Overall, net profit is up by 123 percent year-on-year thanks to a number of high-profile titles like New Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus releasing in the 12 month period. Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which was released in January 2022, sold 6.5 million copies in its first week and 12.64 million as of March 31st, 2022.

Meanwhile, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold six million units in their first week with 14.65 million sold by March end. With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet releasing in late 2022, the coming fiscal year may prove even more lucrative for the company. Stay tuned for more details on the Nintendo Switch titles in the coming months.

Mario Party Superstars performed very well, as expected, with 5.43 million sales since its October 29th launch. The other new title released in the quarter was Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain with 1.28 million sales since launching on December 3rd. Game Builder Garage managed to sell 1.01 million units while WarioWare: Get It Together!, which launched in September 2021, hit 1.24 million sales.

Other noteworthy numbers include Luigi’s Mansion 3 at 11.04 million sales; Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury selling 8.85 million units; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD at 3.85 million sales; New Pokemon Snap at 2.36 million sales; Mario Golf: Super Rush at 2.26 million units sold; and Miitopia at 1.63 million sales. For more details on the top-selling Nintendo Switch titles of all time, head here.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD launched in July, and as of September 30, it has sold 3.6 million units. Incredibly enough, that means it has already almost outsold the original Wii release, which stands at 3.67 million units. Meanwhile, New Pokemon Snap’s sales have hit 2.19 million units, while Mario Golf: Super Rush currently stands at 1.94 million units sold worldwide. At last count, the two games had sold 2.07 million units and 1.34 million units respectively.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has also provided updated sales figures for the Nintendo Switch itself, which has sold 92.97 million units worldwide as of September 30. You can read more on that through here.

Software sales were also strong in that period with 45.28 million sold. In terms of sales for new releases, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury managed to sell 6.68 million. New Pokemon Snap, which recently received its first free content update, has sold 2.07 million units while Mario Golf: Super Rush sold 1.34 million units. Miitopia managed to sell 1.04 million since release.

The coming months are looking even better for the Switch, both in terms of hardware and software sales. The Nintendo Switch OLED releases October 8th alongside Metroid Dread while Mario Party Superstars is out on October 29th. November will have titles like Shin Megami Tensei 5 and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl releasing as well.

Three new areas have been added to the game, namely Secret Side Path, an area where you shrink down, so the Pokemon all appear larger in size; Mightywide River, where you’ll be riding down a river’s rapids through a rugged valley; and Barren Badlands, where you’ll be traversing through a barren area full of geysers and poisonous swamps.

These new areas also include 20 new Pokemon, while other additions include new photo filters, frames, player icons, stickers, and research titles. You can check out the full patch notes below.

New Pokemon Snap is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

UPDATE NOTES:

• 3 new areas have been added: Secret Side Path, Mightywide River, and Barren Badlands.
  • These new areas also contain 20 new Pokémon.
• Additional research titles, profile icons, photo filters, stickers, and frames have been added.
• Search options for Other Players’ Photos have changed.
• Other issues have also been addressed to improve the game-play experience.

Of course, there are also new Pokemon to take pictures of including Gyarados, Psyduck, Snorlax and several more. It also seems that there will be new poses and such that Pokemon can have in the wild, leading to even more eye-catching photos. The new areas should also have their own branching paths but we’ll have to wait for more details.

Developed by Bandai Namco Studios, New Pokemon Snap is currently available for the Nintendo Switch and is a follow-up to 1999’s beloved Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo 64. Check out our official review here and stay tuned for more information on the upcoming update.

The NPD Group has released data for software sales in the US for the month of April 2021 (via ResetEra), and the results are mostly unsurprising. MLB The Show 21 launched halfway through the month, and it’s topped the software charts for the month. As the first game in the series to launch on multiple platforms, it’s no surprise that the game has enjoyed the best launch ever in terms of dollar sales for an MLB game. All the more impressive, however, when you consider that these numbers don’t include digital sales on Xbox, and the fact that the game is also available on Xbox Game Pass. It has also instantly become the third highest selling game of 2021 in the US.

