Nintendo has revealed its Q3 earnings for fiscal year 2021, detailing software sales for the quarter ending December 31st 2020. It announced that Animal Crossing: New Horizons had sold 5.14 million in this period with cumulative sales topping 31.18 million units. Super Mario 3D All-Stars has also performed very well, selling 8.32 million units since launch.

Other noteworthy sales figures include Paper Mario: The Origami King at 3.05 million unis sold; Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit selling 1.08 million units; and Pikmin 3 Deluxe topping 1.94 million units sold. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to be a sales juggernaut with 8.64 million sold in this period (total sales now being 33.41 million). Ring Fit Adventure sold 5.95 million in the same time frame and is now at 8.68 million cumulative sales.

Overall, software sales hit 75.85 million, which is an increase of 43 percent year-on-year. This quarter should be especially lucrative for the Switch with exclusives like Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Bravely Default 2 out in February. Stay tuned for more details and figures from the company’s quarterly report.

NOTE: The nominees and winner were decided by an internal vote held among the entire GamingBolt staff.

THE NOMINEES

The Last of Us Part 2

We always knew it wouldn’t be for the faint of heart but Naught Dog’s The Last of Us Part 2 hit us in many ways. Ellie’s story of revenge and Abbey seeking some kind of redemption complemented and conflicted well with each other against the backdrop of an unforgiving world. With strong improvements to the gameplay, incredible visuals and unrelenting brutality, The Last of Us Part 2 will leave you reeling.

Ghost of Tsushima

Sucker Punch’s samurai epic could have become yet another revenge story on the PS4. Instead, it explores the conflict of Jin Sakai, a warrior at odds with his ideals. The production values are incredible all around, whether it’s the sweeping plains of Tsushima or its perilous peaks, and the precise combat made every encounter a joy. Add in some engaging side content via Tales and you have an action adventure game that delivered on its massive hype.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

The puzzle-based battle mechanics may not have been for everyone in Paper Mario: The Origami King. However, the charm and aesthetic, accentuated by the title’s excellent humor, is still great. Between adventuring, puzzle solving and platforming, players will visit cafes, fill in the world with confetti, drive shoes and battle stationary. It’s a quirky and ultimately fun time for any Mario fan.

Hades

Hades catches your attention with its eye-popping aesthetic, whether it’s the environments or character designs. But over time, we’re once again exposed to the studio’s brilliant story-telling as the tale of Zagreus, his family and the Greek Pantheon unfolds over numerous runs. Combat is also a joy, feeling impressively responsive and offering numerous ways to play while the rogue-lite elements fuel run after run.

Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)

Even if the role-playing elements didn’t satisfy you and the bugs need to be ironed out, Cyberpunk 2077 on PC still presents a strong story with great voice-acting and pacing. Gunplay is fairly meaty; Cyberware offers all kinds of technical and destructive possibilities; and the overall visuals are sharp, presenting Night City as the gorgeous dystopia of tomorrow. Again, improvements need to be made but as an action adventure experience, Cyberpunk 2077 stood out this year.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Five years after the launch of Ori and the Blind Forest, Moon Studios returned with Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Since its reveal, its gorgeous visuals have been the highlight but the gameplay also offered several improvements in terms of feel and progression. Whether you’re taking in the sights, battling any number of awesome bosses or becoming attached to the lovable cast, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a stellar Metroidvania experience.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

While not a full-fledged sequel in its own right, it was still great to return to Insomniac’s Spider-verse and take on the role of Miles Morales. As the new Spider-Man, Miles’ inner conflict made for a brief but memorable journey with excellent characters, stunning production values and fun combat mechanics on top of the already great web-slinging. What comes next is anyone’s guess but Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is yet another excellent open world action adventure in Insomniac’s catalog.

Ghostrunner

Do you want a more fast-paced, challenging cyberpunk experience? One that features split-second combat, grappling, dashing, wall-running and bullet time? Ghostrunner from One More Level and Slipgate Ironworks is the ticket. As Jack, a ghostrunner, you navigate complex levels and survive against one-shot kills. With incredibly responsive controls and well designed obstacles that flow together seamlessly, Ghostrunner embraced both the action adventure enthusiast and speed runner in all of us.

The Pathless

Giant Squid’s open world foray didn’t one-up Breath of the Wild’s design but The Pathless still delivered stunning aesthetics and mesmerizing environments. As a hunter venturing to a cursed island, players would battle bosses and solve puzzles, with movement tied rhythmically shooting crystals for speed boosts. Despite its short run-time, The Pathless offered a fast-paced and emotional adventure.

