eShop Sales-Ratings: December 2011 (and 2011 Review)

The Nintendo eShop is Nintendo's online shop through the 3DS where people can download games from old Nintendo hardware, DSiWare games, and new download software specific for the 3DS. Because Nintendo does not disclose sales numbers, and developers are most likely barred from revealing them, we do not know how games are doing on the service.

But we might have at least a small hint.

After playing a game on the 3DS for over a hour, players are capable of rating these games via the eShop, and the totals are shown on each game page, showing up to five stars based on what the population thinks. At the very least, we now have minimum sales figures for the games, but with a very large disclaimer: these numbers represent the users who have done the following:

1) Purchased the game
2) Played the game for over an hour on the 3DS, and
3) Chose to rate the game on the eShop.

People who play the games on their DSi systems cannot rate games, nor can people who have not played the games for less than one hour. Since rating cannot be done outside of the eShop, some might have forgotten to or chosen not to rate said games. Also note that a rating does not necessarily correspond with a sale in the month in which it appears, only emphasizing the number of additional people who completed the above steps.

With that disclaimer in mind, let us take a look at how the games performed.

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Free Apps

1	1	Nintendo Video	6936	35933
2	2	Pokedex 3D	6583	46870
3		Swapnote	5525	5525
4	3	Netflix	4439	23225

Hulu did not appear by year end as I anticipated, but we did receive another app this past year, the messaging application known as Swapnote. Now it does take a while for applications such as these to take off, but despite the potential of it to grow, I do not think it will surpass other free software such as Nintendo Video. It appears that Pokedex 3D, while still remaining the most-rated product for download on the eShop, has not crossed Nintendo Video's monthly ratings, as I predicted. Regardless, Nintendo Video has a ways to go before it gets close to reaching Pokedex 3D's LTD ratings.

Overall, 2011's Free Apps appear to be growing at a similar pace over the course of time. Pokedex 3D is the clear winner, here. Netflix appears to be growing steadily but at about half the pace, and it reflects in total distribution. Next year, I expect a few more apps to appear, but I suspect Pokedex 3D updates will keep it at the top for the foreseeable future.

Video Downloads

1	1	Thriller	124	258
2	2	Night of the Living Carrots	93	195
3	3	The Pig Who Cried Werewolf	23	52

The video ratings would be surprising to me, but I know it would take time for these videos to get past the "one hour" mark for eShop rating. I am surprised we have not seen more of these video downloads emerge yet, though.

In 2011, only 505 ratings were made for the three videos, so data is not necessarily that accurate here, but we can certainly agree that Michael Jackson songs can attract a viewing audience!

Pre-eShop DSiWare*

1	4	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! [CN]	1256	4320
2	1	Plants vs. Zombies	800	5721
3	2	Photo Dojo	700	4283
4	5	Cave Story	441	3753
5	3	Inchworm Animation	413	2887
6	6	Zenonia	279	1811
7	10	Shantae: Risky's Revenge	278	2494
8	7	Mario Clock	278	1619
9	8	Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From the Abyss	270	2017
10	9	GO Series: 10 Second Run	215	1391
11	13	Tetris Party Live	205	1504
12	14	Bomberman Blitz	173	1564
13	11	Nintendo Countdown Calender	167	805
14	16	Army Defender	150	1006
15	15	Crystal Monsters	146	1061
16	12	Pop Island - Paperfield	137	1196
17	21	Soul of Darkness	123	873
18	18	Mario Calculator	95	446
19	17	JellyCar 2	91	867
20	19	Dr. Mario Express	90	807
21	20	Glory Days: Tactical Defense	71	462
22	22	Dark Void Zero	66	799
23	26	Earthworm Jim	58	320
24	31	Touch Solitaire	56	453
25	30	My Farm	55	423
26	29	Paper Airplane Chase	54	353
27	27	Pop Island	52	491
28	36	Extreme Hangman	47	548
29	28	Blazybloo: Super Melee Action Battle Royale	47	349
30	24	Gangstar 2: Kings of L.A.	44	325
31	25	Arcade Bowling	42	399
32	33	5 in 1 Solitaire	40	274
33	37	Castle Conqueror	37	263
34	34	Anonymous Notes Chapter 2 - From the Abyss	35	492
35	38	WarioWare: Snapped!	31	257
36	39	My Exotic Farm	31	251
37	23	AiRace	27	243
38	35	GO Series: Defense Wars	26	206
39	32	Faceez Monsters!	24	187
40		Escapee GO!	21	157
41	42	Petz Dogz Family	17	92
42		MySims Camera	17	47
43	40	A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back	7	86
44	41	Petz Kittens	7	67

