Hardware Comparison Threads:

I'm not trying to, that's just what I think. I would be absolutely thrilled to be wrong. However, looking at the sales data again, I'm less sure. It's a little hard to compare sales data for the two games (in support of either of our points) because the first one was so hard to obtain in the US and there is missing data from EU's initial sales.

I just looked at the original's numbers again, and just saw that, in the US, it sold 10k in 2013, 15k in 2014, and 56k in 2015. That's crazy! I didn't even know you could buy a new copy in 2015. I don't know that I've seen that happen before, so clearly its sales aren't following the usual pattern. Sales in Europe seemed to follow the normal curve; in Japan, however, sales fell off a cliff. It did 151k in 2010, 8k in 2011, and 83 total copies in 2012 (nothing after that), so it never even managed to eclipse double its first week sales (82k).

As far as X goes, it is definitely outperforming the original in the west, but not in Japan. First week sales were better by 4k, but sales after 2 weeks were already down by 5k, and by week 10 were down by 17k. Also, EU's numbers for the original are way off, because the first 8 weeks are missing from both Germany and France, and the first week is missing from the UK (at least what I'm looking at right now), so the increase in EU is not nearly as big as it looks. With how strong NA sales have been, it's obviously way ahead globally right now, but I'm not convinced that it will have the staying power of its predecessor. For one thing, the original released in the US in April on a completely dead console, and in the EU in August on a mostly dying console. X released in the holiday season for a console that has as much momentum now as it probably has ever had (however small that is). By all accounts, the story is much weaker, too. Who knows, though. Only time will tell. Like I said, I would love to be wrong.

Despite all of the talk about Nintendo withering away into irrelevance, they are still a powerhouse when it comes to software.

1. Pokemon X/Y-13.52

2. Mario Kart 7-11.70

3. Super Mario 3D Land-10.60

4. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire-9.86

5. New Super Mario Bros. 2-9.48

6. Animal Crossing: New Leaf-8.65

7. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS-7.09

8. Mario Kart 8-6.55

9. New Super Mario Bros. U-5.03

10. Tomodachi Life-4.81

11. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U-4.63

12. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon-4.46

13. Nintendo Land-4.35

14. Super Mario 3D World-4.00

15. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D-3.95

16. Splatoon-3.93

17. Nintendogs+Cats-3.70

18. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-2.84

19. Super Mario Maker-2.57

20. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer-2.56

21. Paper Mario: Sticker Star-2.22

22. New Super Luigi U-2.21

23. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D-2.16

24. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team-1.98

25. Fire Emblem: Awakening-1.86

26. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D-1.77

27. Wii Party U-1.72

28. Kirby: Triple Deluxe-1.72

29. Mario Party: Island Tour-1.67

30. the Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker HD-1.58

31. Mario Party 10-1.36

32. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze-1.33

33. Kid Icarus: Uprising-1.24

34. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity-1.22

35. Yoshi's New Island-1.22

36. Hyrule Warriors-1.18

37. Pokemon Rumble Blast-1.12

38. Yoshi's Woolly World-1.10

39. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker-1.08

40. Pikmin 3-1.00

There are also a handful of recently & soon to be released games that will likely pass this mark. Xenoblade X, Triforce Heroes, Paper Jam, Super Mystery Dungeon, Fire Emblem Fates, Hyrule Warriors Legends, Twilight Princess HD, Pokken Tournament, Star Fox, Zelda U, the inevitable Pokémon Z. So when all is said and done, there will be over five 10 million sellers, over ten 5 million sellers, over twenty-five 2 million sellers & over fifty 1 million sellers.

3DS games are not a part of the 8th generation. They have their own gens.