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JAPAN: Nintendo software and hardware sales data from 1983 to present

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About the controversy (in another topic) from the sales of Fire Emblem Engage on Switch.
I think the first game to achieve 1 million copies is Awakening.
So, the franchise growth in popularity since the Famicom/Super Famicom/GBA/Cube/Wii days.
 
Top 25 best-selling games in Japan

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.62m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver - 7.30m
  4. [NSW] Pokemon Scalet/Violet - 6.94m
  5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 6.91m
  6. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 6.85m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  9. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.32m
  10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  11. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 5.86m(+)
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.11m (+)
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  20. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.41m(+)
  22. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  23. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  24. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
  25. [GB] Super Mario Land - 4.19m
 
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Tbone5189 said:
Top 25 best-selling games in Japan

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.62m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver - 7.30m
  4. [NSW] Pokemon Scalet/Violet - 6.94m
  5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 6.91m
  6. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 6.85m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  9. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.32m
  10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  11. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 5.86m(+)
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.11m (+)
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  20. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.41m(+)
  22. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  23. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  24. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
  25. [GB] Super Mario Land - 4.19m
Click to expand...
By the end of the Switch era, Gold & Silver is going to go from being #2 to potentially not even being in the Top 5! By the way, you forgot to highlight Splatoon 3 red. The entire top 5 could be entirely Switch games at the end.
 
Tbone5189 said:
Top 25 best-selling games in Japan

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.62m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver - 7.30m
  4. [NSW] Pokemon Scalet/Violet - 6.94m
  5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 6.91m
  6. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 6.85m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  9. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.32m
  10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  11. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 5.86m(+)
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.11m (+)
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  20. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.41m(+)
  22. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  23. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  24. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
  25. [GB] Super Mario Land - 4.19m
Click to expand...
I can clearly seeing Pokémon Violet and Scarlet getting the third place in a near future.
The second spot, is another history. Very hard.
 
SergioPL said:
I can clearly seeing Pokémon Violet and Scarlet getting the third place in a near future.
The second spot, is another history. Very hard.
Click to expand...
The game is already so close to #3 after just 1 quarter. It can't be that hard for the game to reach #2, honestly. Can't see it passing ACNH, but squeaking past RGB shouldn't be too hard.
 
Torpoleon said:
The game is already so close to #3 after just 1 quarter. It can't be that hard for the game to reach #2, honestly. Can't see it passing ACNH, but squeaking past RGB shouldn't be too hard.
Click to expand...

Don't forget MK8D is still selling! I hope we have a top 5 nsw chart for all time. It be funny
 
Y'all having a lot of faith in Smash, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and a SV to assume they can all beat R/G

Like, even one game on the platform beating Red/Green was unimaginable three years ago. I don't know if I buy even one more game being able to pull a New Horizons
 
The ten mark million of Animal Crossing is trule a Everest to climbing from the industry for now.
Maybe in the next Nintendo console, who knows!
 
Jimmy Joe said:
Y'all having a lot of faith in Smash, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and a SV to assume they can all beat R/G

Like, even one game on the platform beating Red/Green was unimaginable three years ago. I don't know if I buy even one more game being able to pull a New Horizons
Click to expand...
I think Mario Kart will definitely do it since it still has the legs and S/V and Splatoon 3 have a chance. Smash Ultimate on the other hand has slowed down already and will keep slowing down further.
I think the top five in the end could look like this:
1. ACNH ~11M
2. MK8D ~9M
3. P S/V ~8.5M
4. Splatoon 3 ~8.5M
5. P R/G 8.22M

And Smash at 7.5-8M.
 
Tbone5189 said:
Top 25 best-selling games in Japan

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.62m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver - 7.30m
  4. [NSW] Pokemon Scalet/Violet - 6.94m
  5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 6.91m
  6. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 6.85m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  9. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.32m
  10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  11. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 5.86m(+)
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.11m (+)
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  20. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.41m(+)
  22. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  23. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  24. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
  25. [GB] Super Mario Land - 4.19m
Click to expand...
MH Freedom 3 sales are different from Capcom's official sales. It sold 4.90 million and was also released in South Korea.
 
BTB123 said:
Afaik the additional 400k come from an HD release of the game on the PS3.
Regardless the PSP version definitely didn't sell over 5M.
Click to expand...
Ah, I suspected that would be it. But what about MH Freedom Unite sales? Sales also differ from Capcom's report and the game was also released in the west.
 
Tbone5189 said:
Game library. I added my own adjustments with MHR cuz we know it's well I've 4410k as of now and PokeSwSh missing the 200k+ shipments in the last 9 months
Click to expand...
Did they add several rereleases together that Capcom counts seperately or something like that? And shouldn't MHP3rd be at 4.9M?
 
I've updated OP with data as December 2022.

