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WiiU

Super Smash Bros. Is Nintendo's Fastest-Selling Wii U Game in US

by Alex Osborn - November 25, 2014, 11:27 am EST
Total comments: 19 Source: Nintendo

Gamers sure love their Smash!

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is now the fastest-selling game for Nintendo's tablet-centric console in the United States.

According to Nintendo, a whopping 490,000 copies were sold during its first three days on store shelves. Considering the fact that Wii U's install base isn't particularly huge, that figure is nothing to sneeze at.

This means that Mario Kart 8, the console's prior fastest-seller, has been relegated to second place.

You can read our glowing review of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U right here.

Talkback

Mop it upNovember 25, 2014

Plus I'm sure the holidays have helped fuel it.

kokumakerNovember 25, 2014

Nintendo's selling lots of consoles tho Christmas. Every time I've walked into a store this week, they've either been out of Wii U's, or somebody has been in the middle of buying the last one. The Wii U is finally turning around; I am seeing it with my own eyes. Plus, Nintendo really seems to have struck gold with those amiibo!

broodwarsNovember 25, 2014

Quote from: kokumaker

Nintendo's selling lots of consoles tho Christmas. Every time I've walked into a store this week, they've either been out of Wii U's, or somebody has been in the middle of buying the last one. The Wii U is finally turning around; I am seeing it with my own eyes.

Or stores are just finally selling out of that huge pile of Wii Us that have been gathering dust for the last 2 years. One game with NO 3rd party support and barely any 1st party support does not a "turnaround" make.

They're selling Wii Us. No one but the extremely delusional think Nintendo's got a shot at taking the lead, but I think with the way things are looking they may end up at the GameCube level, which isn't that great but is a hell of a lot better than I'd have expected a few months ago.

broodwarsNovember 25, 2014

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

They're selling Wii Us. No one but the extremely delusional think Nintendo's got a shot at taking the lead, but I think with the way things are looking they may end up at the GameCube level, which isn't that great but is a hell of a lot better than I'd have expected a few months ago.

Which is why if Smash is a rousing success story, I want to see a commitment from Nintendo to show that they are going to consistently support this system. Next year's looking really dry, even by Nintendo standards.

Evan_BNovember 25, 2014

Quote from: broodwars

Or stores are just finally selling out of that huge pile of Wii Us that have been gathering dust for the last 2 years. One game with NO 3rd party support and barely any 1st party support does not a "turnaround" make.

Eh. One could argue the PS4 has no 1st party support and 3rd party support that can also be found on pre-existing hardware. That would certainly be the reason for its terrible sales in Japan.

The Wii U at least has some momentum, which is better than nothing. Maybe Nintedo finally realized the best way to move consoles is a steady stream of software. Imagine that.

Quote from: broodwars

Which is why if Smash is a rousing success story, I want to see a commitment from Nintendo to show that they are going to consistently support this system. Next year's looking really dry, even by Nintendo standards.

Okay, now this, I don't understand. Splatoon, Yoshi, Kirby, Xenoblade, Devil's Third, and some eShop exclusives and indies are a dry year to you? I'm leaving Zelda out of this, console-based Zelda's always have a bit of development hell attributed to them, but if that DOES happen in 2015 I'd say the year looks pretty stacked.

ShyGuyNovember 25, 2014

Sounds like they SMASHED right through the previous record, eh? eh?

SorenNovember 26, 2014

Other games will be left BRAWLing for second place, amirite?

KhushrenadaNovember 26, 2014

Uh, uh, uh.. ah Wow! Sounds like... like s-s-s-sales are doing SUPER, uh, everyone!

StogiNovember 26, 2014

I'm sure several games have already felt a sudden MELEEaise.

ShyGuyNovember 26, 2014

hehehehe, you BROS make me laugh!

broodwarsNovember 26, 2014

I look FORward to seeing the monthly NPDs, where I FOResee an epic BRAWL between the Master Chief Collection and Smash U for the 7-8th spot on the charts.  With the massive MELEE of multiplatFORm releases this month, I don't see Smash U topping the likes of Far Cry; Assassin's Creed; or Call of Duty. Hell, maybe not even Dragon Age. Still, very solid sales FOR a pretty good Smash Bros games.

Ian SaneNovember 26, 2014

The system sales will be the interesting figure.  Reggie said he expects this to match or exceed the system sales that went with Mario Kart but I think there's enough crossover audience between the two titles that that won't be the case.  SSB is the fastest seller but what Wii U owner wouldn't want to get this title ASAP?  I remember on the N64 damn near every first party game was a massive hit during the first few years.  Well of course they were because N64 owners would routinely go months without anything and would be starving for a new game by the time a new one was released.  The Wii U is in a similar situation.

