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Top 5 Most “Impressive” Sales from Nintendo Switch Games? (Worldwide)

Tbone5189

Tbone5189

Member
Analyst
Easy, What are the Top 5 in your opinion most Impressive selling games from the Nintendo switch family?

This could include games that sold 2mil. This is more for the sake of selling so much better than expectations, whether it was your own or just in general overall.

What are the top 5 Impressive sell thru?
 
For me in no order its

BotW
Ring Fit Adventure
Momotaro (it’s japan only but still)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Animal Crossing
 
It's gotta be Breath of the Wild.

Ring Fit is doing great, but we've seen Wii Fit do even better in the past so it's not unprecedented.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an incredible entry in the franchise and might as well be a new game to most buyers. Impressive but not entirely unusual to see it sell so well and for so long (I think MKW had similarly long legs?)

Animal Crossing did insane numbers and would have potentially been my pick, but legs don't seem as strong.

Super Mario Party and Smash Bros are doing great, but their performances don't seem to be to unreasonable considering what some past entries have reached. Above expectations but not to a shocking degree.

Breath of the Wild on the other hand outsold the console during launch month, which is insane and will likely never happen again. Additionally it has had what I would call unprecedented legs for a single player game of its type. It's also an insane overperformance for the franchise. If it was never a launch game but the Switch was still in the position it is now and BOTW was to release now, we'd be talking about how it will likely comfortably hit 10M lifetime and maybe be wondering if 12M was in the cards. It's also worth noting that the game has seen no extensive bundling or price drop.
 
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In order:
Animal Crossing - the sales performance of this title are out of this world. It sold over 30m so damn fast.
Mario Kart - sold more and is still selling more than AC, but it was more expected for the franchise. Bonus points because it’s a deluxe version of an older game with very little post launch support.
Smash - it sold a lot more than its past entries, but it’s also the game that got the most extensive post launch support out of any other Nintendo game.
Zelda BOTW - successfully reinvented an old franchise and sold extremely well, simple as that.
Ring Fit Adventure - new IP in a somewhat new genre, very impressive as well.
 
I bet the Switch only sales of Minecraft are staggering. I'm responsible for 4 copies right now and it'll be up to six or seven before the system is dead. It's a really cheap way to play a decent version of Minecraft.
 
Man God said:
I bet the Switch only sales of Minecraft are staggering. I'm responsible for 4 copies right now and it'll be up to six or seven before the system is dead. It's a really cheap way to play a decent version of Minecraft.
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one game I really want to know sales of, it’s over 10mil surely and possibly can cross 20mil lifetime
 
For me it's hard to choose between BOTW, MK8D, and RFA. All three are massive blowout successes beyond anyone's wildest Dreams.
 
For me it has to be BotW. With the exception of Ring Fit Adventures, all the other titles were already established as big sellers. As for Ring Fit, Nintendo has been known to create innovative software that becomes a smash hit before, in the fitness genre to boot. But Zelda has never sold like BotW before. It's beating Mario worldwide and even Final Fantasy in Japan. These things never happened before (ouside the first NES Final Fantasies).
 
I'm going with Breath of the Wild. It easily blew straight past what I considered to be the sales limit for the Zelda series.

Twilight Princess was not in a dissimilar situation (launch title for a very successful Nintendo platform and a swansong for a unsuccessful one, highly anticipated but repeatedly delayed, etc) but even the Wii's runaway success couldn't get the Zelda franchise to anywhere near it's current level. What Breath of the Wild did sales wise was truly special.
 
Breath of the Wild.

Because you wouldn't have expected such big numbers for an established IP that never went to sell more than 10m units and also because it is a single-player game with insane legs and became an instant classic.

RingFit as a runner-up because it really was an unpredictable game sales-wise. It is going to sell close to Wii Fit numbers.

Animal Crossing, in raw numbers, is a monster but one could have predicted a big results more easily than my previous picks.
 
Breath of the Wild. Everything else on there is hitting either around what past precedent says it should, or an impressive, but still not astounding gain in the same way. Animal Crossing comes close, but was already around a 13 million seller with New Leaf, while the best Zelda had not yet cracked 9. Ring Fit Adventure is also impressive, but as mentioned, it's not the absolute monster Wii Fit was, at least not yet.

