Mario Kart Wii - Reception

Mario Kart Wii had a successful launch and sold 300,000 copies on the launch day in Japan alone, compared to Mario Kart DS which sold 160,000 copies on its first day and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! which sold 180,000 on its first day. In the week ending May 4, 2008, Mario Kart Wii had sold over a million copies in Japan alone, less than a month since its release in the region. In the UK, Mario Kart Wii was the best-selling video game in the week ending April 12, 2008, having "the eighth biggest opening sales week in UK software history," according to Chart-Track/ELSPA. The game dwarfed all other five Mario Wii games released up until then for the Wii combined when comparing first week sales. In the United States, Mario Kart Wii was the second best-selling video game in April 2008, selling 1.12 million copies, according to the NPD Group; putting it behind the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV and ahead of the PlayStation 3 version, both released in the same week. It ranked the fourth best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 979,000 copies. According to the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain, the game has sold 2.409 million copies in the United States, 687,000 in the United Kingdom, and 1.601 million in Japan, respectively, for a total of 4.697 million copies sold by August 1, 2008. As of March 2009, Nintendo has sold 15.4 million copies of Mario Kart Wii worldwide. As of January 4, 2009, it has sold 2,133,000 copies in Japan. It is also the fourth best-selling game of Japan in 2008. According to the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain, the game has sold 856,000 copies in the United States, 394,000 in the United Kingdom, and 218,000 in Japan, respectively, for a total of 1.468 million copies sold in the third quarter of 2008 (July–September). It is the second best-selling game of 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 5 million copies.

With 34.01 million copies sold as of January 2013, it is the best-selling Mario game for the Wii console as well as ranking second on the best-selling Wii games list. It is also among the best-selling stand-alone games of all time.