New Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo 3DS XL see successful sales for August

Despite a slumping August for video game sales in the United States, Nintendo's 3DS XL and New Super Mario Bros. 2 — with only five days of reported data — saw impactful sales numbers for the month.

The 3DS XL (Check out our review), which features 90% larger screens than the original handheld system, and the new side-scrolling Mario both launched on August 19. Nintendo noted today that the 3DS software sales increased by more than 68% over sales in July, while hardware sales increased by more than 36% over sales in July.

The number one and two top-selling software titles — New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] — are both exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS. New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold more than 240,000 units while Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts sold more than 180,000 copies.

"Software sells hardware, and no one sells either quite like Mario," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing.

"In addition to helping New Super Mario Bros. 2 get off to a great start, Nintendo 3DS XL is driving increased interest in titles such as Kid Icarus: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7," Moffitt added. "These games have been on the market for more than six months but provide a completely new experience on the larger screens."

"Combine these titles with the upcoming Paper Mario: Sticker Star and a robust list of third-party games, and Nintendo 3DS is poised to be high on holiday wish lists this year," Moffitt concluded.

Total video game sales declined 20 percent year-over-year, falling from $647.2M to $515.6M.