It's also important to remember that Breath of the Wild's success is one of the main reasons the Switch came out of the games as hot as it did, which contributed to the success of all the other options.
 
I personally didn't see a Nintendo game ever topping MK Wii so MK8DX is my pick. Especially because it's a port.

I might end up changing that to Animal Crossing eventually but I wanna see where it ends up first.
 
From the poll list, my top 5 is this.
  1. Ring Fit Adventure (Huge win, after LABO, everyone was too cautious about this game)
  2. Breath of the Wild (The absolute evergreen)
  3. Animal Crossing New Horizons (It was expected the game reach impressive sales but not at that pace... xD)
  4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (It was expected and there is the obligatory Pie Chart post every time the game reach a milestone).
  5. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (For the amount of content the game delivers, it deserves more sales).
 
I will also go with Breath of the Wild. The hype pre-launch was insane but I would never foresee the legs this game would have. Not only achieved the franchise historical highs sales, but more than doubled it. It was Switch first sucess story and it still is the most impressive imo. It shaped the console expectations.
 
I'll have to give it to Breath of the Wild. All the other games had some indication that they could do in the way that they did—Mario Kart 8 had the precedent of MKWii, Mario Party is Mario Party on a larger scale, ditto Sword/Shield, etc.

RFA's noteworthy in that it's the biggest breakout hit in the JRPG genre since 1996, but as a fitness game it still exists in the shadow of Wii Fit. It's impressive in that we thought the age of Wii Fit-style successes were long dead, but here it is again, as intractable as ever

Animal Crossing.... if it hadn't been for Breath of the Wild, New Horizons would be my pick. Going from 12 million to 30+ is bananas, as big a growth as Breath of the Wild has had, but that kind of growth was established by BOTW in the first place so it's not quite as shocking
 
I'll give it to MK8D. It's a late port, there's not much to be discussed, resulting in a pretty quiet launch and thereafter. Its first 2 years momentum are relatively tame, but it actually accelerates later, all along with no further support. People just keep on quietly picking this up without any buzz.
 
Its BotW for me since it was the key title to the success of the plattform pre/post launch and probably what prevented it from being seen as just another Wii for a majority of the audience. Also every other following title benefited from the groundwork BotW laid down, i dont wanna imagine a scenario where BotW fails to meet expectations.

The initial months are important for a Nintendo plattform in framing its narrative, WiiU was pretty much all but dead after its first FY quarter meanwhile the Switch in combination with BotW proved what kind of experience a portable machine is able to deliver now in addition to showcasing the magic of the Switch effect with a title with massive amount of content.

All games releasing later are massive for their own reason but its fair to say that without BotW they might not have been able to reach these numbers considering what it did and is still doing for the plattform.


Full Price, Single Player only Action Adventure still selling millions every sear despite spin-offs, remasters already available and a sequel announced. Personally it doesnt get more impressive, the other games while big are among series that were always going to perform very well on a popular Nintendo system and were know to sell massive numbers on portable as well.
 
Animal crossing for sure
I mean, I get why many are voting BOTW but let's take a look at all the struggles I had to face to play it in EU on GC..And now what a phenomenon it is
 
- Zelda Breath of the Wild: game sold the system, first Zelda ever to go over 20m and soon 30m at full price.

- Ring Fit Adventure: its the next Wii Fit.

- Animal Crossing New Horizons: right game at the right time, if only Nintendo supported it better, after launch support has been weak.

- The Witcher 3: selling ~1.4m copy for a mature game that is late port at full price, is very impressive in my opinion.

- Super Mario Party went from bad sales on 3DS to 10m+ which is very impressive.
 
Honestly for me Breath of the Wild is insane if you look at just how much it has sold compared to past titles. Other impressive notes for myself are Animal Crossing speed, and various games breaking records for their franchise.
 
They're all pretty impressive, but I have to go with RFA. Everyone compares it to Wii Fit now, but I don't think it was a given that an exercise RPG using a Pilates ring would actually have such a wide appeal.
 
