14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo has announced that its hit brawler Super Smash Bros. has sold over 2.8 million copies since its launch on the Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming device.
The impressive figure is even more daunting when you factor in the fact that it's been barely available for a month in Japan, and it just came out last week in the rest of the world.
Granted, Japan is a huge market when it comes to handhelds, with the big N's tiny console being the clear winner, month after month, in terms of local hardware sales, ever since its release in 2011.
Nintendo estimates that over 45 million devices have been sold worldwide, of which over 15 million in Japan alone, as of December last year.
A rising star in Japan, and now worldwide
Sales figures from Japanese retailers placed Super Smash Bros. at around 1.5 million units sold since its release on September 18, which means that it's also selling like hot cakes outside of Japan.
The game managed to sell an impressive 944k units in its first two days of life, which suggests that it still has a solid sales momentum in The Land of the Rising Sun.
We're currently waiting for the North American and European sales figures to be outed, but so far the signs point to Super Smash Bros. being a huge hit. The title kicked off at position number four in the latest UK charts, following FIFA 15, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and Forza Horizon 2, but ahead of Destiny and Minecraft.
What all the hubbub is about
Super Smash Bros. is not your average fighting game, as the objective is not to destroy or dismember anyone, but merely to knock your opponents out of the play area.
The game is playable by up to four people at the same time, employing a wide assortment of techniques and items to deal damage to their opponents. As players' damage percentage increases, they fly further back when attacked and are easier to knock out of the game area.
The game features an extensive roster of playable fighters, consisting of various popular characters from Nintendo's most successful franchises, such as Metroid, Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, and many others.
Nintendo has also pegged the Wii U version of the brawler to be launched on December 5, a mere week after the first batch of Amiibo figures are released into the wild.
Considering the success of the 3DS edition of the popular brawler, the Wii U version will no doubt become another system seller for Nintendo, following in the footsteps of Mario Kart 8.