A few considerations:
- Nintendo is very close to surpass 200 million video game systems sold in Japan (with the usual caveat: only standalone consoles with interchangeable software), it will happen in the next few months.
- NSW is very close to surpass SNES/Super Famicom total software sales in Japan.
- In the calendar 4th quarter Nintendo's first-party games accounted for over 60% of the total software sales on NSW (63.19%).
- Despite being just lanched in the past quarter Pokemon Scarlet / Violet is already close to surpass Pokemon Gold / Silver which is currently the second best selling game in the series in Japan.
- Super Mario odyssey is the first 3D Mario to sell more than 3 million units in Japan.
- Ring Fit Adventure entered the "4 million tier".

Jj12nWO.jpg
 
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Top 25 best-selling games in Japan (updated mar 2023)

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.71m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet/Violet - 7.35m
  4. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver - 7.30m
  5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 7.18m
  6. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 6.96m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.54m
  9. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  11. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 5.86m(+)
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.11m (+)
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  20. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.41m(+)
  22. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  23. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  24. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
  25. [GB] Super Mario Land - 4.19m
 
Can Splatoon 3 pass G/S?

That's in my opinion the biggest question software-wise for the remainder of the Switch lifecycle in Japan.

I also would like to know if Dragon Quest can get back to heights of IX or maybe even go higher.
 
Last edited:
Kenka said:
Can Splatoon 3 pass G/S?

That's in my opinion the biggest question software-wise for the remainder of the Switch lifecycle in Japan.

I also would like to know if Dragon Quest can get back to heights of IX or maybe even surpass higher.
Click to expand...

Yeah Splat4 ain't coming out and Splat3 will sell more thann1mil more from now
 
Here's the updates I have been able to compile using what's been posted already:

Switch - Japan
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.61 million units (+540 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - 6.94 million units
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 6.91 million units (+1.25 million units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 6.84 million units (+670 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Splatoon 3: 6.32 million units
  • Pokémon Sword and Shield: 5.95 million units (+390 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Splatoon 2: 5.26 million units (+230 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Ring Fit Adventure: 4.05 million units (+440 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: 3.87 million units (+80 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon Legends: Arceus: 3.62 million units
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 3.41 million units (+490 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario Odyssey: 3.04 million units (+230 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario Party: 2.91 million units (+170 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee! - 2.20 million units (+20 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics - 2 million units (+400 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario Maker 2 - 1.73 million units (+140 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Mario Party Superstars - 1.68 million units (+550 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury: 1.62 million units (+220 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land: 1.62 million units
  • New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe: 1.61 million units (+160 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Nintendo Switch Sports: 1.59 million units
  • Kirby Star Allies: 1.31 million units (+110 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Luigi's Mansion 3: 1.26 million units (+170 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun: 1.10 million units
Nintendo 3DS
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (incl. Welcome amiibo) - 5.95 million units
  • Pokémon Sun and Moon - 3.94 million units
  • Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - 3.47 million units
  • Pokémon Ultra Moon and Ultra Sun: 2.72 million units
  • Tomodachi Life - 2.23 million units
(No new updates for 3DS games).

All credits go to @Kiria and @CeroG1. And CESA for compiling the data in the first place, I guess :D
 
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Pikmin 3 still isn’t a million seller. But it seems will happen this year (or maybe it just happened).
 
Lite_Agent said:
Here's the updates I have been able to compile using what's been posted already:

Switch - Japan
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.61 million units (+540 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 6.91 million units (+1.25 million units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon Sword and Shield: 5.95 million units (+390 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Splatoon 2: 5.26 million units (+230 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Ring Fit Adventure: 4.05 million units (+440 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: 3.87 million units (+80 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 3.41 million units (+490 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario Odyssey: 3.04 million units (+230 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario Party: 2.91 million units (+170 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury: 1.62 million units (+220 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe: 1.61 million units (+160 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Kirby Star Allies: 1.31 million units (+110 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
  • Luigi's Mansion 3: 1.26 million units (+170 000 units since December 31st, 2021)
All credits go to @Kiria and @CeroG1. And CESA for compiling the data in the first place, I guess :D
Click to expand...
Seeing this broken down(thanks!)like this really shows just how much Zelda has grown in Japan.

3.41 million units for Botw just in Japan is ridiculous. Mario kart at almost 7 million is also beyond comprehension. I remember years, and years ago, looking at sales charts from the magicbox(if memory serves) and wondering what games would finally topple some of the long standing records.

Crazy times.
 
I've updated OP with data as June 2023 (Nintendo IR) and December 2022 (CESA White Paper).

A big thank goes to @Kiria
 
NSW is really close to surpass the NDS record of total number of million selling first-party titles held by NDS.
Next million sellers: Super Mario Wonder, Pikmin 4 and maybe Super Mario RPG.
Also Pikmin 3 DX should be fairly close to break 1M.
 
