After Super Mario 3D Land, Why the Nintendo 3DS Might Stay Strong in The Upcoming Playstation Vita Launch and A Brief History of 3DS Sales

Iwata and Shigs may be very very happy right now. Or, as everyone else predicted, they also expected this to happen. Super Mario 3D Land is at the top of Japan's sales chart, marking one of the few times a Nintendo 3DS game is at the top. This also clearly states a fact; The time when Mario comes will be the time the Nintendo 3DS will really sell well.

It is an honest belief by everyone that a person buys a Nintendo console to play Nintendo games. After all, you can't play a Nintendo game in a Sony console or in the Xbox because Nintendo publishes their titles only in their consoles. The company expresses time and time again their non-interest to be purely software-based and publish their games in other consoles. A cry their investors have been telling the company for a while (since the poor performance of Nintendo's latest handheld.)

At that time, Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, felt he is responsible for the disappointment that was the 3DS. He felt responsible to the point that he announced that he will be cutting his salary by 50%. A move which eareds him respect in the corporate world. He was not even one of the well-paid CEOs on Earth to begin with. Yet he slashed his wage instead of cutting jobs down the corporate ladder.

And then the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came (this happened before Iwata's wage cut but I felt the paragraph should be here for cohesion) ; a shining example of what a Nintendo console's purpose was  - to play Nintendo games. Backed with a very big marketing push (especially in the west with commercials starring Robin Williams and his daughter named after the princess herself.), Ocarina of time reached the top of the charts, stayed strong, and had a continued presence in the top 20 until around last month.

For a while, 3DS games are peppered in the sales charts, sometimes not appearing at all. Despite this, the handheld itself stays strong in terms of sales even reaching the 2 million mark. Analysts are suggesting that DS gamers are just upgrading to the new handheld and possibly preparing for the holiday titles which are coming. These titles are Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Monster Hunter 3G.

And last week, Mario finally made his appearance in the console that his house has built. Super Mario 3D Land had enough sales to unseat Square Enix's Final Fantasy title on the PSP. It remains to be seen whether it will remain longer in the top 10 though I highly doubt it won't. With Mario's push, the 3DS saw a definitive increase in sales in 6 digits.

All of these may also be proving a certain theory - the price cut last August really really made the handheld very appealing. With games people expect from Nintendo coming to the 3DS little by little, it may just be enough to stay strong in the launch of Sony's next handheld. Another fact proven - Mario really sells for Nintendo.

As Nintendo's efforts is to rely in its good ole plumber's back to boost the sales of the initially ailing 3DS, it remains to be seen if the quality games are enough to weather the upcoming Playstation Vita-Launch. Mario Kart 7 is coming. So does Monster Hunter 3G, a fantastic franchise which boosted the sales of the PSP. Now we will see if the Monster Hunter franchise can also turn things for Nintendo, the way Mario has always done.