The Nintendo Switch has just made it through another year, so how are its games doing on the charts within Japan? Japanese games outlet Famitsu has just released an extended list of the best-selling video games of 2021 for this location - and Switch is dominant once again.
The first 21 titles on the list are all Switch games. Within the top 10, we have the usual suspects. According to Famitsu - Monster Hunter Rise took out the top spot followed by the Diamond and Pearl remakes and in third Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban!.
Further down the list, you can see Switch titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - all games that are in Nintendo's 'top selling title sales units' list. This data covers 28th December 2020 through 26th December 2021.
1. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise – 2,350,693 / NEW
2. [NSW] Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl – 2,313,115 / NEW
3. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! – 1,266,477 / 2,499,500
4. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 971,418 / NEW
5. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 904,685 / 2,991,690
6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 815,174 / 4,272,357
7. [NSW] Minecraft – 708,670 / 2,411,591
8. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 704,134 / 7,082,237
9. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars – 628,538 / NEW
10. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 610,964 / 4,624,138
11. [NSW] Pokemon Sword / Shield – 381,848 / 4,262,438
12. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 352,133 / 871,782
13. [NSW] Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town – 318,331 / NEW
14. [NSW] New Pokemon Snap – 312,931 / NEW
15. [NSW] Super Mario Party – 306,590 / 2,036,386
16. [NSW] Splatoon 2 – 305,016 / 3,993,405
17. [NSW] Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – 278,747 / NEW
18. [NSW] Miitopia – 274,912 / NEW
19. [NSW] Game Builder Garage – 274,221 / NEW
20. [NSW] Monster Hunter Stories 2 – 242,876 / NEW
21. [NSW] eBaseball Professional Yakyuu Spirits 2021: Grand Slam – 223,833 / NEW
22. [PS4] Tales of Arise – 220,122 / NEW
23. [PS4] Resident Evil Village – 206,312 / NEW
24. [NSW] Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi – Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi – 199,646 / NEW
25. [NSW] Mario Golf: Super Rush – 198,426 / NEW
26. [NSW] Shin Megami Tensei V – 192,518 / NEW
27. [NSW] WarioWare: Get It Together! – 187,423 / NEW
28. [NSW] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 181,037 / 1,909,074
29. [PS4] NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… – 175,792 / NEW
30. [PS4] Lost Judgment – 163,607 / NEW
31. [NSW] Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain – 155,023 / NEW
32. [PS4] Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles – 150,056 / NEW
33. [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 145,871 / 1,129,729
34. [NSW] Bravely Default II – 144,614 / NEW
35. [NSW] Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! – 142,161 / NEW
36. [NSW] Rune Factory 5 – 140,391 / NEW
37. [NSW] Metroid Dread – 140,330 / NEW
38. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 – 139,980 / 1,174,861
39. [NSW] Pikmin 3 Deluxe – 139,146 / 601,952
40. [NSW] Fitness Boxing 2 – 134,919 / 167,714
41. [NSW] Dragon Quest XI S (New Price Version) – 132,247 / 165,686
42. [NSW] Human: Fall Flat – 126,373 / 213,813
43. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey – 125,450 / 2,301,495
44. [NSW] Super Mario 3D All-Stars – 119,330 / 611,950
45. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! – 116,296 / 670,856
46. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version – 113,231 / 657,698
47. [NSW] Super Robot Wars 30 – 96,094 / NEW
48. [NSW] Little Nightmares II – 95,018 / NEW
49. [NSW] Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon – 94,462 / NEW
50. [NSW] Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot + A New Power Awakens Set – 92,054 / NEW
51. [PS4] Samurai Warriors 5 – 91,348 / NEW
52. [NSW] Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 90,346 / 815,317
53. [PS4] Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon – 85,877 / NEW
