MARIO’S SUN SHINES ON NINTENDO GAMECUBE

175,000 Super Mario Sunshine Sold Across Europe Over First Weekend

Mario, Nintendo’s mustachioed plumbing hero, has bounced on to NINTENDOGAMECUBE establishing his debut game on the system – Super Mario Sunshine – asa smash hit with sales of over 175,000 units across Europe during the firstweekend on sale.

Released on Friday 4th October, copies of the much-anticipated game have beenflying off shop shelves as eager gamers have raced to experience theexhilarating action of the brand new game from the hands of the ‘Spielberg ofgaming’, Shigeru Miyamoto. A great start for the return of hero Mario,indicating the Brooklyn plumber will be a Christmas wish-list firm favourite.

With an installed base of 1 million NINTENDO GAMECUBES across Europe, nearly 1in 5 people who own the console already have a copy of Super Mario Sunshine,and the popularity of Mario’s first game has also seen sales of the consoleitself rise, with many retail partners reporting a sales jump of around 50% intheir stores. In addition, the hardware sales across Europe averaged a 40%growth.

David Gosen, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing of Nintendo of Europe comments:-“Mario is spreading his sunshine across Europe, with sales of Super MarioSunshine even eclipsing the sales of the hugely successful Super Mario 64 byaround 3:1.

This game adds to the already extremely impressive line-up of games forNINTENDO GAMECUBE, with even more excellent titles due to be released beforeChristmas. This console keeps going from strength to strength.”

There will be over 100 games available on NINTENDO GAMECUBE by Christmas 2002,including the exclusive titles Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and Star FoxAdventures, both launching in November.