Nintendo titles endure pitiful year one sales on Nvidia Shield in China

It’s been a whole year already since the launch of beautifully tweaked titles from the GameCube and Wii era made their merry way to the Nvidia Shield in China.

How have titles such as the delightfully dusk Twilight Princess, which had been brought up to a welcome 1080p especially for the occasion, performed after 12 months on the platform one asks?

In a Deku Nutshell? Sales have been left found wanting. Here’s the lowdown:

•  Super Mario Galaxy – 8,042

•  New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 7,315

•  The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 4,998

•  Punch-Out!! – 2,406

It seems even the popular plumbers, Mario and Luigi (who will be forever in the shadows of Talon and Ingo — ahem!), didn’t perform terrifically well with Super Mario Galaxy or New Super Mario Bros. Wii, even if you resort to reluctantly combining the two figures together.

While the sales are quite humble despite hit titles making their way to the Nvidia Shield, they are titles that many discovered way back as far as 2006 on the humble Wii.

There are more reasons, of course, as to why the sales might not be setting the world alight. China is a relatively new market for Nintendo with a few additional obstacles, compared to Japan, Europe, and America. The Nvidia Shield could have cost as much as £176/€191/$226 in the last 12 months and the Nintendo Switch, for not much more money with the latest games actively and currently available for it, is region free and more accessible than ever to buy in terms of on a global scale.

On the bright side, these games, which are now entering their teenage years, are technically available on 1080p, so it could be possible to see them once again at some stage outside of China and the Nvidia Shield.

Additionally, more exposure for these franchises and their games in a generally uncharted market is always a good thing, and I would find it hard to believe that anyone who did dabble in great games such as Twilight Princess on the Nvidia Shield had anything but a crazy good time!