54. [NS4] The Battle Cats Unite! – 85,395 / 101,998
55. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies – 84,278 / 948,200
56. [NSW] Samurai Warriors 5 – 82,104 / NEW
57. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 – 80,397 / 136,803
58. [NSW] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – 80,007 / 384,970
59. [PS4] Super Robot Wars 30 – 78,531 / NEW
60. [NSW] Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin – 77,418 / 162,232
61. [PS5] Resident Evil Village – 74,644 / NEW
62. [NSW] Minecraft Dungeons Hero Edition – 73,996 / 150,780
63. [NSW] eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2020 – 67,977 / 337,625
64. [PS5] Tales of Arise – 65,292 / NEW
65. [NSW] Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch – 64,249 / 407,990
66. [PS4] Judgment (New Price Edition) – 63,650 / NEW
67. [PS4] The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki – 62,640 / NEW
68. [PS4] Far Cry 6 – 57,283 / NEW
69. [NSW] Super Bomberman R Smile Collection – 57,189 / 184,645
70. [PS4] Call of Duty: Vanguard – 55,708 / NEW
71. [NSW] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – 55,321 / 417,860
72. [NSW] Apex Legends – 54,816 / NEW
73. [NSW] Pokemon Sword / Shield + Expansion Pass – 54,178 / 202,476
74. [PS4] FIFA 22 – 54,074 / NEW
75. [NSW] FIFA 22 Legacy Edition – 51,764 / NEW
76. [NSW] Family Trainer – 50,264 / 70,503
77. [NSW] Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack – 48,221 / 100,842
78. [NSW] Fortnite Minty Legends Pack – 47,799 / NEW
79. [NSW] Densha de Go! Hashiro Yamanote Line – 45,331 / NEW
80. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Low Price Version) – 45,279 / 135,875
81. [NSW] Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit – 44,204 / 170,954
82. [NSW] Splatoon 2 + Octo Expansion – 44,127 / NEW
83. [PS5] Lost Judgment – 42,743 / NEW
84. [NSW] Paper Mario: The Origami King – 42,389 / 337,086
85. [PS4] Battlefield 2042 – 40,707 / NEW
86. [PS4] Dragon Quest XI S – 40,003 / 84,714
87. [NSW] Power Pro Kun Pocket R – 39,383 / NEW
88. [PS4] Scarlet Nexus – 38,916 / NEW
89. [NSW] Minecraft Dungeons Ultimate Edition – 37,425 / NEW
90. [NSW] Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water – 37,274 / NEW
91. [NSW] Derby Stallion – 36,702 / NEW
92. [NSW] Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition – 36,352 / NEW
93. [PS4] Biomutant – 35,948 / NEW
94. [NSW] FIFA 21 Legacy Edition – 35,414 / 75,550
95. [PS4] Little Nightmares II – 35,271 / NEW
96. [PS4] Minecraft Starter Collection – 34,389 / 78,324
97. [NSW] Danganronpa Decadence – 34,229 / NEW
98. [NSW] Moshikashite? Obake no Shatekiya for Nintendo Switch – 34,089 / NEW
99. [PS5] Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – 34,016 / 66,238
100. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade – 34,012 / NEW
Any games stand out for you on this list? Did you play any of the titles here within the top 10? Leave a comment down below.
[source famitsu.com, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 32
"Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi – Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi"
Is that all a title?!
ARMS was NOT even on Top 100 games. 🥺😭
Are peoples really indifferent with Boxing 🥊 sport even just Cartoonish Boxing sport games ?
@UglyCasanova
Yup.
Look at the full title.
Wow Final Fantasy VII remake almost didn't make it to the top 100 and that was just a lazy port, the waterdown PS4 version didn't even make the list. Goes to show Final Fantasy is not popular to Japanese anymore. That's what happens when you don't cater to your audience Square Enix.
2021 was a very weak year for Sony in Japan.
It was pretty much RE Village and Tales of Arise for Sony in Japan within the top 25 and those were third parties for the PS4. You don’t even see a PS5 game here until all the way down to 61st place which is Village again.
I don’t see 2022 working out any better unless either Japanese third parties really help carry Sony more or Sony actually releases Japanese appealing first party games again which I heavily doubt.
@Anti-Matter Why would ARMS be here? These are 2021 sales and Arms doesn’t have the legs [ha] to sell many copies at this point.
Man. I didn't think monster hunter rise was that good. Traded it first day I got it.
