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!]
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Chad enjoys punching old ladies in the face, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES (best system ever!), Final Fantasy VI, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Contra III, Valkyria Chronicles, Punch-Out!!, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
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Contest:
2:03 PM on 10.30.2008
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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.
Tell that to the Wii copy sitting on my shelf right now. ;)
Yeah, the PSX with, like, 100 million or something. :)
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!
In short Wii is awesome, and it's sales aren't a fluke.
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>
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.
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.
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 $
Bull shit they haven't abandoned the hardcore.
Two words, E 3.
<3 from Dyson
</3 for Twilight Princess
Hahahahaha. <3
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.
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.
Wii HD will.
I think it has something to do with ActRaiser. Consoles with ActRaiser do well. (and Super Metroid)
total number of gameR...
fail
Holy smokes!
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.
It was the best console evar.
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.
You can actually append that to pretty much any statement about quality and it will still hold true.
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.
sucked.
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.