Best-Selling Video Games: Go, Go, Nintendo!

Last time I wrote about Amazon’s best-selling video games, it was August and I wanted to provide some contrast between mainstream gaming and my own recent pre-orders… y’know, just in case you couldn’t figure out on your own that “pigeon-dating sim” Hatoful Boyfriend wasn’t mainstream.

Well, now I’m back with another one, this time to focus on Nintendo!

Amazon’s current video game best-sellers once again begin with three PSN cards. In August, the top 3 best-sellers were a $20 PSN card, a $10 PSN card, and a $50 PSN card, and I swore they never moved. Right now, the top 3 best-sellers are… a $10 PSN card, a $20 PSN card, and a $50 PSN card. Same three, different order. (They’re also the top 3 in Amazon’s best sellers of 2014. Does anything have a prayer of breaking into the top 3?)

A-anyway…

#4. Super Smash Bros. 3DS

Hey! I’m mainstream!

I pre-ordered Super Smash Bros. 3DS, and here it is, number four among all of Amazon’s video game best-sellers.

Smash Bros. is a big deal, and I got it mainly to see what all of the fuss was about. To be quite honest, I still don’t understand the obsession, but I enjoyed it. I even made Mii Fighters of a couple of my favorite characters… namely Simon Blackquill and King Gaius. Hey, some people have fun playing online, others have fun pretending to be Gaius! Custom Mii Fighters are one of the most compelling reasons to get Smash Bros., in my twisted opinion…

#5. Bayonetta 2

In an age when some people are focused on making their games as gritty and realistic as possible, we have a game about a witch who shoots enemies with guns on her heels and attacks them with her hair, which also happens to be her clothes. And since it’s the 5th best-seller right now, it’s safe to say fun really IS more important than realism.

Bayonetta 2 is another one I’ve pre-ordered. The inclusion of the first game is a great bonus for me, since I never played the original. I already had my eye on it… and then #OperationPlatinum took off after Ubisoft claimed not enough Wii U owners buy M-rated games… So in part, my motivation comes from my desire for the localization of games like Fatal Frame V, but I also tried out the Bayonetta 2 demo and had a lot of fun! I didn’t even button mash!

…Well, maybe a little.

Now we take a little break from Nintendo with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, more Call of Duty, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (I’m a Lord of the Rings fan, so I might try it someday), the PlayStation 4 itself (I’m going to get it someday), Halo: The Master Chief Collection (stuff like this tempts me to get an Xbox One, too), yet another version of Call of Duty, and… back to Nintendo!

#12 and #14. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby

Pokemon! You gotta love Pokemon, and I’ll be sure to play one of these eventually. Ruby and Sapphire have been remade for the 3DS with graphics and features along the lines of Pokemon X and Y. Now, X/Y didn’t thrill me, and Ruby/Sapphire stand out in my memory as my least favorite Pokemon generation, so I’m not as excited as a lot of fans.

I’ve been playing the demo. It’s all right. Odd demo for a Pokemon game, though–I really wish there was more exploration and a cohesive adventure, instead of tiny little missions.

What’s in between these two on the list, you ask? A $100 PSN card.

All right, we leave Nintendo behind for a PS4 controller, an Xbox Live Gold 12-month subscription, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, Madden NFL 15, and an Xbox 360 controller… and reach a surprise.

#20. Fantasy Life

When my copy of Bayonetta 2 comes tomorrow, it will be accompanied by Fantasy Life, a game I’ve been looking forward to since 2011, when I played Layton’s London Life and learned it shared some elements with Level-5’s upcoming RPG Fantasy Life, which by the way, has music composed by Nobuo Uematsu!

I’m so happy Fantasy Life was localized, I can’t wait to try it, and the only reason I’m surprised to see it among Amazon’s video game best-sellers is because it’s received some mixed reviews and had to bump Super Smash Bros. Wii U from the top 20.

Super Smash Bros. Wii U is in 21st now.

So, a quick review!

1. $10 PSN card
2. $20 PSN card
3. $50 PSN card
4. Super Smash Bros. 3DS
5. Bayonetta 2
6. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4)
7. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox One)
8. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
9. PlayStation 4
10. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
11. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox 360)
12. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire
13. $100 PSN card
14. Pokemon Omega Ruby
15. PS4 controller
16. Xbox Live Gold 12-month subscription
17. Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth
18. Madden NFL 15
19. Xbox 360 controller
20. Fantasy Life
21. Super Smash Bros. Wii U

I feel almost mainstream for once, but what I really want to point out is that Nintendo is doing well! Of the 11 actual games on this list (excluding consoles, controllers, and cards), 6 are Nintendo games. More importantly, perhaps, Nintendo holds spots #4 and #5, the top two spots among games and overall after the ever-present PSN cards.

Aside from an oddity where Kinect Sports Rivals jumped in fourth (seriously?), Super Smash Bros. 3DS and Bayonetta 2 have been trading spots off and on over the past few days, with Shadow of Mordor occasionally jumping in.

Stuff like this makes the future look bright–for Nintendo, for the Wii U, for #OperationPlatinum, and especially for all of us who want great games to play! Are any of these on your list?

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