Secret of Mana
The initial shipment of games in Japan sold out within days of the release date. "Edge" reported in November 1993 that the game was "the most widely covered game of the year in Japan" with a high number of sales, but was initially released in North America "completely un-hyped and mostly unheard of". Despite this, "Secret of Mana" went on to become the second top-selling Super NES game on the monthly US Babbage's chart in October 1993, behind only "Mortal Kombat", with "Secret of Mana" remaining in the US top ten SNES game charts for a year up until October 1994. According to "Next Generation" magazine, it was surprisingly popular for a role-playing game, contributing to the genre's growing popularity in the West. It was also a success in Europe, where the game introduced many players to console role-playing games. "Next Generation" claimed in 1996 that the game had sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States alone. According to Square Enix, "Secret of Mana" had shipped copies worldwide as of 2003, with shipped in Japan and 330,000 abroad.