Watch Dogs: Legion

Story-telling has been hit-or-miss in previous Watch Dogs titles so Watch Dogs: Legion upends that by challenging you to create your own memorable tales. Recruit anyone to join DedSec, infiltrating Albion and Clan Kelley strongholds to liberate London. Or go on a joy-ride in the marvelous, near-future city, discovering illegal fighting rings and shopping for wacky clothes while building a ragtag group of rebels. The choice is ultimately yours and it worked pretty well.

Immortals Fenyx Rising

Ubisoft’s latest open world title leans into the Greek mythology of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey while “borrowing” the stamina, climbing and exploration of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The comedy may be hit or miss for some but there’s no denying the strong combat or the well-designed puzzles and challenges. It won’t win points for originality but Immortals Fenyx Rising is still enjoyable.

Destroy All Humans Remake

In a year of good remakes and bad, Destroy All Humans’ remake ultimately stuck to what made the original work. Its B-grade humor and premise are largely intact, and the sheer joy of obliterating humans with alien weaponry remains appealing. Yes, it’s technically limited and also kind of repetitive but in living up to its core premise, Destroy All Humans shone once more.

Mafia Definitive Edition

After the disappointments that were Mafia 2 and 3 Definitive Edition, concerns grew over Mafia Definitive Edition. Thankfully, as a full-fledged remake, it offers greatly improved visuals, providing more dramatic weight to the original story’s events. With additional sequences, revamped cutscenes and changes to the overall open world flow, Mafia Definitive Edition actually makes it worth revisiting the 1930s.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Time travel? Time travel. But in the case of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as players experience events from before the Great Calamity. As a Musou title, combat is more intricate with various playable characters – including Zelda – having different combos, special attacks and runes to obliterate foes with. Breath of the Wild 2 may be a ways off but Age of Calamity is still a great holdover till its release.

Winner:

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Moon Studios’ latest isn’t just a sequel – it’s a labor of love, one borne from thousands of iterations and years of obsessive polish, which can be seen in the backgrounds and integration of 3D characters. The series’ theme of love and loss is still effective while the platforming and combat remain as responsive and rewarding as ever. The world design, boss fights, soundtrack and story-telling all combine seamlessly into a masterful experience. To that end, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is our pick for the Best Action-Adventure Game of 2020.

With the Switch selling 68.3 million units worldwide and first-party titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons continuing to soar, one has to wonder how Nintendo’s other titles are faring. As it turns out, pretty well. In Nintendo’s 2nd quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2021, it announced that Super Mario 3D All-Stars had sold 5.21 million units as of September 30th.

This is fairly impressive because the game managed these sales numbers in just 13 days (having launched on September 18th). Paper Mario: The Origami King has also done well, selling 2.82 million units. Ring Fit Adventure dominated above both with 5.84 million units sold while Luigi’s Mansion 3 has sold 7.83 million thus far.

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics managed to sell 1.81 million units while Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition sold 1.40 million. Overall, more than 456.49 million titles have been sold on the Switch worldwide till date. With Nintendo forecasting 24 million Switch units sold by March 2021, it should be interesting to see how the current crop of titles fares.

Paper Mario hasn’t been an RPG series for a while, with every game since The Thousand Year Door moving further and further away from how the series originally started out. It’s fair to say that with the recently released Paper Mario: The Origami King, Intelligent Systems finally figured out how to properly realize their ambitions for innovation and non-RPG gameplay in Paper Mario games (and it helps that the indie-developed RPG Bug Fables that released earlier this year is basically the perfect Paper Mario replacement), but there are many who want the series to go back to its RPG roots.

Will that ever happen? It seems the developers themselves don’t know the answer to that question. Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer Germany (translated by Nintendo Everything), Paper Mario series producer Kensuke Tanabe said that though the goal with each new instalment is to try new and innovative things, the developers haven’t decided whether that’s something they’ll keep doing with the next Paper Mario game, or if they’ll take it back to being an RPG.

““When developing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, one of our goals was to move away a bit from the traditional RPG style,” Tanabe said. “Nintendo has another RPG series starring Mario and we wanted to distance ourselves from it by making an adventure game with a focus on solving puzzles. Even though we’ve stuck to that decision so far, we haven’t decided yet whether or not we will keep doing so in the future. Personally speaking, I want to keep developing Paper Mario games that are both innovative and unique.”

Tanabe elaborated on his point about innovation and uniqueness, saying this his personal philosophy as a developer is to keep delivering new kinds of gameplay experiences.