Celine said:
NSW is really close to surpass the NDS record of total number of million selling first-party titles held by NDS.
Next million sellers: Super Mario Wonder, Pikmin 4 and maybe Super Mario RPG.
Also Pikmin 3 DX should be fairly close to break 1M.
Click to expand...
How is the score now?
 
It's crazy to me that the Switch has the highest First Party software ratio of all their systems, but it's not so much the lack of third parties as much as it is the insane first party sellers.
 
Xbro said:
It's crazy to me that the Switch has the highest First Party software ratio of all their systems, but it's not so much the lack of third parties as much as it is the insane first party sellers.
Click to expand...
That's on the third parties themselves tho. The series that did show up made bank(MonHun Rise). Even DQ handicapped themselves prioritizing DQ11 for the PS4 instead of putting it out earlier during the 3DS's prime. Then they would have had DQ12 ready for the Switch years ago. The fact that Square is gonna miss out on releasing a Japan-heavy series like DQ on the best selling Japanese console in history speaks volumes about SE's extremely poor management. Then again Square and poor financial decisions go hand in hand. When DQ12 bombs on the PS5, it's gonna be another case of "We saw this coming years ago"
 
MadMax said:
That's on the third parties themselves tho. The series that did show up made bank(MonHun Rise). Even DQ handicapped themselves prioritizing DQ11 for the PS4 instead of putting it out earlier during the 3DS's prime. Then they would have had DQ12 ready for the Switch years ago. The fact that Square is gonna miss out on releasing a Japan-heavy series like DQ on the best selling Japanese console in history speaks volumes about SE's extremely poor management. Then again Square and poor financial decisions go hand in hand. When DQ12 bombs on the PS5, it's gonna be another case of "We saw this coming years ago"
Click to expand...
That's true. The 3rd parties didn't help their case much, but there were still over 100M third party games sold. which is the 4th most of any nintendo system.
 
Xbro said:
It's crazy to me that the Switch has the highest First Party software ratio of all their systems, but it's not so much the lack of third parties as much as it is the insane first party sellers.
Click to expand...
Take the first-party software sales ratio with a big pinch of salt.
The issue, especially for older consoles, is that all it's available are the million selling titles.
If worldwide many Nintendo games could sell over 1M, for Japana 1M was always a high treshold which cut off many Nintendo titles that sold well but below the threshold.
The real first-party software sales ratio are much higher whereas in the worldwide sales archive the approximation is much closer to reality.

A more apt comparison present in OP is the one that consider only the million selling titles.
But even there there are factors that, in theory, should favour more recent consoles (think at the boost to sales that digital distribution brought in).
 
Top 25 best-selling games in Japan (updated mar 2023)

  1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 10.94m
  2. [GB] Pokémon Red/Green - 8.22m
  3. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet/Violet - 7.64m
  4. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Dekuxe 7.62m
  5. [NSW] Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 7.24m
  6. [GB] Pokémon Gold/Silver 7.17m
  7. [NES] Super Mario Bros. - 6.81m
  8. [NSW] Splatoon 3 - 6.54m
  9. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. - 6.49m
  10. [NSW] Pokémon Sword/Shield - 6.00m(+)
  11. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 5.95
  12. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - 5.85m
  13. [NDS] Pokémon Black/White - 5.54m
  14. [GBA] Pokémon Ruby/Saphire - 5.40m
  15. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5.35m
  16. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 - 5.30m (in question)
  17. [NSW] Splatoon 2 - 5.26m
  18. [NDS] Brain Age 2 - 5.10m
  19. [NSW] Minecraft - 4.70m (ESTIMATED Possibly ALOT more)
  20. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 4.67m
  21. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise 4.60 (ESTIMATED)
  22. [3DS] Pokémon X/Y - 4.56m
  23. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4.40m
  24. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 4.25m
  25. [GB] Tetris - 4.24m
 
Honestly Minecraft switch could be the #2 seller ever in japan by the time Switch is completely supplanted by Switch 2(which will no doubt also have Minecraft)

Not that will will ever know with how cagey Microsoft is on sharing sales data.
 
  • There are now 10 games on Switch that have sold as much or more than SNES' top game - Super Mario Kart
  • At least 5 games will have outsold NES' top game - Super Mario Bros.
  • 3 games will outsell GB's top game - Pokémon Red/Blue

And for comparison, there are 18 games and counting that have outsold or will outsell GameCube's top game - Super Smash Bros Melee
 
BTB123 said:
Did Duck Hunt seriously sell below 1M in Japan? That just might make it the most western skewed Nintendo game ever.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was a somewhat niche title in Japan. At the very least its cultural nostalgia in the US dwarfs that compared to Japan. Probably something to be said about Americans loving a duck hunting game lol
 
Duck Hunt was bundled outside Japan as well, in the so called Nintendo Entertainment System Action Set. (I had that lmao)
 
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