Super Mario Bros. Wonder is already a major success for Nintendo, with the company announcing it has sold 4.3 million copies worldwide since launch on 20 October 2023. In just two weeks, it’s officially become the “fastest-selling Super Mario related title” ever, breaking records on its path to success.
The news was announced by Nintendo in an addendum to its recent Q1-Q2 FY24 financial report, as an indicator of success for its next quarter. With Q1-Q2 FY24 charting the period between April and September 2023, Super Mario Bros. Wonder just missed the cut-off for the official reporting period – but even from early data, it’s clear to see it’ll have a major impact on Nintendo’s next reports.
The company anticipates Wonder will continue to sell well throughout the next quarter, likely being a particularly popular title over the next few months. “Super Mario related titles … tend to sell consistently over a long period of time,” the company said. “We anticipate this title will be an appealing choice for consumers during the upcoming holiday season and will continue to sell next year onwards as well.”
The success of Wonder is likely to spark renewed interest in developing more 2D side-scrolling games in the Super Mario series. As Nintendo notes, it’s been over a decade since the last side-scrolling Super Mario, with titles like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury instead taking the iconic plumber into 3D platforming territory.
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In addition to a return to the franchise’s roots, Nintendo believes the sudden and immense popularity of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is also being driven by the release of the blockbuster Super Mario Bros. Movie.
While gaming audiences have remained consistently loyal to the Super Mario franchise, in all its many forms, for decades, Nintendo believes the film has invited a new wave of mainstream media enjoyers into its video game ecosystem.
As a result, it expects future titles in the Super Mario series to perform well, and “receive a boost from the positive momentum brought about by the movie.” These upcoming titles include Super Mario RPG, Princess Peach: Showtime!, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (remake).
It’s fair to assume high sales and renewed interest in the Super Mario franchise is what partially inspired Nintendo to pursue future film projects, like the newly-announced live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Should this film have a similar impact to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, we could see a leap in interest for the Legend of Zelda games in future. With this film still several years away, it will be quite some time before we see the impact of Nintendo’s overarching plans.
