http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1409.pdf

Nintendo's official shipment details.

NES - 61,910,000
Japan - 19,350,000
Americas - 34,000,000
Other - 8,560,000

and the UK was only a small bit of other.

Fifa, fifa, fifa. With a sprinkle of Pokemon, Cod and Minecraft.

I think the writer is correct about the consoles (low adoption of NES, popularity of Mega Drive > SNES) but at the same time kids grew up with Nintendo handhelds.

so play station will pretty much monopolize the market in the UK?

i dont get the obsession on fifa... they have it every year and they look pretty much the same...

and yet they said people are tired of mario and pokemon because they are too similar....

i guess the power of sports is really strong.

I can't agree with the nostalgia statement at all, especially considering that old Nintendo franchises usually pop up in the top 40 lists when released.

I think a great part of what made Nintendo so popular and sold so much was simply because a lack of compelling competition. Sega was the first to really challenge Nintendo, and I think the biggest factor was;

It wasn't marketed as a family system. It was marketed as a home entertainment device for older kids or adults and less like a toy, and Sony continued this trend. One needs to look no further than Top 40 charts for UK. It's the same types of games that continually chart. It's always that same mature gaming demographic that buys the same types of games, with a family game or kids game every once in a while.

Basically what I'm saying that is the majority of UK gaming is the teenage-adult male demographic. I think the UK and US are actually very similar(PAL and NPD are usually match for match with some small differences and places rearranged), but due to its size, the US numbers may seem skewed in the console department.

Handhelds I feel, will always be considered a toy, thus their core demographics which buy will always remain the same.

I think its both ridiculous and insulting to think people only buy Nintendo systems because of nostalgia. I stopped reading at that point. Its not a good article.

Hi Im ktay95 and the sole reason I own a WiiU is my N64 nostalgia. If I had never owned that I wouldnt have even given the WiiU the time and chance to impress me.

Hi, i'm not Ktay95 and that isnt the case with me. I never bought a SNES or a NES or an N64. I was a SEGA fan for the longest time. My first Nintendo system was the gamecube and my second was the Wii U.

Nintendo makes good games. Thats the reason why.

It's not really comparable.  If we got the same Mario every year with almost the same stages, and minor tweaks it wouldn't sell.

For one people will buy sports games just to get updated team rosters.  For another, sports games don't have "stages" to get bored of per-se.  As long as you have friends to play & compete with you can keep on playing, like a Smash Bros.