Super Smash Bros pre-orders ahead of Mario Kart 8

Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has said that pre-orders for the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros have passed those received for Mario Kart 8.

The launch of Mario Kart 8 has essentially doubled our Wii U sales year-on-year,” he told Bloomberg. Our expectation is that the sell-through for Smash is going to be very strong, certainly on par with what we saw with Mario Kart 8.

Consumers buy the hardware so they can play the software. When you have a robust library of games, that’s when consumers jump in. We think the impact on hardware will be similarly dramatic.”

Mario Kart 8 has sold in the region of 3.5m units. Whether Smash Bros can enjoy the same long tail at retail, or create the same boost to Wii U hardware, as the family-friendly Mario Kart is up for debate, but it certainly bodes well for the struggling console.

Nintendo last month said that Wii U sales for the six months ending September hit 1.12m units, doubling year-on-year. Lifetime Wii U sales stand at 7.29m units.

PS4, which launched a year after Wii U, has to date sold 13.5m units. Xbox One sales remain unknown but are believed to stand at somewhere between 4.5m-7m units.