Record US Zelda, Mario 3DS sales over Thanksgiving

Sales figures for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the US show strong numbers for console retail, as well as two new sales records for Nintendo.

Zelda: Skyward Sword's impressive 535,000 sales since it hit American shelves on November 20 makes it the fastest selling Zelda title ever, whilst Super Mario 3D Land has sold over 500,000 copies since its November 11 launch in the territory, making it the fastest-selling handheld Mario title in the company's history.

Those software sales fuelled a massive rise of 352 per cent in 3DS units sold last week, USA Today reports.

"What this has been able to do is drive our Nintendo 3DS business in only eight months to surpass the full first year volume of the original DS and we still have the bulk of the holiday to go," said Reggie Fils-Aime.

"We still have the launch of Mario Kart 7 to continue driving our full-year sales on Nintendo 3DS."

It wasn't just the 3DS which saw the benefits. The Wii sold more units this Black Friday period than in any other previously, shifting 500,000 consoles over the weekend.

"We know that Black Friday and that entire week is a key selling week, and it is important for products like ours to have a jump in momentum, and we were fortunate to see that," continued Fils-Aime.

"For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period."

Reggie Fils-Aime, President, NOA.

"For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period."

According to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association, console sales were up across the board for the period. Consumer electronics were the second most popular purchase group over the the weekend, according to the association's interim report, trailing only clothing.

48 per cent of all shoppers bought electronics, with consoles, mp3 players, televisions and digital cameras all proving popular.

"Black Friday shopping has fast become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition, like football or a post-Turkey dinner nap, for millions of shoppers," CEA chief economist Shawn DuBravac.

"The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start as many hit the stores or went online to kick-off their holiday shopping as soon as they finished Thanksgiving dessert. These bargain hunters were able to find the deals they were after."