Six DS games break million sales mark

Logically, what goes up, must come down. But no one seems to have told Nintendo this, because it's dinky DS continues to climb higher and higher in terms of popularity.

Having already sold seven million handhelds across Europe since March 2005, six DS games have now effortlessly broken through the majestic one million sales mark. And we're not on the other side of Christmas yet.

You'll find the individual performance of Nintendogs, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, New Super Mario Bros, and Super Mario 64 listed below.

Tellingly, the three non-Mario titles form part of Nintendo's Touch! Generations, a range of games designed to appeal to people of all ages and both genres (44 per cent of DS owners are female), irrespective of gaming experience or skill. Other games in this series include Electroplankton, Tetris DS, 42 All Time Classics, Sudoku Master, and the not entirely convincingly titled English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills.

The crucial point is how Nintendo has managed to tap into a new gaming market by cleverly targeting its creations at an audience that wouldn't have previously bothered with videogames – it's an achievement every gamer should welcome, regardless of their brand allegiance.

The heights the DS is likely to achieve as further Touch! Generations titles are released is thrilling.

Those sales figures (and counting):
Nintendogs – 4 million
Mario Kart DS – 1.5 million
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How old is your brain? – 1 million
Animal Crossing: Wild World – 1 million
New Super Mario Bros – 1 million
Super Mario 64 – 1 million