*This list consists of a selection of DSiWare games that released prior to June 2011 and does not reflect the actual rating listing of every previous DSiWare game released.
[CN] This game was made available for download via Club Nintendo.

It appears that the overall ranking for the older DSiWare games will only change slightly over time, as we see here, but there is one factor to mention. Starting December 2011, Nintendo has provided select games for download using Coins from Club Nintendo. As a result, a number of games will eventually be downloaded and rated without actual sales passing through. From here on out, the games will be marked with [CN], and those that have become newly-made downloads via Club Nintendo will have red-marked ratings data. As seen here, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again is December 2011's most-rated game and also was selected by Club Nintendo. Dr. Mario Express is January 2012's game, and it will be marked next month.

No new additions this month for the Legacy DSiWare titles, but more may arrive in 2012.

2011's most-rated DSiWare title of old was Popcap's Plants vs. Zombies with 5,721 ratings. As the top spot, it took 11.9% of the ratings, which is not all too bad in hindsight, especially since the list does not include every old DSiWare game before the eShop launch. Even the partial list has the most ratings outside of the Free Apps, a total of 47,969 ratings. 15 of the 44 games on the list had more than a thousand ratings.

What is interesting to note is how adding Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! to Club Nintendo directly affected its ratings. Without the boost, it would probably sit at number 4, but it crosses over Cave Story and Photo Dojo in December. You can see in the chart below how the ratings more than doubled the previous month, but in the end, these were not indicative of actual sales. No doubt about it, Plants vs. Zombies looks like it'll have over 10,000 ratings by this upcoming December.

The Legacy DSiWare Top 10 (2011)

1	Plants vs. Zombies	5721
2	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (CN)	4320
3	Photo Dojo	4283
4	Cave Story	3753
5	Inchworm Animation	2887
6	Shantae: Risky's Revenge	2494
7	Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From the Abyss	2017
8	Zenonia	1811
9	Mario Clock	1619
10	Bomberman Blitz	1564