“The game development philosophy I’ve adopted from Mr. Miyamoto is developing innovative and unique gameplay systems,” he said. “I’m not opposed to the fans’ opinions. However, I view my game development philosophy as separate from that. If we used the same gameplay system wanted by the fans again and again, we wouldn’t be able to surprise them or deliver new gameplay experiences. We always try our best to exceed expectations in surprising ways. At the same time, there’s no guarantee that we’ll always succeed in doing that – so it’s a real challenge.”

Scores of Paper Mario fans will tell you that the series desperately needs to go back to its RPG roots, especially with the other RPG Mario series, Mario and Luigi, seemingly having no future anymore. That said, if Intelligent Systems do decide to keep trying new things, hopefully, they’ll continue the upward trajectory they kicked off with The Origami King.

You can read our review for Paper Mario: The Origami King through here.

The NPD Group has published its report for video game spending in the United States for July 2020. To no one’s surprise, Ghost of Tsushima has topped the charts, becoming Sucker Punch’s fastest-selling game in history and the fifth best-selling title year-to-date. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella also noted on Twitter that in terms of dollar sales, it had achieved the fourth highest launch month sales for a Sony-published title in US history.

Paper Mario: The Origami King didn’t slouch in its debut either. Along with setting a new record launch month sales in the franchise, its physical dollar sales doubled were double that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door’s launch month. The Last of Us Part 2 also continues to perform well with its life-to-date dollar sales being the third highest for a Sony-published game in history.

According to the report, consumer spending for video game hardware, content and accessories totaled $3.6 billion in July 2020 –  a 32 percent increase year-on year. Piscatella stated that, “Double-digit percentage spending gains in accessories, subscription, mobile, and both digital full game as well as post launch spending on console and PC offset a slight decline in hardware.” Year-to-date spending is in good shape, hitting $26 billion which is 21 percent higher than the same period last year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating being indoors, digital sales have also shot up. “Digital content spending — which includes full game downloads, post launch content, mobile and subscription spending — increased 41 percent. Year-to-date 2020 content spending reached $23 billion, a 21 percent increase when compared to the same period a year ago. While spending has increased across all digital content segments, the strongest gains have been achieved in digital content spending on console platforms.”

For the top 10 best-selling games in terms of dollars, see below. Stay tuned for more details on Ghost of Tsushima in the meantime, especially as it continues to dominate UK sales charts as well.

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
3. Paper Mario: The Origami King*
4. The Last of Us: Part II
5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
6. Ring Fit Adventure
7. Mortal Kombat 11
8. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
9. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
10. Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

*Does not include Nintendo eShop digital sales

https://twitter.com/matpiscatella/status/1294258747221504001

Though received fairly well at launch, Nintendo’s Paper Mario: The Origami King suffered from a rather serious game-breaking bug. This bug occurred at the Spring of Rainbows in Shangri-Spa and would effectively prevent the player from progressing forward. Nintendo said it was working on a fix and thankfully, update 1.0.1 resolves the issue.

The good news is that players who already ran into the issue can thus progress normally. Other fixes include an issue in Shroom City where players couldn’t hit the Toad situated at the top of the fountain. Once again, those who faced the issue already should be clear to proceed.

Check out the full patch notes below for more details. Paper Mario: The Origami King is currently available for Nintendo Switch. You can check out our review of it here. Along with critical acclaim, it’s done well in sales for both the UK and Japan. Stay tuned for more details on future updates.

Overall Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which you would be unable to enter the Spring of Rainbows in Shangri-Spa.
  Note: If you have already encountered this issue, you will now be able to proceed normally.
• Fixed an issue in which players were unable to hit the Toad on top of the fountain in Shroom City.
  Note: If you have already encountered this issue, you will now be able to proceed normally.
• Fixed an issue where Black Shy Guy would not be registered in the Gallery of the Musée Champignon—even if you have previously defeated one.
  Note: If you have already encountered this issue, return to Scorching Sandpaper West after the sun has returned and defeat Black Shy Guy once more to add him to your Gallery.
• Fixed an issue in the Ninja Attraction in which, depending on the state of the player, certain Ninji enemies were undefeatable and halted progression.
  Note: If you have already encountered this issue, you will now be able to proceed normally.
• Fixed an issue in which the game would occasionally hard lock in the Rubber Band boss battle.
• Fixed an issue in the Battle Lab in which the score would not be properly registered after solving 33 or more lineups in Speed Rings in the Ring Trainer.
  Note: Previously registered scores will not change. New scores will be registered correctly after downloading this update data.
• Fixed an issue in which you could obtain an item from outside of a certain coffin in the Temple of Shrooms. This fix also corrects a related error involving hints from the Love Toad in Toad Town.
  Note: If you’ve already obtained the item from outside of the coffin, the Love Toad’s hint error will be resolved.
• Fixed an issue in Overlook Mountain in which the event of looking up at Overlook Tower would occasionally occur from the bottom of the hill.