Animal Crossing for sure. Every woman I know in my age cohort was playing the game spring 2020, most of the men too, it's all anyone talked about for months. I counted and I personally know 17 people who bought a Switch to play AC, including many people I've never seen show any interest in gaming whatsoever before. I can't think of anything that had this sort of market penetration in gaming beyond Pokemon Go in 2016, and that had the advantage of being on mobile. Don't know if I'll ever see something like that ever again.
 
#1 absolutely has to be Breath of the Wild. Animal Crossing was already selling over 10 million units on the Nintendo DS as of 2005. Similarly, there was precedent for every other game on that list to perform as well as it did.

Meanwhile, BOTW was the most incredible comeback for a brand that had been growing less and less relevant post-2006. As a brand, it had historically had a tremendous amount of trouble finding a consistent identity for itself that would be able to sustain it. I mean, look at this:

Mmp2O9e.png


As an aside, if anyone wants to see a more detailed archive of sales data for the Zelda games, we have a fantastic page on Zelda Wiki.
 
what breath of the wild did for the franchise can't be overestimated. not only that it sold like crazy, it also opened up the genre it plays in, but also new demographics as link has become quite sexy.
ring fit, on the other hand has all my respect as it tried out something completely new and hit the nerve perfectly. it's a combination of genius and luck in timing. so my vote goes there.
 
1) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Even though not many people bought a Wii U, it's still just a remastered. Beating Mario Kart Wii was seen as something near impossible, yet this thing will almost double it at the end of Switch life. And his Year on year sales are just crazy to look at, has always been up YOY since the release so far.

2) Breath of the wild, a game that should end at around 30 million at the end of Switch life and before that no Zelda game ever reached 10 million.

3) Animal Crossing: New Horizon gonna beat the previus game (which was the best selling in the series) by x4 or more which is insane to think about it, and will be the best selling game ever in Japan. However i find it less impressive than Btw because of his Genre (his audience cleary give him a better potential in term of sales) and the perfect time he released (COVID and stuff)

4) Ring Fit Adventure: Well it's impressive for sure but at the end of the day it's "just" a new IP that sold a lot on a successfull console, not much more to say at all.

5) Super Smash Bros Ultimate, gonna end as a TOP 5 (Maybe TOP 3) game in term of sales on Switch, however i find it the less impressive of the list simple because Smash was already huge and at the end of the day it's just another "big series with the huge increase on Switch"

HM: This is a prediction and nothing more as of now, but i think Metroid Prime 4 will make the list and will sell in the 10 million territory beating by a good margin every other Metroid game similar to how Breath of the wild did.
 
I would say Zelda, Ring Fit, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon are the top 4.

Breath of the Wild became an evergreen out of nowhere despite Zelda games pretty much always being critical successes. Easily the most impressive.

Ring Fit could have been a smaller release like Labo but resonated strongly. +11M for a standalone fitness game is fantastic.

Animal Crossing massively benefitted from the pandemic but would have been a massive seller regardless.

Pokemon is always a big seller but Gen 8 went back over 20M, first since Gen 2.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sales make sense. It's the Mario Kart game for the Switch. Those always have great attach rates and the Switch will massively outsell the Wii.
 
Ishaan said:
#1 absolutely has to be Breath of the Wild. Animal Crossing was already selling over 10 million units on the Nintendo DS as of 2005. Similarly, there was precedent for every other game on that list to perform as well as it did.

Meanwhile, BOTW was the most incredible comeback for a brand that had been growing less and less relevant post-2006. As a brand, it had historically had a tremendous amount of trouble finding a consistent identity for itself that would be able to sustain it. I mean, look at this:

Mmp2O9e.png


As an aside, if anyone wants to see a more detailed archive of sales data for the Zelda games, we have a fantastic page on Zelda Wiki.
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That's amazing.
 
Ryng™ said:
HM: This is a prediction and nothing more as of now, but i think Metroid Prime 4 will make the list and will sell in the 10 million territory beating by a good margin every other Metroid game similar to how Breath of the wild did.
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you don't need 10 million to beat other metroid games. and it won't reach those.
I'd say 5 maximum, everybody happy but not ecstatic, and metroid back to sleeping beauty mode.
 
