I think the pre-order culture had not hit Nintendo fans back in 2011 to the extent that it is all pervasive now. So saying 3DS and Wii U (seriously, we are citing Wii U comparisons to talk this up when Wii U is Nintendo's biggest sales failure ever?) never achieved this sort of pre-order success on Amazon is a poor basis for judging how big of a deal this is.
Also Amazon was not a great indicator of anything back in 2010-2012. It's still not all that good for anything other than PS4 vs Xb one NPD predictions.
Still being number 1 on Amazon immediately after pre-orders go up officially is a good thing, because being much lower than number 1 in January would be a kinda bad thing.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