Nintendo’s Paper Mario: The Origami King may not be the role-playing game that fans have craved for years but it’s still a pretty good time. Unfortunately, there’s an annoying bug that can halt your progress altogether. Since there’s only one save file in the game, players are forced to start over from the beginning.

In a recent statement to Polygon, a Nintendo representative said that, “We are aware of reports about issues affecting some players of Paper Mario: The Origami King. We are working to resolve these issues and plan to address them in a software update. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The bug occurs late into the game when Mario has to give a VIP card to a Toad to enter the Spring of Rainbows. Upon entering inside, if Mario turns around and leaves, the Toad will still demand a VIP card. Unfortunately, with the card now out of your inventory, there’s no way to progress. Aside from deleting your save file and starting over from the beginning (the game will auto-save upon leaving the cave so you can’t go back to a previous save either).

Stay tuned for more details on when this fix will be deployed. Paper Mario: The Origami King is currently available for Nintendo Switch. Check out some extensive gameplay here or read our official review here.

Last week, Ghost of Tsushima debuted on top of Japanese charts, selling better than even Sony expected, with launch sales that exceeded those of all other first party PS4 games released till date. This week, Sucker Punch’s open world samurai game has continued to sell well, moving over 53,000 copies across the week, but has dropped down to second place. Retaking the top spot is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which, ridiculously enough, is still selling bonkers, with over 94,000 units sold last week.

Meanwhile, Paper Mario: The Origami King, which also enjoyed an impressive debut last week in second place, has dropped down to #3, but still maintains healthy sales, with over 50,000 units sold across the week. There’s only one new release in the top 10 this week, that being the Switch exclusive multiplayer action title Ninjala, which takes the ninth spot with over 11,000 copies sold.

On the hardware front, the Switch continues to impressive, seeing increased sales over last week’s total (which was already quite high), for a total of over 125,000 units sold over the week.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts for the week ending July 26 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales)

01. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 94.115 / 5.280.398
02. [PS4] Ghost of Tsushima – 53.387 / 266.302
03. [NSW] Paper Mario: The Origami King – 50.643 / 159.735
04. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 32.136 / 1.205.379
05. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 25.136 / 261.027
06. [NSW] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 – 21.094 / 145.689
07. [PS4] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 – 16.253 / 134.751
08. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 15.175 / 3.051.164
09. [NSW] Ninjala – 11.693 / NEW
10. [NSW] Pokemon Sword / Shield – 9.845 / 3.672.649

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales)

Nintendo Switch- 125,231 (113,197)
PS4- 1,434 (4,523)
Xbox One- 41 (31)
3DS- 1,042 (903)

[Via ResetEra]

The Paper Mario franchise has had some trouble finding its feet for the last few years as it has looked to capture the magic of the original game and The Thousand Year Door in a formula that’s more action-adventure than RPG, and while results have been mixed with most new entries, the newest one, The Origami King, feels like Intelligent Systems have finally figured out how to make it work.

That’s been reflected in the reception for the game as well, with critics and audiences both praising the latest Nintendo Switch exclusive. To highlight that praise, Nintendo have released an accolades trailer for the game, going over some of the positive responses Paper Mario: The Origami King has gotten from several reviewers. Take a look below.

In our own review of the game, we called it “one of the best and most memorable outings in the series’ long history.” You can read our full review through here.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is available now on Nintendo Switch.

Intelligent Systems’ Paper Mario: The Origami King may or may not be the Mario RPG that fans have been eagerly asking for. Nevertheless, it’s still a fun game with great humor and a stunning world to explore. There are also a number of interesting bosses to fight, from different Vellumentals to the dreaded Legion of Stationery en route to the Origami King.

Here are all the boss fights in the game. For tips on how to defeat them, check out the video guide below. Beware of spoilers though especially since the ending is also included.

• Earth Vellumental
• Colored Pencils, The Missile Maestro
• Water Vellumental
• Rubber Band, The Elastic Entertainer
• Paper Macho Gooper Blooper
• Mega Paper Macho Pokey
• Fire Vellumental
• Hole Punch, The Disco Devil
• Ice Vellumental
• Tape, The Shifty Sticker
• Sumo Bro
• Handaconda
• Paper Mistake Buzzy Beetle
• Scissors, The Dual-Bladed Duelist
• Paper Squadron
• Stapler, The Fanged Fastener
• King Olly

For more details on Paper Mario: The Origami King, check out our review here.