Record-breaking GameBoy Advance sales
Nintendo’s little handheld becomes the fastest selling console in the UK, ever
The GameBoy Advance, which has already sold more than half a million units in the United States, has notched up another record on this side of the Atlantic, with 81,000 consoles sold over its first weekend, completely smashing the previous UK record of about 20,000 units set last year by Sony's PlayStation 2. Although pre-orders of software had shown Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 as the most popular game, it seems that Super Mario Advance was purchased by one in four GBA owners, and it reached the top ahead of the 13 other games available at launch. CTW reports that nine of those games appear in ChartTrack's All Formats Top 40. As predicted, most people just bought a console and one game, with about 90,000 units of software sold. Ultimately the launch generated well over £10 million though, and the systems continue to do well. ChartTrack/ELSPA's first ever GameBoy Advance Top 10 indicates that Mario, Tony Hawk's, F-Zero, Rayman Advance and Castlevania are the five most popular launch titles for the console's first weekend, and EuroGamer favourite Kuru Kuru Kururin snuck into the top 10 as well at number 8. Go Kuru! Our sources in retail tell us that there have been very few (if any) returns for any reason whatsoever. It looks like nobody tried the contrast trick, then. Related Feature - The Portable Avant-Garde
