Nintendo has shared a list of the top 15 best-selling eShop games of December 2018 in Europe, letting us see which titles from the console's ever-growing library really did the numbers over the festive period.
While the game sitting at number one will only surprise very few people reading these pages, December had the potential to mix things up a bit thanks to an amazingly large sale that discounted more than 600 games in the region in the week building up to Christmas. Despite this, and perhaps the odd surprise here and there, much of the chart is filled with first-party favourites; Mario is pretty hard to get away from in the top five.
The rankings below have been shared via the Switch's News Channel, and are based on the number of Nintendo eShop downloads in European territories during the whole month. Sadly, Nintendo hasn't provided exact sales figures:
1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
3. Super Mario Party
4. Crypt of the NecroDancer
5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
6. Gris
7. Stardew Valley
8. Octopath Traveler
9. Minecraft
10. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
11. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!
12. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
13. Overcooked 2
14. FIFA 19
15. Diablo III: Eternal Collection
Did you purchase any of these games from the eShop in December? Do any of the games featured surprise you? Tell us below.
Comments 38
Smash Ultimate number 1!?! No one could have predicted this! (Mario + Rabbids being number 2 is actually suprising to me though)
@SubtleGris
Yeah, it is, even at 80% discount.
But it surprises me even more to see Octopath at number 8
Crypt of the NecroDancer is very surprising, considering it released February 2018.
I bought Pokémon Let's Go Eevee but have been a bit disappointed with it :-/
I bought Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu on 1 January 2019 last time, but in Physical release.
Where is Katamari?
I bought Pokémon let’s go eevee and Octopath Traveler yesterday from the e-shop
Can’t wait to play this games
@justin233
That is a good point, it even has a demo version.
It would not surprise me if many people who were interested in it opted to import a physical copy instead, hence lack of sales figures in UK.
@RupeeClock I had a hell of a time finding it physically and I’m in the US. 😭 Ended up having to get it from an eBay scalper for $60 (which is actually a good deal as most are going for $85+).
I was hoping for some Abzu love, but alas...
Go and get it people, it's a good way to trip without using drugs.
All about the recent sales.
Where's Bouncy Bob?
Deep discounts for Mario & Rabbids and Crypt Of The Necrodancer (among others) have really helped their sales.
The success of this strategy hopefully means more of the same.
What's Gris about not heard of it
@adamatsu
https://youtu.be/PehrCkdrfd8
Spoiler free review. I'm looking forward to picking it up.
Did get crypt of the necrodancer. Not played it yet.
@MarzipanD wow Gris looks beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I have crypt it's fun but quite hard. Have a good one
Good to see Civilization VI in that list. I picked it up between Christmas and New year and have put in 20 hours ish so far which is crazy given that there are 2 under 5s in the house. One night in said id play for an hour at 8pm... next I knew it was midnight in the blink of an eye.
It's a great game, my first since Civ2 as well.
@SubtleGris no surprises with the 80% off sale
@Pichuka97 This game was 0.01$ and I didnt even wanted it.
That discount on Rabbits, hoping more games get that kind of drop!
@0muros One cent games are good for me XD Now we need more heheheh. (have 2 cents on my E shop account, used to be 3 cents, so I need 2 more games to drop to one cent)
Don't snooze on Katamari Damacy!
Katamari is worth it buy it!
@IceEarthGuard It was Crypt of the Necrodancer that had an 80% off sale.
Glad to see Gris up there. Well deserved.
@justin233 I wouldn't be surprised if the demo had the opposite effect that it's supposed to....the controls were so bad
I doubt a short level with no time to adjust to that control setup will help sales.
The controls for Katamari are obtuse, and I dislike the creator for it.
So glad Bandai put out a demo so I know why I shouldn't buy it, despite the undeniable charm and fun it breathes.
They sold more Fifas than MonHun?
Oi-vey
Was Mario + Rabbids released later in Europe than the UK? Kinda surprised to see it so high on the list.
Not surprised to see it on the list, it's quite fun, but I wouldn't have guessed it would be in the top 3.
@Heavyarms55
Mario + Rabbids release simultaneously in the west back in August 2017.
It ranked high in December 2018's eShop charts because of price reductions.
@westman98 It did not release simultaneously worldwide, that I know for sure. It came out much later in Japan. Which is why I wondered if it came out later in Europe as well.
@Heavyarms55
Woops, forgot about Japan lol.
The game did release simultaneously in the west back in August 2017. Japan got the game in January 2018.
The point is, price promotions help a lot.
@westman98 Ah, so it was only Japan that got it late. Okay. Yeah, I imagine the game being on sale a lot would boost its sales.
I got a PS4 because I'm getting fed up with Mario being in so many Switch games. I'm usually a fan but it's just getting too much now.
@justin233 The Japanese version supposedly has English text as well, and is cheaper to get.
@Shambo I know. The fact that the US version is hard to find made me want it even more.
@OorWullie Alright, got confuse heheh.
@IceEarthGuard I prefer to keep my cents.
Tap here to load 38 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...