Post-eShop DSiWare

1	1	The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition*	10490	32608
2	2	Bloons TD	443	748
3	3	Cut the Rope	254	412
4	5	Afterzoom	78	593
5	6	Extreme Hangman 2	73	407
6	4	1001 BlockBusters	59	156
7	7	Let's Create! Pottery	52	294
8	31	Come On! Heroes	41	51
9	9	GO Series: Fishing Resort	38	195
10	17	My Australian Farm	36	141
11		Castle Conqueror: Against	35	35
12	8	Magical Whip	33	176
13		Rytnik Retrobits	30	30
14	11	The Lost Town: The Dust	28	268
15	13	Go! Go! Kokopolo	27	179
16		Doodle Fit	27	27
17	16	Calculator	26	102
18	21	Escape Trick: Convenience Store	26	39
19	18	Stratego: Next Edition	25	146
20	19	Moto eXtreme	25	149
21	15	My Asian Farm	25	109
22	22	Make-Up & Style	20	130
23	23	Build-a-lot	20	88
24	14	Crazy Hamster	18	84
25	10	Castle Conqueror: Revolution	18	66
26	20	Simply Minesweeper	17	50
27		Chronicles of Vampires: Origins	15	15
28		Christmas Wonderland	14	14
29	12	Halloween: Trick or Treat	12	47
30	24	Castle Conqueror: Heroes	12	24
31	25	Antipole	11	151
32	27	Blockado - Puzzle Island	11	55
33	30	Academy Checkers	11	24
34		Word Searcher 4	11	11
35	48	Kung Fu Dragon	10	49
36	26	Break Tactics	10	58
37		Elite Forces: Unit 77	10	10
38	45	Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent!?	9	90
39	32	Hidden Photo	8	49
40	36	Farm Frenzy	8	61
41	33	GO Series: Portable Shrine Wars	8	75
42	42	Zoonies - Escape from Makatu	8	59
43	28	Defense of the Middle Kingdom	8	44
44	46	Escape Trick: Ninja Castle	8	34
45	55	Play & Learn Chinese	8	10
46		House M.D. - Under the Big Top	8	8
47	57	Zimo: Mahjong Fanatic	7	30
48	49	Heart Spaces Euchre	7	48
49	50	Play & Learn Spanish	7	21
50	38	House M.D. - Blue Meanie	7	48
51	43	Crystal Caves of Amen-Ra	7	24
52	47	1950s Lawn Mower Kids	7	13
53	37	Jewel Keepers: Easter Island	6	63
54	40	Trollboarder	6	44
55	41	Go Fetch! 2	6	25
56	39	DotMan	6	23
57	29	Bugs 'N' Balls	6	26
58	53	Roller Angels	5	39
59	44	House M.D. - Skull and Bones	5	16
60	59	Puzzle Fever	4	36
61	60	Just SING! 80s Collection	4	9
62	35	House M.D. - Crashed	4	13
63		WordJong Arcade	4	4
64	58	Delbo	3	32
65	52	Boardwalk Ball Toss	3	23
66	34	Furry Legends	3	20
67		Cake Ninja	3	3
68	56	Gold Fever	2	22
69	61	Oscar's World Tour	2	16
70	62	Puzzle Rocks	2	10
71	63	Bridge	2	5
72	64	Battle of the Elements	2	2
73		Slingo Supreme	2	2
74	54	B-Team - Episode 2: Ice & Venom	1	7
75		Just SING! Christmas Vol. 3	1	1
76	51	Beach Party Craze	0	25
77		Double Bloob	0	0

** This game is freely available until February 2012.

Coming after the great introductions of last month, December's results were a lot less delightful to see. Bloons TD and Cut the Rope remained high on the charts, and Zelda was the absolute top by far, considering the game is available for free anyways. The highest debut for December was Castle Conqueror: Against with 35 ratings; not so bad as the game is pretty much the third or fourth game in the series on DSiWare. Rytmik Retrobits sat just below it, while the majority of the debuts sat lower on the carts. Double Bloob was the only 0-rating debut, but Just SING! Christmas Vol. 3 and Slingo Supreme got pretty close. Beach Party Craze, a game which debuted at the eShop launch, is the only other no-rating game this month.

2011 has been a hit-or-miss year for DSiWare releases that were not on the top of the charts immediately. Whether this is because of the eShop's setup or not remains to be argued. If we ignore Four Swords Anniversary Edition (as we should, considering it is free), the total ratings for new DSiWare games sit at 6,213 ratings, less than a fifth of Zelda's ratings by itself. 18 of the 77 DSiWare titles post-launch have more than a hundred ratings, of which only one reached over one thousand ratings: Zelda. Bloons TD will most likely be the first to reach that milestone in 2012, but the other games will struggle to get there if at all. What is a worse statistic, however, is that 47 of the games got less than fifty ratings, of which 20 have less than 20. Here's hoping the games get more sales than these ratings show.

Clearly, the eShop has not catered well enough to newer DSiWare releases other than already popular products such as Bloons TD and Cut the Rope; hopefully 2012's releases will get more attention and these will improve as well.

