Since its launch in March 2005 the Nintendo DS has sold over seven million consoles across Europe. In addition Nintendo has just announced that six Nintendo DS games have broken the one million sales mark in Europe. Nintendo’s Touch! Generations range has proved its popularity with the imaginative Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How old is your brain and Animal Crossing: Wild World both shattering the one million mark in Europe. However, it is Nintendo’s puppy phenomenon Nintendogs which has attracted the most fans in Europe, selling over four million copies.

It’s a me, Mario!

Not to be left out of the groundbreaking action, everyone’s favourite plumber Mario has secured huge success with New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 64 both breaking the one million sales mark, while Mario Kart DS has sold over 1.5 million copies.

European Marketing Director for Nintendo, Laurent Fischer commented, “we are delighted by the success of the Nintendo DS and DS Lite and especially pleased to see that we have exceeded the one million mark with games that appeal to both non-gamers and traditional gamers. Nintendo is proud of its role in expanding the gaming market and we hope to continue this success with the launch of Wii in Europe in December.”

Reaching new audiences

Nintendo has seen sales to non-traditional markets increase dramatically since titles such as Nintendogs and Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How old is your brain. Nintendo can now boast that 44% of DS owners are female. Pretty impressive. Nintendo hopes to continue to reach new audiences with the launch of new Touch! Generations titles in the future.

Nintendo’s success is not only limited to first party games with third party games also enjoying phenomenal success. EMEA Marketing Director of Ubisoft, John Parkes had this to say, “the Nintendo DS has opened up a wealth of opportunities for us this year and we are thrilled with the sales performances of our key games. We look forward to publishing a whole host of new and exciting software for the Nintendo DS as we move into 2007.”

The thinking behind Nintendo’s Touch! Generations

In developing the Touch! Generations range, Nintendo has sought to recognize that people are different and require different things from games. They developed this range to appeal to people of all ages, groups, irrespective of ability or experience. The Touch! Generations titles for the Nintendo DS include Nintendogs, Electoplankton, Big Brain Academy, Tetris DS, 42 All Time Classics, English Training: Have fun improving your skills, Sudoku Master and Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How old is your brain.