New Pokemon Snap also debuts in third place, even without digital sales included, and sold twice as much as the original Pokemon Snap did at launch in 1999. Fellow new releases NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… and Returnal debuted in fifth and eighth place respectively.

Meanwhile, Outriders is in fourth place, Mortal Kombat 11 re-enters the top 10 at sixth place, and It Takes Two climbs up to No. 9. Monster Hunter Rise takes seventh place, while the perennial sellers like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury also rank in the top 10.

You can check out the full software charts for April 2021 below.

1. MLB The Show 21^
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
3. New Pokemon Snap*
4. Outriders
5. NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…
6. Mortal Kombat 11
7. Monster Hunter Rise
8. Returnal
9. It Takes Two
10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
11. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
12. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
13. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury*
14. Minecraft
15. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
16. Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
17. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
18. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
19. Pokemon Sword and Shield*
20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*

*Digital sales not included
^Xbox digital sales not included

It’s a Capcom dominated top 5 in this week’s Japanese retail sales charts. Resident Evil Village was the big new release of the week, and considering its global launch figures, it’s no surprise that the game has enjoyed a solid enough start in Japan as well. The game’s PS4 version occupies first place, selling over 111,000 copies, with the PS5 version taking the fourth spot with over 38,000 copies sold, for a total of nearly 150,000 copies. However many copies it sold across Xbox consoles in the region is not know- whatever the figure was, it didn’t break into the top 10. Overall, the game’s debut sales have fallen short of what Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 7 each managed though, though it’s worth considering that these numbers don’t include digital sales.

Meanwhile, fellow Capcom megaton release Monster Hunter Rise is continuing to sell well, coming in at second place with over 68,000 units sold, for lifetime retail sales in Japan that have already exceeded 2.1 million. New Pokemon Snap continues to sell well as well, occupying third place with over 46,000 units sold across the week.

On the hardware front, it’s no surprise that the Nintendo Switch is on top of the pack once more, with over 70,000 units sold. It far exceeds the PS5, which comes in second with over 22,00 units sold.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts for the week ending May 9 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

01. [PS4] Resident Evil Village – 111.171 / NEW
02. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise – 68.115 / 2.141.438 
03. [NSW] New Pokemon Snap – 46.643 / 194.385 
04. [PS5] Resident Evil Village – 38.713 / NEW
05. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 26.251 / 728.009 
06. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! – 18.574 / 2.167.409 
07. [NSW] Minecraft – 15.942 / 1.940.130 
08. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 15.359 / 3.824.997
09. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 14.547 / 2.554.184 
10. [PS4] NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… – 12.223 / 146.662 

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

Nintendo Switch – 70,760 (165,268)
PS5 – 22,667 (30,973)
PS4 – 848 (1,736)
Xbox Series X/S – 695 (512)
3DS – 484 (543)

[Via ResetEra]

So in light of the fact that modern Pokemon games have gotten substantially better at showing the world of Pokemon, and how the eponymous creatures that inhabit it interact with it, as well as the fact that, as mentioned, photo modes are dime a dozen these days – would a new Pokemon Snap even make sense? Sure, the original was beloved. But it was beloved in context of the time of its release. Would there be any market for a full priced on rails shooter with the primary conceit being photography on the market?

New Pokemon Snap makes a convincing case for its existence, in spite of the many factors mounted against it, and it also makes the argument that it, at least, can stand up on the merits of its own core design, without necessarily needing the charm of the Pokemon license for its success. Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t have the charm, to be clear – in fact it has that by the oodles. It has so much of it that, once again, it far outstrips any other game on the market in giving us a window into the world of Pokemon, in spite of the modern Pokemon games being no slouches by themselves on that front. But being able to observe these Pokemon in their natural habitats, and see how they interact with one another, and with their environments, seeing how these creatures, that otherwise can often be reduced to nothing but stats in your PC box, or two line entries in your Pokedex, are brought to life as fully realized and full-fledged creatures that feel believable and authentic is enough to, once again, buoy this game far beyond the reach of its own (already fairly great) core design.