Post-Launch DSiWare Top 10 (2011)

1	The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition*	32608
2	Bloons TD	748
3	Afterzoom	593
4	Cut the Rope	412
5	Extreme Hangman 2	407
6	Let's Create! Pottery	294
7	The Lost Town: The Dust	268
8	GO Series: Fishing Resort	195
9	Go! Go! Kokopolo	179
10	Magical Whip	176

CHARTS
















Classic Games

1	2	Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX	1271	17463
2	1	Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins	1109	3688
3	3	Super Mario Land	652	10285
4	6	Metroid II: Return of Samus	594	737
5	4	Kirby's Dream Land	384	3728
6	5	Donkey Kong	298	4110
7	7	Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge	172	817
8	9	Mario's Picross	151	1144
9	8	Game & Watch Gallery	113	1125
10	10	Gargoyle's Quest	107	623
11	14	Catrap	58	165
12	13	Pac-Man	51	192
13		Adventure Island	51	51
14		Blaster Master: Enemy Below	43	43
15	16	Alleyway	35	695
16	15	Burger Time Deluxe	35	76
17	17	Avenging Spirit	34	208
18	12	Double Dragon	33	114
19	11	Balloon Kid	26	78
20	19	Qix	17	215
21	18	Baseball	14	187
22	20	Radar Mission	13	241
23		Bionic Commando	11	11
24	22	Side Pocket	7	22
25		Tetris	7	7
26	21	Tennis	6	167
27	24	Golf	5	29
28	23	Fortified Zone	3	110

Classic Games (or Virtual Console, hard to tell after the title changed a few times on the eShop) have had better months. Metroid II performed much better this time around, as I predicted, but it still has a way to go if it wants to match up against Nintendo's bigger VC games released thus far. Mario's Picross passed the thousand mark, and Donkey Kong became the third title to pass the 4,000 rating mark, behind Super Mario Land and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, which is still the most-rated downloadable game which has never been available for free. Super Mario Land is now the second VC game to surpass 10,000 ratings, quite a feat to be sure!

The top performing debut goes to Hudson Soft's Adventure Island with 51 ratings, followed quickly by Sunsoft's Blaster Master: Enemy Below, which is the second GameBoy Color title in the US eShop. The numbers are not too great, when comparing to the rest of the games on the list, so hopefully they will continue to get more in the near future. Meanwhile, big game Tetris did terribly at 7 ratings, but considering the multitude of newer Tetris games, I am not too surprised.

Club Nintendo has marked Kirby's Dream Land for January 2012.

2011 was very good for a number of games on the Virtual Console and marginally so for others. No doubt Nintendo took the top spots all around, with Link's Awakening DX and Super Mario Land taking a large stake in the total rankings (46,331 total). The spread between the top tier games and the other titles is wide enough that two graphs were necessary. Of the 28 games released in 2011, 20 got more than a hundred ratings, 11 had more than 500, 7 had more than a thousand, and 2 had more than ten thousand.

Top 10 Classic Games (2011)

1	Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX	17463
2	Super Mario Land	10285
3	Donkey Kong	4110
4	Kirby's Dream Land	3728
5	Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins	3688
6	Mario's Picross	1144
7	Game & Watch Gallery	1125
8	Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge	817
9	Metroid II: Return of Samus	737
10	Alleyway	695

3DS Download Software

1		Pushmo	2870	2870
2	1	FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive!	1717	2966
3	3	3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure	1364	1964
4	2	3D Classics: Excitebike*	807	19727
5	6	3D Classics: Xevious [CN]	616	1748
6		Mighty Switch Force!	483	483
7	4	Let's Golf! 3D	280	2135
8		VVVVVV	171	171
9	7	3D Classics: Twinbee	105	437
10	8	3D Classics: Urban Champion	102	736
11	5	Pyramids	87	288

*Available for free during June 2011
[CN] This game was made available for download via Club Nintendo.

I am glad to say that this was the most active month for eShop originals yet. Not only did we get Nintendo's second non-3D Classics title, but we also received two third party games near the end of the month. Pushmo succeeded in getting great word of mouth and sits at the top with 2,870 ratings, already placing it at the third most-rated title on the list (editor's note: the game has since passed FreakyForms). Mighty Switch Force performed especially well, and it is no doubt on the path to hitting a thousand ratings in no time! VVVVVV appeared mere days before the end of the month, so its performance is pretty good for such a short time. Whether it can build from that momentum will need to be seen next month.

