Pokemon Sword and Shield, Nintendo Switch Dominate 2019’s Final Japanese Charts

Famitsu has released the data for video game software and hardware sales in Japan for the final week of 2019, and the charts are completely dominated by Nintendo, with every single game in the top 10 of the software charts being a Switch title.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is once again on top of the charts, where it has been for nearly two months, since it first launched. It sold over 243,000 copies across the week, for lifetimes sales of nearly 3 million in Japan (which it may very well have crossed by now). It is, in fact, outpacing the sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in Japan, and has outsold Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Ring Fit Adventure continue to post surprisingly impressive sales, taking the next two positions and selling over 59,000 ad over 52,000 copies respectively. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training is the only new release in the top 10 this week (it broke the top 10 in the UK as well), placing eighth with over 34,000 copies sold. Meanwhile, the rest of the top 10 is dominated by familiar faces, including the likes of Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Party, and more.

On the hardware front, the Switch is still selling like hotcakes, which has been the case every week since Pokemon launched in November. Nintendo’s system sold over 234,000 units throughout the week, down from over 291,000 last week. The Switch ends 2019 with a total of nearly 4.5 million units sold in Japan throughout the year, which is roughly 1 million more than what it managed in 2018.

Meanwhile, the PS4 is still enjoying the Holiday bump, though its figure of over 81,000 units sold is down from over 107,000 units last week. PS4’s year-to-date sales for 2019 stand at nearly 1.2 million, down from nearly 1.7 million in 2018.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts for the week ending December 29 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

01. [NSW] Pokemon Sword / Shield – 243,476 / 2,988,134
02. [NSW] Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 59,349 / 505,998
03. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 52,521 / 495,639
04. [NSW] Minecraft – 40,905 / 1,145,939
05. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 40,883 / 2,659,009
06. [NSW] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020- 40,866 / 195,128
07. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 35,385 / 3,453,052
08. [NSW] Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch – 34,696 / NEW
09. [NSW] Super Mario Party – 34,649 / 1,263,710
10. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version – 33,623 / 336,995