What Nintendo needs is for games like this to keep the Wii U afloat with the intention of replacing it after 4 or 5 years.  They can't go 6 like they did with the Wii.  If that's the approach they take they'll do alright.  If they're hoping that this is the turning point before a recreation of Wii Mania, they're nuts.  The Wii U's best result is to putter along well enough that it does not completely destroy Nintendo's credibility in the console market and doom any successor by association.  The priority is survival until the replacement is ready.

ToraNovember 26, 2014

Am I the only one supremely dissappointed in this game?? I thought that after the nasty taste in my mouth the 3DS version left me with I thought it would be better on Wii U....But I'm still not happy with it.  Especially considering I bought a Wii U for the sole reason of buying smash 4.  My problems are as follows.

-Not enough new mechanics from Brawl
-The rooster is weak as shit.  Too many clones, no Ridley, no Icaac, way to much Fire Emblem.
-Crazy orders is completely random
-Online is still a bubbling mess of lag and a clusterfuck of a community
-Graphics are honestly subpar.  One of the worst looking wii U games IMO.  Lucina and a lot of the other faces lack detail and look derpy.
-Removal of the Ice Climbers for NO reason WHATSOEVER.  They were my main in Melee and one of my mains in Brawl, they were completely unique and one of the hardest and challenging characters to fight and yet
they're scrapped for no reason.  Same for Wolf and Lucas, who were also some of my favorite characters. 

-Dark Pit, Dr Mario, Lucina really could have been alts and not take up slots.

-Mewtwo as a DLC for buying both versions??? They're acting like he's a new character, if they forgot he was in Melee.  I don't care much for him honestly and I don't know why they'd give us more Pokemon characters as a reward when there's already a shit ton of them in the game in the first place.

I got left feeling like this was Watered-down Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Pokemon bros, on the Wii 1.5......

Honestly is this the future of our beloved Nintendo series??

So too many clones, not enough Wolf and Lucas?

ToraNovember 26, 2014

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

So too many clones, not enough Wolf and Lucas?

To be fair Wolf wasn't a clone, neither were the Ice Climbers, or Snake and Lucas is still less of a clone than Dr Mario, Lucina or Dark Pit.  C'mon guys, better response please.

SorenNovember 26, 2014

I am outraged by the absences of Squirrel, Ivysaur, Pichu and Young Link. This roster is worthless indeed...

PhilPhillip Stortzum, November 26, 2014

Quote from: Tora

Am I the only one supremely dissappointed in this game?? I thought that after the nasty taste in my mouth the 3DS version left me with I thought it would be better on Wii U....But I'm still not happy with it.  Especially considering I bought a Wii U for the sole reason of buying smash 4.  My problems are as follows.

-Not enough new mechanics from Brawl
-The rooster is weak as shit.  Too many clones, no Ridley, no Icaac, way to much Fire Emblem.
-Crazy orders is completely random
-Online is still a bubbling mess of lag and a clusterfuck of a community
-Graphics are honestly subpar.  One of the worst looking wii U games IMO.  Lucina and a lot of the other faces lack detail and look derpy.
-Removal of the Ice Climbers for NO reason WHATSOEVER.  They were my main in Melee and one of my mains in Brawl, they were completely unique and one of the hardest and challenging characters to fight and yet
they're scrapped for no reason.  Same for Wolf and Lucas, who were also some of my favorite characters. 

-Dark Pit, Dr Mario, Lucina really could have been alts and not take up slots.

-Mewtwo as a DLC for buying both versions??? They're acting like he's a new character, if they forgot he was in Melee.  I don't care much for him honestly and I don't know why they'd give us more Pokemon characters as a reward when there's already a shit ton of them in the game in the first place.

I got left feeling like this was Watered-down Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Pokemon bros, on the Wii 1.5......

Honestly is this the future of our beloved Nintendo series??

- What new mechanics would you have liked to seen? Change too much, and people complain it's too different. Change too little, and the game is too samey.

- The roster is amazing to me. Full of interesting characters, and it's not like clones took the space of other characters anyway. That's not how it works. A clone doesn't mean someone else was taken off the list. It was just an inclusion to beef up the roster, which was already impressive. Duck Hunt, Bowser Jr., Wii Fit Trainer, Palutena, Shulk, etc. I love the new additions alongside the old ones. Of course, this is very much subjective.

- I don't know what you mean by Crazy Orders being completely random being bad. It adds to the risk vs. reward nature of the mode, which is the whole point of the mode.

- Online connectivity issues can be mended by using a wired connection. It was even recommended by Mr. Sakurai during the first Smash-centric Nintendo Direct earlier this year.

- The visuals comment is bewildering at best to me. I hardly think it's one of the worst looking Wii U games. That's pretty exaggerated, I'd say. I believe the game looks wonderful with everything going on while remaining locked at a smooth frame-rate is mighty impressive

- Actually the Ice Climbers were removed for character parity between both the 3DS and Wii U versions. The Ice Climbers were sadly too hardware-intensive on the 3DS to be able to be characters in that game, thus they were removed from the Wii U version as well. I don't believe that the versions should have shared the same characters, but I understand why Mr. Sakurai and his team went that way.

