New Nintendo 3DS Debuts Strongly During Western Launch Week

Nintendo released a completely new revision to the Nintendo 3DS last week with the New Nintendo 3DS. The US only received the New Nintendo 3DS XL, while Europe received both the XL and regular versions. Considering this was not a brand new handheld, but a newer version with new features and power, many did not expect it to have an extremely strong debut, but it managed to come out swinging based on its first few days.

According to IGN, the New Nintendo 3DS saw a very solid debut in the West. During the system’s launch week, which only began last Friday, the New Nintendo 3DS sold 335,000 across both the US and Europe. This is a very solid number for Nintendo, especially considering their struggles over the last few years.

The two games that launched alongside the system saw a lot of success as well, with Majora’s Mask 3D far surpassing the launch period of 2013’s A Link Between Worlds. Specifically, Majora’s Mask 3D sold 340,000 copies in the US and 230,000 in Europe, compared to A Link Between Worlds’ 180,000 and 150,000.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate also improved on its predecessor by selling 110,000, compared to the 40,000 that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate sold.

Hopefully this early success and positive word of mouth about the New Nintendo 3DS will mean we’ll get more exclusive games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3D that will utilize the upgrade in power, rather than have another DSi, where the exclusives never really came to fruition.