Black Friday proves that gamers still love their Mario, Zelda--er, Link

Super Mario 3D Land is the fastest-selling portable Mario game in history on a device that's supposedly in hot water. If that doesn't demonstrate the power of the portly, platforming plumber, nothing will. Nintendo revealed recent sales figures of its most recently-released games, both of which are the fastest-selling in their respective franchises.

Nintendo sold over 500,000 copies of Super Mario 3D Land since its Nov. 11 release and 535,000 discs packing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword since it landed on Nov. 20. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said to USA Today that these two games alone drove sales of both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii consoles. For instance, 3DS sales tripled last week ( a 325 percent increase), compared to sales the week before the game's release. The Wii also enjoyed record Black Friday sales with more than 500,000 consoles sold.

"We know that Black Friday and that entire week is a key selling week, and it is important for products like ours to have a jump in momentum, and we were fortunate to see that," Fils-Aime told USA Today. "For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period."

The Mario maker still has yet another Mario game set to hit the 3DS--Mario Kart 7 hits Dec. 4--which could help sustain the enormous 3DS sales. Fils-Aime did say to us that content is what will make the 3DS a success, and it looks like the 3DS has found its system-seller. The question is, will Mario be enough pull the 3DS from out of the kettle?

[Image Credit: Nintendo of America]

Did you pick up a 3DS or Super Mario 3D Land over the weekend? Do you think, based on sales like these, that the 3DS still has a chance in the portable gaming space? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.