Nintendo Returns to the Gold Mine, Releasing Mario and Zelda Games for Wii U

Nintendo’s latest gaming console, the Wii U, is a bit of a risk for the legendary company. The console promises the moon, and although we found plenty of things to like about the Wii U in our review, the device came up a little short. Sales have been somewhat up and down, too. There was a nice spike around Black Friday when Nintendo sold 400,000 units in the U.S. in a weeks’ time, and although sales numbers appear to have remained solid since then (890,000 totals consoles in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide), there are signs of weakness in Japan, where sales dipped from 76,000 units per week to 70,000.

In any case, the Wii U has plenty of competition, not the least of which will soon be forthcoming from the likes of Microsoft and Sony, and Nintendo could use all the help it can get. Fortunately for Nintendo, one of its greatest assets is its treasure trove of beloved characters, and indeed the company is returning to Mario and Zelda to pull in console buyers.


According to USA Today, Nintendo will soon be releasing 3D Super Mario, Mario Kart, and Legend of Zelda games. There are no release dates yet, but at the very least, gamers will get a chance to preview the Mario games at E3 in June.