"Being able to observe these Pokemon in their natural habitats, and see how they interact with one another, and with their environments, seeing how these creatures, that otherwise can often be reduced to nothing but stats in your PC box, or two line entries in your Pokedex, are brought to life as fully realized and full-fledged creatures that feel believable and authentic is enough to, once again, buoy this game far beyond the reach of its own (already fairly great) core design."

So, the setup – that’s the same as it was before. You’re a Pokemon Professor’s assistant, helping research Pokemon by photographing them in their natural habitat in the wild. That’s the simple conceit – there is a story here (regarding a mysterious phenomenon that the professor is experiencing that causes the Pokemon on the Lental region the game takes place on to purportedly glow), and a surprising amount of characters and chatter, but the setup is: go out into the wild, take pictures of Pokemon. It’s simple and flexible, and provides all the contextualization needed for what the game asks you to do.

You’ll be running on short on-rails courses, photographing the various Pokemon that show up there. The range of photographs you can capture is surprisingly varied. It depends not just on the photography basics, such as positioning, zooming, number of subjects, framing, and such, but also on several game specific considerations. So, there are different Pokemon that show up on different courses, they have a variety of different behaviour patterns they can exhibit, they have different ways of interacting with the environment, and with the other Pokemon they share their habitats with, their behaviour can differ based on the time of day, and whether or not they notice your presence can make a complete difference as to what they are doing. Additionally, you can catch their attention and get them to act in a certain way too, whether it be by throwing food for them to nibble at, or playing a jingle for them to dance to. And finally, the more you get familiar with a course (represented by you “levelling up” your mastery in-game), the more number of Pokemon, and their behaviours and interactions, you are likely to see on them.

These, combined with the game’s premise, can lead to an endlessly entertaining line of objectives, prescribed and self-determined alike. For instance, you can be asked for something simple, such as taking a picture of a Pidgeot eating, or a dangling Metapod; or you can be asked to take a picture of two Pokemon interacting, which in turn can only happen on a specific course where you know both will appear, at a time you know both are active, in an area you know both are together, which can be a much harder picture to construct. The challenge comes from the familiarity with the courses that you build up over time, as well as your growing familiarity with its inhabitants. The game’s great victory here is that even if you’re not familiar with any of the newer Pokemon, or really, any Pokemon at all, it still makes them stand out such that you can get to know them intimately well just by repeatedly observing their behaviour. Just playing the game can tell you that Hoothoot are nocturnal, that Pikachu are extremely curious, that Slaking sleep a lot, that Scorbunny is mischievous, that Magikarp flounders a lot, that Grookey can be skittish, and that Pidgeot likes to keep its distance. Slowly learning the courses, and slowly learning the Pokemon, and in turn being better able to take great pictures, can keep you engaged with the game for a surprisingly long period of time.

"The game’s great victory here is that even if you’re not familiar with any of the newer Pokemon, or really, any Pokemon at all, it still makes them stand out such that you can get to know them intimately well just by repeatedly observing their behaviour."

The game goes out of its way to gamify these diegetic concepts too. As mentioned, your mastery over the course can be levelled up, incentivizing you to run the same courses multiple times, over and over, and in turn unlocking more Pokemon species and interactions. Your photos are rated by Professor Mirror in a variety of categories, encouraging you to go back and take more ones to get higher points – not to mention an entirely separate rating system where your photos are graded based on the rarity of Pokemon behaviour they’ve captured, inducing you to go back and try to photograph Pokemon in all four possible behaviour rarity interactions. And, since this is a photography based game in 2021, you can upload those photos online to get Likes (Medals in this game) from other players around the world, which of course means you’re likelier to keep going back and get the best photo possible for that online cred. And, finally, there is also a global leaderboard that ranks you on the cumulative total of points you have received from Professor Mirror, meaning that, very simply, the more you play, the higher on it you’ll be.

