Mario, Nintendo's mustachioed plumbing hero, has bounced on to NINTENDO GAMECUBE establishing his debut game on the system - Super Mario Sunshine - as a smash hit with sales of over 175,000 units across Europe during the first weekend on sale.

Released on Friday 4th October, copies of the much-anticipated game have been flying off shop shelves as eager gamers have raced to experience the exhilarating action of the brand new game from the hands of the 'Spielberg of gaming', Shigeru Miyamoto. A great start for the return of hero Mario, indicating the Brooklyn plumber will be a Christmas wish-list firm favourite.

With an installed base of 1 million NINTENDO GAMECUBES across Europe, nearly 1 in 5 people who own the console already have a copy of Super Mario Sunshine, and the popularity of Mario's first game has also seen sales of the console itself rise, with many retail partners reporting a sales jump of around 50% in their stores. In addition, the hardware sales across Europe averaged a 40% growth.

David Gosen, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing of Nintendo of Europe comments:-
"Mario is spreading his sunshine across Europe, with sales of Super Mario Sunshine even eclipsing the sales of the hugely successful Super Mario 64 by around 3:1. This game adds to the already extremely impressive line-up of games for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, with even more excellent titles due to be released before Christmas. This console keeps going from strength to strength."

There will be over 100 games available on NINTENDO GAMECUBE by Christmas 2002, including the exclusive titles Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Star Fox Adventures, both launching in November.