While having great sales is almost always a must in the gaming industry, what can really set a game apart from others is the fact that it sells well and then stays on top of pretty much everything else out there for a long time. Being a best-seller is great, but being a record holder is even greater. Recently, Famitsu decided to tally up what have been the best-selling physical games in Japan over the last twenty years. That’s a lot of games to consider across multiple platforms. In the end, Animal Crossing New Horizons came out on top by a large margin.
You can see the full results in the Blue Sky post below, but we’ll break it down game by game to highlight why these sales matter.
First, obviously, there’s Animal Crossing New Horizons, which has over 8 million sales in Japan, just in physical sales! Digital sales are always kept secret by Nintendo. Anyway, it might seem odd that this is the game that is No.1 over everything else, but as in all things, context really matters here. You need to remember that the game came out in 2020, when the global pandemic was just starting to lock everyone down. All of a sudden, people needed things to do, and video games were an easy outlet for them.
So, when this game came out, and it offered a full-on island to makeover and do whatever you wanted to with, you can bet that people jumped at the chance to do just that. Japanese gamers love these kinds of titles, too, so this was the perfect opportunity to just stay at home and play it to their heart’s content.
The No.2 game might be an equal surprise to many, as it’s New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS. We’ll chalk this one up to the success of the Nintendo DS and the love of Mario overall. Plus, you could argue that this was before Japan’s “swing” into more mobile games, so they were fine with playing titles like this on the go.
Finally, there’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This one shouldn’t be a surprise, as it’s the best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch. Why a Wii U port became the best-selling game on a new console still remains a mystery, but it highlights that sometimes…you just need to put a quality game on a different system.
Could a new game on the Nintendo Switch 2 usurp these numbers? We’ll have to wait and find out.
