SMS is the UK

[ZeroAX]

Which handhelds were really popular in Europe? HOW popular?

Let's let the numbers do the talking. According to these numbers released by Nintendo:

http://www.webcitation.org/5nXieXX2B

The break up between Japan, NA and Others (which let's be honest, is 90-95% Europe) is as following:

NES sales:
Japan: 19 million
North America: 34 million
Others: 8.5 million

That's just sad. Now compare it to the sales of the Game Boy, the NES's handheld brother

Game Boy sales:
Japan: 32 million
North America: 44 million
Others: 42 million

wow. That's a huge difference right? The gameboy sold 5 times as much as the NES did in Europe. Meanwhile in the US the difference is nowhere near as big.

Now I can't really compare sales of the GBA to the N64 or gamecube, cause the 2 home consoles were hardly runaway hits (specially since Sony DOMINATED Europe during the PS1 and PS2 era), and the PS2 was just too big of a success. Let's instead compare DS sales to the rest of the world.

DS sales: (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS_sales )
Japan: 33 million
North America: 58 million
Others: 61 million

Now let's compare it to Wii sales:

Wii sales: (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#System_Sales )
Japan: 12.5 million
North America: 46 million
Others: 38 million

again you see the home console, even though it is a hit, it's nowhere near as big as the handheld and in NA the Wii sold more.

Sony hasn't given detailed numbers for PS3 and PSP sales from what I know (unless someone can find them and prove me wrong ) and I don't think comparing sales of the 360 in Europe is fair for the machine, since it's mostly a NA and UK centered console.

So as you see in general handhelds are a bigger success compared to their home counterparts in Europe, and compared to their total sales in other parts of the world.

[noiseredux]

wow that's really interesting Zero. What a huge diff from NES to GB! How did the Game Gear do in Europe? Any idea?

[ZeroAX]

wow that's really interesting Zero. What a huge diff from NES to GB! How did the Game Gear do in Europe? Any idea?

no idea. Sega hasn't released any detailed Game Gear sale figures. Maybe we should search for the number of PAL exclusives? That was an indicator that the SMS was doing well in Europe compared to the other major markets (like how we got all the Sonic SMS games, while you guys only got their Game Gear ports)

[o.pwuaioc]

no idea. Sega hasn't released any detailed Game Gear sale figures. Maybe we should search for the number of PAL exclusives? That was an indicator that the SMS was doing well in Europe compared to the other major markets (like how we got all the Sonic SMS games, while you guys only got their Game Gear ports)

Is there some list of PAL SMS exclusives?

[Reprise]

Were they still selling the Game Gear in mainland Europe when the Saturn was out? They were here in the UK, which I think indicates it was a moderate success although obviously not selling anywhere near as much as the Gameboy.

[ZeroAX]

Were they still selling the Game Gear in mainland Europe when the Saturn was out? They were here in the UK, which I think indicates it was a moderate success although obviously not selling anywhere near as much as the Gameboy.

I don't think that means anything. The Game Gear was discontinued in 1997. I saw it in the states being sold till 98 when I was living there. That doesn't mean the GG was a big success there.

[alienjesus]

I've seen some people argue that the NES was far more common around them. Perhaps that's the case - around that era every country in Europe seemed to have a different selection of consoles and computers that were popular which may not have even been released in the country next door. For what it's worth, in the UK the SMS dominated, the NES was a non factor. Perhaps SEGA thought the UK would be a good country in Europe to target early? Who knows. Whatever the reason, I know that amongst UK gamers of the day I see more willing to talk about the Master System, Spectrum, Commodore or similar than the NES.


The Game Boy was a different matter - it was pretty popular. I would say it was fairly common in the early 90s, but would be willing to bet a lot of those European Game Boys sales can be attributed to Pokémon's arrival in the latter half of the decade.

I don't think Nintendo has ever really enjoyed a first place in the UK console market until the Wii. Sega and Sony respectively dominated every generation before then.


As for the Game Gear, they seem fairly easy to stumble across at boot sales and the likes, for whatever it's worth. I guess it must've done OK enough for it to be easy to find in the wild.

[Hobie-wan]

I'm still looking into that. I've yet to find sufficient proof a single 44-pin cartridge (SG-1000, Mark III, JP SMS, etc) to date has been successfully booted with the western SMS using any form of physical converter.

I just meant SMS, not the older J versions of the 8 bit system and those carts.

[theclaw]

Sort of. Master System brand was introduced in Japan after the US.

[Hobie-wan]

Ok sorry, western SMS system with the wide carts.