- Again, clones do not take up slots. There is no "set number of character slots" to begin with. One or two clones being in do not mean Ridley was excluded for that reason. I'm of the mind where the proportions of Ridley are so bizarre that it would be hard to make him smaller. For instance, his wingspan is large, his body is a bit disproportionate, so that would be a problem. It's not like Bowser who is pretty much a character with nothing extreme protruding from his body, making him easy to scale larger or smaller.

- Also, Wolf was pretty much a clone, and Lucas was pretty much a clone as well. About the same as Dark Pit and Dr. Mario as clones, since they have altered moves just like Wolf is an altered Fox, Lucas is an altered Ness, etc.

Anyway, I hope I helped to refute some of your points, and I hope I did so in a respectful manner too!



pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterNovember 27, 2014

Quote from: Phil

Quote from: Tora

Am I the only one supremely dissappointed in this game?? I thought that after the nasty taste in my mouth the 3DS version left me with I thought it would be better on Wii U....But I'm still not happy with it.  Especially considering I bought a Wii U for the sole reason of buying smash 4.  My problems are as follows.

-Not enough new mechanics from Brawl
-The rooster is weak as shit.  Too many clones, no Ridley, no Icaac, way to much Fire Emblem.
-Crazy orders is completely random
-Online is still a bubbling mess of lag and a clusterfuck of a community
-Graphics are honestly subpar.  One of the worst looking wii U games IMO.  Lucina and a lot of the other faces lack detail and look derpy.
-Removal of the Ice Climbers for NO reason WHATSOEVER.  They were my main in Melee and one of my mains in Brawl, they were completely unique and one of the hardest and challenging characters to fight and yet
they're scrapped for no reason.  Same for Wolf and Lucas, who were also some of my favorite characters. 

-Dark Pit, Dr Mario, Lucina really could have been alts and not take up slots.

-Mewtwo as a DLC for buying both versions??? They're acting like he's a new character, if they forgot he was in Melee.  I don't care much for him honestly and I don't know why they'd give us more Pokemon characters as a reward when there's already a shit ton of them in the game in the first place.

I got left feeling like this was Watered-down Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Pokemon bros, on the Wii 1.5......

Honestly is this the future of our beloved Nintendo series??

- What new mechanics would you have liked to seen? Change too much, and people complain it's too different. Change too little, and the game is too samey.

- The roster is amazing to me. Full of interesting characters, and it's not like clones took the space of other characters anyway. That's not how it works. A clone doesn't mean someone else was taken off the list. It was just an inclusion to beef up the roster, which was already impressive. Duck Hunt, Bowser Jr., Wii Fit Trainer, Palutena, Shulk, etc. I love the new additions alongside the old ones. Of course, this is very much subjective.

- I don't know what you mean by Crazy Orders being completely random being bad. It adds to the risk vs. reward nature of the mode, which is the whole point of the mode.

- Online connectivity issues can be mended by using a wired connection. It was even recommended by Mr. Sakurai during the first Smash-centric Nintendo Direct earlier this year.

- The visuals comment is bewildering at best to me. I hardly think it's one of the worst looking Wii U games. That's pretty exaggerated, I'd say. I believe the game looks wonderful with everything going on while remaining locked at a smooth frame-rate is mighty impressive

- Actually the Ice Climbers were removed for character parity between both the 3DS and Wii U versions. The Ice Climbers were sadly too hardware-intensive on the 3DS to be able to be characters in that game, thus they were removed from the Wii U version as well. I don't believe that the versions should have shared the same characters, but I understand why Mr. Sakurai and his team went that way.

- Again, clones do not take up slots. There is no "set number of character slots" to begin with. One or two clones being in do not mean Ridley was excluded for that reason. I'm of the mind where the proportions of Ridley are so bizarre that it would be hard to make him smaller. For instance, his wingspan is large, his body is a bit disproportionate, so that would be a problem. It's not like Bowser who is pretty much a character with nothing extreme protruding from his body, making him easy to scale larger or smaller.

- Also, Wolf was pretty much a clone, and Lucas was pretty much a clone as well. About the same as Dark Pit and Dr. Mario as clones, since they have altered moves just like Wolf is an altered Fox, Lucas is an altered Ness, etc.

Anyway, I hope I helped to refute some of your points, and I hope I did so in a respectful manner too!

There are good clones (Toon Link, Wolf,) who manage to feel very different then the original, have some unique moves,

and there are bad clones (Dr. Mario, Lucina) who, while lazy, bring something relatively big to the table that the originals don't have. (Even if it's only because Sakurai hasn't realized how fucking useless F.L.U.D.D is)

And then there's the shitty clones who bring absolutely nothing to the table whatsoever and deserve to die. (Dark Pit, Pichu)

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