earlier platforms, I do wonder whether the 360/PS3 caters for the current 5-7 year olds who are going to get hooked on gaming in future. When I got my NES, I was 5 and my brother was 2 and he's been a gamer ever since, whilst I don't play that much nowadays. It's definitely unwise of Nintendo not to adapt to the needs of those who've grown up with their machines, but on the other side of the coin, they're looking to bring a new generation of kids into gaming (however loosely you define "gaming" with regards to the Wii) whilst the big 360/PS3 titles are generally marketed at teenagers and above.

Chicken008

Well atleast Wii will be able to play Nes, SNES, N64, GC and many more games..

Dexter345

I could see it outselling the PS2 in the long run. I don't doubt it will pass up the NES and SNES within the next few years.

Kaspar

That picture is both cute and awsome. Great job.

PEICanada7

So can the stigma of the Wii just being a fad finally go away now? Or does the Wii have to out sell the SNES, the NES, and then the PS1 just to prove that it has staying power?

Dan CiTi

Aaron Linde is pleased.

saxiums

Yes, yes i am

4knuckleshuffle

My dear sweet N64. /sob

It was the best console evar.

bart999

Nothing is ever going to catch the PS2. Just like nothing in the future will ever catch the DS, DS-Lite, DS-I, for handhelds. Some consoles just hit it at the right time.

As for the Wii catching the 64 and possibly the SNES in the future, it's a possibility sure. But ultimately, who cares? The important thing is just to have a Wii, AND an HD console. In my case a PS3.

gamadaya

N64 was better.

You can actually append that to pretty much any statement about quality and it will still hold true.

pedrovay2003

I agree with Jonathan.

Mxyzptlk

Blue ocean worked. Nintendo got smart, and looked at the bigger picture. It's paying off for them. Even though the 'hardcore' will endlessly complain about being abandoned, what they did was go back to their roots. Famicom means Family Computer after all. They made something the entire family can play together. Gamers forget that there's a lot more people outside their monkeysphere who also like to play games.

Cube

THe n64 was total crap, i don't even know why I still keep mine.

How it out sold the NES and SNES is mind boggling in how much people like poorly designed hardware with more crap games than anything good aparrently.

Well at least the wii sucks less it is a gamecube at a higher clock speed and the gamecube.

And the gamecube/wii well at least it was designed properly unlike the n64 that was 2nd in line as a mangled mess of silicon next to the sega saturn.

Cube

and Twilight Princess
sucked.

Cube

zelda Twlight princess sucked balls,

But the n54 zelda games are the WORST zelda games I have ever seen in 1998 I almost threw my n64 out the window with there suckness in protest after getting like 6 crappy 3d remakes from nintendo in a row on that ugly black box.

I almost quit playing games right then and there until metal gear solid renewed my faith that all 3d remakes of old games will not suck.

and just when i thought it could not get any worse than that Ocarina what ever along came something worse majora's mask the pinnical of zelda crap.

I mean we are talking about games that featured the worst msuci and zelda art ever spit out by nintendo and a games that gave us characters like tingle.

The last good zelda game was on SNES with alin to the past and there still has not been anything worthy of it or the zelda NES games to this date.

So compared to that and most the other n64 crap at least twlight princess is standable and the music don't sound like ass ripping like the n64 did but it still sucks.

ParaParaKing

Considering consoles sales back then were pretty crappy, the Wii will certainly beat the SNES and NES. I'm not too sure about the PS2 though. There's still a chance, that the Wii will lose it's trendy hip status and won't sell anymore.

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