If you’ve played New Super Mario Bros. 2, then you’re aware of how the game works. You run around like a greedy bastard collecting gold coins until Mario’s pockets (figuratively) burst. Apparently, the folks over at Nintendo have their pockets full of cash, as well, which serves to provide a bit of a poetic coincidence.

Despite having launched in late August in North America, New Super Mario Bros. 2 managed to turn out 240,000 unit sales. It should be noted that these figures account for a five-day period of sales reports, which is pretty insane when you think about it. That means Mario’s latest 2D outing has far surpassed these numbers by now.

August was quite the slow month for video game sales, but the Italian plumber still managed to come out on top, with the second top-selling game being Kingdom Hearts 3D. No doubt these titles influenced the whopping 68 percent increase in 3DS game sales. Then there’s the 3DS XL, which also launched in August and helped contribute to hardware sales going up by 36 percent.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is indicative that if Nintendo makes a Mario game, people will buy it. I enjoyed the game quite a lot myself, but I also felt fatigue was setting in. Despite my appreciation for the title (because it really is a lot of fun), I can’t help but feel that 2D Mario is losing its novelty. That said, I’m certain that the series could lose all of its novelty and it would still sell like crazy. Because it’s Mario.

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