Last month's hits FreakyForms and 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure continued to perform well; FreakyForms was made the most-rated 3DS Download Software title that was never free, and Kirby's Adventure is only behind Excitebike for the 3D Classics. Xevious has the mark of Club Nintendo, and as expected, the ratings have improved in number for it.

Overall, 2011 performance for original 3DS software was not great until the last few months when new, original games filled the lineup. Only 11 titles were released for this category, of which 5 were 3D Classics titles. Six of the games had more than a thousand ratings, and all had at least a hundred ratings, regardless. The top third party performer was Let's Golf! 3D with 2,135 ratings, while the lowest performer overall (outside of the few-day-release VVVVVV) was Enjoy Gaming's Pyramids, with 288 ratings by year-end.

Due to 3D Classics: Excitebike's unusually high performance, it's performance is posted on a second chart alongside Let's Golf! 3D for comparison purposes.

All 3DS Download Software (2011)

1	3D Classics: Excitebike	19727
2	FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive!	2966
3	Pushmo	2870
4	Let's Golf! 3D	2135
5	3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure	1964
6	3D Classics: Xevious	1748
7	3D Classics: Urban Champion	736
8	Mighty Switch Force!	483
9	3D Classics: Twinbee	437
10	Pyramids	288
11	VVVVVV	171

Overall

1	1	The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition**	10490	32608
2		Pushmo	2870	2870
3	2	FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive!	1717	2966
4	7	3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure	1364	1964
5	4	Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX	1271	17463
6	12	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! [CN]	1256	4320
7	3	Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins	1109	3688
8	6	3D Classics: Excitebike*	807	19727
9	5	Plants vs. Zombies	800	5721
10	9	Photo Dojo	700	4283
11	8	Super Mario Land	652	10285
12	30	3D Classics: Xevious [CN]	616	1748
13	24	Metroid II: Return of Samus	594	737
14		Mighty Switch Force!	483	483
15	13	Bloons TD	443	748
16	14	Cave Story	441	3753
17	10	Inchworm Animation	413	2887
18	11	Kirby's Dream Land	384	3728
19	16	Donkey Kong	298	4110
20	15	Let's Golf! 3D	280	2135

*This game was freely available during June 2011.
**This game is freely available until February 2012.
[CN] These titles are/were available for download using Coins at Club Nintendo

No doubt, Pushmo was the game of interest in December, while FreakyForms and Kirby remained as strong as ever. Even Mighty Switch Force! appeared in the Top 20, which is darn good for a game which had a week and change on the store when it debuted. The only thing missing from the Top 20 would be a Video Download (Thriller was at 36 this month). Both Club Nintendo games appeared on the list, both with significant rises, but is that really a surprise?

As for 2011 overall, Nintendo posted a list on the eShop, which is reposted below. Beside their rank is the rating rank relative to it.

Top 20 eShop Downloads of 2011*

3	1	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
4	2	Super Mario Land
10	3	Kirby's Dream Land
11	4	Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
5	5	Plants vs. Zombies
8	6	Donkey Kong
7	7	Photo Dojo
16	8	Let's Golf! 3D
18	9	3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure
6	10	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again
17	11	Anonymous Notes Chapter 1
24	12	GO Series: 10 Second Run
9	13	Cave Story
13	14	Inchworm Animation
12	15	Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!
20	16	3D Classics: Xevious
21	17	Mario Clock
19	18	Zenonia
15	19	Shantae: Risky's Revenge
23	20	Tetris Party Live

*Does not include The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition or 3D Classics: Excitebike, which appear as 1 and 2 in our Top 20 due to times during which the games were freely available.

Obviously there are some differences to be had. One noticeable omission from the Top 20 is Pushmo, which is 14 on our list. I do not know what date range this chart had, but I have a feeling it did not take December into great consideration, or at the very least, only took a couple weeks in December into consideration. Regardless, it shows here that Virtual Console releases have been getting the most attention. Do not be afraid to try out new games on DSiWare or on 3DS Download Software!

Either way, this will be the eShop's first full year, and with Wii U releasing, perhaps it, too, will have a system in need of analysis. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this overly analytical look at incomplete data. [/crazy]