None of this, of course, would work if the game simply wasn’t good at delivering on its premise. As mentioned previously, this is a game that can only work if the window into the world of Pokemon that it provides is meaningfully fleshed out. New Pokemon Snap does that with aplomb, aided in large part by its surprisingly great presentation. No one will ever mistake it for a PS5 game, nor is it even necessarily among the best looking games on its own system. But a very strong art style, and a lot of loving care put into the animations and models for the Pokemon, means that it looks extremely charming and really pretty – as well as, almost by default, better than any other Pokemon game to date (though that’s more an indictment of how poor the games in the series have looked so far when they have had no reason to). There are blemishes to be sure – thumbnails of the photos you take can look decidedly and shockingly low resolution, the lack of anti aliasing can be physically painful at times, and there are, shockingly, frame rate drops on loading screens (but only on loading screens in my experience). But for what it’s worth, these never once actually happen during the core loop of the game, which is when you’re out in the wild, photographing Pokemon.

New Pokemon Snap is also the first Pokemon game ever to be voiced, which is something the series will hopefully retain going forward. While the quality of the voice work in this game isn’t spectacular, it’s solid, and more than anything else, it does the important job of ensuring this game remains accessible to younger players who may not know how to read on at least a fundamental level (not all lines are voiced, so a lot of the game is presumably still going to require the help of their parents for them to get). The soundtrack is similarly nothing great, especially next to how fantastic the music in the mainline games has always been, but it’s pleasant and charming, and does the job done.

"No one will ever mistake New Pokemon Snap for a PS5 game, nor is it even necessarily among the best looking games on its own system. But a very strong art style, and a lot of loving care put into the animations and models for the Pokemon, means that it looks extremely charming and really pretty."

New Pokemon Snap is also surprisingly customizable. Unlike so many Nintendo titles, it gives its players a lot of options, from the ability to tweak controls to restricting just how much online interactions the game pushes on you, to toggling the voice acting, and more. Given Nintendo games typically tend to be delivered as a whole, with very little in the way of meaningful options provided to players, hopefully this marks the start of a new trend for them – even though, yes, I know that Pokemon is largely independent of Nintendo and not necessarily indicative of their broader development philosophy (and this is a Pokemon spin-off to boot, so presumably even more disconnected).

How much value you get from New Pokemon Snap will come down to how much you take to its core conceit. It’s incredibly fleshed out and full featured, and feels like an appropriately next-next-next-next generation evolution and follow up of the original. There’s a surprising amount of content here, far beyond the original game, so you’re not spending full price money on something you can be done with in a few hours. And it’s far more interactive than you’d expect, too. But it’s still a rail shooter, it’s still about taking photos repeatedly, and that’s all there is to it – everything else is a variation on that core idea. If the idea of an entire game based on taking pictures of Pokemon doesn’t appeal to you, then New Pokemon Snap can’t change your mind, as great as it is at what it does. But if you’re down for what it offers, then you’re in for an incredibly charming, heart warming, and extremely breezy and heart warming ride through the Lental region that will show you the world of Pokemon in a way you have never seen before.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Long-awaited sequel New Pokemon Snap had a very strong debut in the UK. According to Gfk (via GamesIndustry.biz), the Switch title topped the region’s physical sales charts for the week ending May 1st. It also managed to sell over four times as many units as the original game and is the third biggest Switch launch of the year, trailing behind Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Monster Hunter Rise.

Another new title in the charts was Returnal, which debuted in second place. Launch sales are lower than other big PS5 exclusives, which is understandable considering the limited appeal of a rogue-lite, bullet-hell shooter. As for Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, it tumbled from first to 22nd place with sales dropping by 78 percent week-on-week.

Otherwise, the other best-selling titles should be very familiar by now. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury was in third place followed by Mario Kart 8: Deluxe in fourth and Animal Crossing: New Horizon in fifth. Check out the Gfk’s top ten in full below:

1. New Pokémon Snap
2. Returnal
3. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
6. FIFA 21
7. Minecraft (Switch)
8. Grand Theft Auto 5
9. Ring Fit Adventure
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War