I think BoTW managing to add the Zelda series into the line of landmark evergreens was very impressive. It was the game to get with the console at launch and has still charted well since.
 
slavesnyder said:
you don't need 10 million to beat other metroid games. and it won't reach those.
I'd say 5 maximum, everybody happy but not ecstatic, and metroid back to sleeping beauty mode.
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With Dread having the second best launch in UK (and it's second week should be very good with the launch of OLED) i really feel like Prime 4 is gonna blow up.
I honestly expect dread to sell in the 5 million territory so 10 million for Prime seem realistic imo.
 
I voted Animal Crossing, since the sales rate last year was so explosive. BOTW is certainly a close second though.
 
It’s gotta be BotW. Singleplayer 3D Zelda somehow managing to keep selling tons and tons of units, with no permanent discounts.

Ring Fit Adventure would be my second pick. Yeah Wii Fit was popular but RFA could have alienated the more casual crowd with its RPG trappings, not to mention it’s a bit expensive. But hey, glad people lapped it up.

Rest of the poll options are more or less “predictably” successful but still, they’re crazy successes.
 
BOTW and Animal Crossing for sure but on a small scale for me Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was very impressive. From a niche serie always under a million and at the beginning confined to Japan to a serie that can sell more than 2 million and 1,4 million with a remaster/remake.
 
I'm always shocked by games with peripherals selling well because of how many relative failures I've seen, so my vote went to Ring Fit.
 
My personal pick is Disgaea 5 Complete.

Its sales were significant because they showed two things early on. First, that there is an overseas audiance for JRPGs on the Switch. Second, that mid-range budget games can sell on it.

www.gematsu.com

Disgaea 5 Complete sales top 200,000

Total sales for Disgaea 5 Complete, the Switch version of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengenace, have topped 200,000, Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Niikawa told Inside Games.
www.gematsu.com www.gematsu.com
 
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Hi everyone. First post here.
I'd go for Animal Crossing and Zelda. The first because it broke pretty much every single possible record and sold extremely well everywhere in the world, and the second because it really pushed Zelda to a different level sales wise. It was the game to buy at launch with Nintendo Switch, and it's still selling a lot every year.
 
It has to be Breath of the Wild. A 35 year old franchise with an explosive and evergreen entry like this has never happened to my knowledge. Nothing comes close.
 
Kenka said:
My personal pick is Disgaea 5 Complete.

Its sales were significant because they showed two things early on. First, that there is an overseas audiance for JRPGs on the Switch. Second, that mid-range budget games can sell on it.

www.gematsu.com

Disgaea 5 Complete sales top 200,000

Total sales for Disgaea 5 Complete, the Switch version of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengenace, have topped 200,000, Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Niikawa told Inside Games.
www.gematsu.com www.gematsu.com
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Yeah, that's absolutely a good one. It was indeed a pivotal moment for the Japanese third-party support on the Switch, especially coming from the Wii U and 3DS.
 
I'm of two mindsets.
In one, Animal Crossing gets the nod due to the sheer insanity of the sales so far. In the other tho, Botw is a surge that defies belief.
For as vaunted and respected as Zelda is as a gaming legacy franchise, you'd expect that almost all the games sold in the upper echelon range.
But it largely hasn't.
The median average has been around 4-5 million copies per title. Some more than, others less than.
But finally, Zelda gets the market reception I'd expect something that always gets paired with Mario in regards to prestige and industry importance to get.
20 million+, on one console. And largely still at full price.
My choice is clear.




So I gotta go with Kirby....

I mean Zelda.
 
I don’t think people realize just how much more New Horizons sold than the second best selling game in the series. It absolutely wasn’t something anyone saw coming despite most people having rosy expectations.
 
Super Mario Party’s sales are definitely being underrated here. The series has always sold really well, but Super sold about as much as the first seven games in the series combined, and doubled the sales of 8 & DS, the former going 5 years without a new game.

That game’s first holiday was just an insane curve.
 
Aleh said:
I don’t think people realize just how much more New Horizons sold than the second best selling game in the series. It absolutely wasn’t something anyone saw coming despite most people having rosy expectations.
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Hi there, remember my 12mil in japan only prediction? 😉
 
The answer for me is animal crossing. I know this is about WW sales but the performance of AC in Japan is frankly mind blowing. That was a record no one thought would ever be broken and then AC comes along and absolutely fucking demolished it. WW it will also more than triple the previous best selling game in the franchise.
 
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