As reported by Serebii (owner of the popular Pokemon website of the same name) on ResetEra, Pokemon Sword and Shield took a little under three years to reach the same milestone. Within its first 16 to 17 months, it sold 21.85 million.

When considering lifetime sales, Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue are still ahead with 31.38 million units sold. Pokemon Sword and Shield is in second place, with current sales at 26.35 million, while Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is in third. Not bad for a title criticized at launch for its extensive technical issues.

The next title in the franchise is Pokemon Legends: Z-A, out in 2025 and set entirely in Lumiose City from Pokemon X and Y’s Kalos region. With Nintendo indicating a launch for Nintendo Switch “systems,” it could launch alongside the console’s successor. Head here for more details on the latter.

Other noteworthy figures include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 34.66 million sales, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at 32.05 million and Super Mario Odyssey at 28.21 million. Among the recent releases are The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at 20.80 million, which launched in May 2023.

Despite impressive figures over their respective lifetimes, Nintendo noted a 41.3 percent decrease in software sales for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025. It sold 30.64 million software units for the Switch in that period, citing a lack of “special factors” compared to the same quarter last year.

Check out the top ten best-selling Nintendo Switch titles as of June 30th below, courtesy of Nintendo’s official site.

For starters, the evergreen Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has continued to enjoy strong sales. With over 1.67 million units sold during Q1 (April-June) of FY 23/24, the kart racer now sits at 55.46 million units worldwide. Alongside The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it was the only first party Nintendo title to sell over a million units over the course of the three-month period. 

Speaking of which, Tears of the Kingdom, which has sold over 18.5 million units as of June 30, has instantly entered the Switch’s first party top 10 as well, entering at No. 9 above New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and pushing Ring Fit Adventure out of the top 10. Its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, has also enjoyed steady sales, and has now sold 30.65 million units, up from 29.81 million units as of the end of the previous quarter. 

Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons now stans at 42.79 million units sold, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 31.77 million units, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at 22.66 million units. You can check out the full top 10 and their updated sales figures below. 

Nintendo has also announced that the Switch’s worldwide sales have surpassed 129.5 million units.

Top 10 highest-selling first party Nintendo Switch titles (as of June 30, 2023):

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is in second place with 42.21 million units sold, followed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 31.09 million. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 29.81 million units, so it should be interesting to see how its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, fares. Pokemon Sword and Shield are in fifth with 25.82 million units sold.

Super Mario Odyssey sold 25.76 million, with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie likely boosting sales over the quarter. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are at 22.10 million units sold, which is insane considering they were released in November 2022. Check out the full list below.

Unsurprisingly, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to lead the way, with over 48.41 million units. It saw healthy sales during the latest three-month period, likely thanks to its DLC, with the game selling 1.59 million units during the period. Counting its Wii U sales (8.46 million units), Mario Kart 8’s total lifetime sales stand at 56.87 million units. Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues to plug along as well, standing at 40.17 million units sold, up from 39.38 million units as of the end of June.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has hit 29.53 million units sold, while The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sits at 27.79 million units. A number of Pokemon titles also see continued sales, with Pokemon Sword and Shield hitting the 25.37 million mark, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl hitting 14.92 million units, and Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! sitting at 14.81 million units. 

Finally, there’s Super Mario Odyssey at 24.4 million units sold, Super Mario Party at 18.35 million units, and Ring Fit Adventure at 14.87 million units. You can check out the full list below.

*Adjusted to reflect a revision of sales units in previous years.

CYBERPUNK 2077

We’ll start with what’s become the poster child of rushed releases that could have benefitted massively from a delay- or another delay, in this case, because Cyberpunk 2077 was, of course, delayed more than a few times in the lead-up to its launch. The state the game released in was, frankly, unacceptable, not only in terms of the baffling lack of polish, but also the core gameplay itself feeling decidedly half-baked. With a couple more years in the oven, who knows? Maybe things could have turned out differently.

Unsurprisingly, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still top, with 45.33 million units sold, which is up from the end of December by 1.78 million units. Combining its sales on the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch, its lifetime sales now stand at 53.79 million units, up from 51.81 million.

Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also maintaining its solid sales momentum. It sold 1.02 million units in Q4 (January-March) of FY 2021-22, and its lifetime sales currently stand at 38.64 million units. Meanwhile, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has now hit 28.17 million units sold, while The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild stands at 26.55 million. 

You can check out the full top 10 below.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is in second place with 37.62 million sales, up from 34.85 million, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is in third with 27.40 million sales, up from 25.71 million. A note about Pokemon Sword and Shield – it’s currently at 23.90 million sales, surpassing Pokemon Gold and Silver which has 23.70 million sales. This makes it the second highest selling Pokemon title of all time, just behind Pokemon Red and Blue (31.38 million sales).

Of course, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl also deserve a mention, having sold 13.97 million copies since launching on November 19th 2021. Check out the full top ten best selling Nintendo Switch games below. The figures include titles bundled with hardware along with digital downloads worldwide.

POKEMON SWORD AND SHIELD

Most Pokemon fans will tell you that the series has been on a downward spiral ever since Black and White, and Sword and Shield are probably its lowest point to date. Even if you ignore the controversies surrounding the whole National Dex fiasco, Pokemon Sword and Shield are still disappointing games. The shocking lack of ambition, the almost complete lack of challenge, the excessive linearity- for all of these reasons and more, Pokemon’s mainline console debut fell severely short of expectations.

While the placements of the ten games haven’t changed from the data Nintendo provided for the previous quarter, each of the ten has seen an impressive jump in sales, with some seeing particularly significant boosts. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for instance, remains the best-selling Switch game with its sales refusing to slow down. Having sold over 1.6 million units over the last three months, its lifetime sales currently stand at 34.85 million. In fact, it has now surpassed the lifetime sales of Mario Kart Wii, thus becoming the highest-selling game in the series.

Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ sales have certainly slowed down as compared to the ridiculous pace the game was selling at last year, but even so, it managed to sell nearly a million units over the previous quarter, with cumulative sales currently at 34.85 million. Other games that have seen similar increases include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Sword and Shield, among others. 

Interestingly enough, Ring Fit Adventure saw quite a jump as well, selling nearly a million units, with lifetime sales currently standing at 12.21 million units. That’s just a little over 400,000 units short of Splatoon 2’s total, which feels like a mighty impressive for a game as uniquely niche as Ring Fit Adventure.

You can check out the list of the ten best-selling first party Nintendo Switch games below: