Nintendo’s extensive catalogue of Mario software has ranked second highest on a list of top money-spinning games for 2008.

Beaten out only by Activision’s super-popular Guitar Hero franchise, everyone’s favourite Italian pulled in the equivalent of $947 million in Australian currency. That’s right, Americans spent almost a billion kangaroo dollars on software bearing the Mario name. Nintendo properties Wii Fit and Wii Play also secured top ten positions, selling $407 million and $261 million USD respectively. Perennial money-maker ‘Pokémon’ was the DS’s highest selling brand, taking out 15th spot with $119 million USD in revenue, and Ubisoft’s infamous ‘Imagine’ series of casual games fetching 23rd spot with $78 million USD.

Here’s the full list:

1. Guitar Hero (Activision Blizzard) $ 992 million
2. Mario Brothers (Nintendo) $ 761 million
3. Rock Band (Electronic Arts) $ 662 million
4. Call Of Duty (Activision Blizzard) $ 446 million
5. Wii Fit (Nintendo) $ 407 million
6. Grand Theft Auto (Take-Two Interactive) $ 361 million
7. Madden Football (Electronic Arts) $ 312 million
8. Wii Play (Nintendo) $ 261 million
9. LEGO (LucasArts) $ 224 million
10. Star Wars (LucasArts) $ 180 million
11. Sonic (Sega) $ 163 million
12. Gears Of War (Microsoft) $ 146 million
13. The Sims (Electronic Arts) $ 143 million
14. Tom Clancy (Ubisoft) $ 130 million
15. Pokemon (Nintendo) $ 119 million
16. Need For Speed (Electronic Arts) $ 106 million
17. Warcraft (Activision Blizzard) $ 104 million
18. WWE (THQ) $ 103 million
19. Fallout (Bethesda Softworks) $ 100 million
20. NCAA Football (Electronic Arts) $ 94 million
21. Tiger Woods (Electronic Arts) $ 89 million
22. FIFA (Electronic Arts) $ 79 million
23. Imagine (Ubisoft) $ 78 million
24. Final Fantasy (Square Enix) $ 78 million
25. Dance Dance Revolution (Konami) $ 78 million
26. Metal Gear Solid (Konami) $ 77 million
27. Fable (Microsoft) $ 77 million
28. NBA Live (Electronic Arts) $ 71 million
29. Mortal Kombat (Midway Games) $ 70 million
30. Petz (Ubisoft) $ 70 million

Source: NPD Group via Joystiq