Rank 1 has 70 times the sales of rank 100; there just aren't that many truly popular games. Only 3 games above a million but those 3 sold a lot more than all of ranks 50-100 combined.
Holy Switch domination, Batman. Congrats to MH, Capcom made a Monster Hunter built for Switch hardware and it paid off in spades.
Congratulations to the Monster Hunter Rise team. It's a great game that deserves this recognition. Bring on Sunbreak and happy hunting to all.
Cool that Paper Mario Origami King is still on the list. Wonder if it's reached 4million worldwide yet.
@Arawn93
I'm still waiting for some Cartoonish Boxing games on modern consoles as I saw most game developers were really indifferent with Boxing sport and even if they made one, the games were still not meet my expectation as I oftenly saw the developers still have no idea how to make interesting Cartoonish boxing games. They just depended on making the boxing games looked fierce and edgy but forgetting the gameplay aspect and character design. I still never saw very interesting Boxing games with appealing character design and proper gameplay like my expectations, Big Rumble Boxing on Switch and PS4 were almost met my expectation from the gameplay aspect like standard 2D style fighting games with Super Move gauge but i personally not really fan of Rocky franchise.
ARMS was the only Cartoonish Boxing game that already meet my expectation for having 3rd person view fighting, moving freely in 3D ring, Damage displayed in numbers, Super Move like Street Fighter Alpha.
All those aspects from ARMS were exactly what I want from Boxing games, just only need some proper storyline, more characters, character customization + Arena maker, Cardio Boxing mode, Normal Boxing mode, Party games to make it even Perfect. But I knew... Most peoples here are really indifferent with Boxing games, have no interest with that sport but I'm the only one here really have interest with that sport.
@Specter_of-the_OLED
That's the sales of the PS5 port.
The original FFVII Remake that launched in 2020 on PS4 sold over 900K in Japan.
Number 54 is from another reality where Sony and Nintendo DID work together, to eventually create the NS4.
@KnightsTemplar
I still got my copy but never played it past day one.
I like how 95% of the list is Nintendo.
@Specter_of-the_OLED This is just Intergrade, it also offered a cheap upgrade that probably most people used. The PS4 version sold almost 1 million physical alone, but in big part because of nostalgia, since it's FF VII.
@Shambo
NS4 = Nintendo Station 4 LOL 🤣
@Anti-Matter We NEED a new Punch-Out on Switch! Should work perfectly with the Joycons too, just like the Remote/Nunchuck on the Wii version. I really hope it's what Next Level has been working on, they have been awfully quiet after Luigi's Mansion 3 (they did do the Wii Punch-Out).
@Axecon
I personally do not like Punch Out as the way you fight just stick on one place, cannot move freely like ARMS and Punch Out gameplay was constantly Hit and Dodge to the right or left. Not interesting at all in my opinion. Also, not even a fan of Punch Out characters model.
I prefer ARMS get sequel with more improvements as I felt ARMS gameplay was already passed my expectation.
I'm surprised, and glad, to see Miitopia, Clubhouse Games, Game Builder Garage and Big Brain Academy in there and relatively close to the top 10, save for the latter.
Also glad for Metroid Dread sneaking in on the top 50. Should be higher, but I understand Japan has never been big on Metroid.
EDIT:
(sees Super Mario 3D All-Stars in there at #44)
I imagine those are from retailers and not scalpers, right?
Kind of impressive to see a game that was available just 3 months in the year and that's discontinued by now in the top 50.
@Arawn93 this has been going on for a while with PlayStation in Japan. Sony decided to relocate the headquarters of SCE, which is PlayStation, to the US. Not sure 3rd party support will save the PlayStation image with the Japanese customer. It turned pretty sour.
https://www.windowscentral.com/playstation-has-declined-japan
Absolutely great list from a Nintendo perspective, and largely good too see that western AAA games still aren't making a big inroad culturally there (I do like the occasional western AAA title, but it's refreshing to see they're not ubiquitous everywhere).
That said, I would have loved to see games like Tales of Arise, RE Village, & Scarlet Nexus chart higher. I love how the bigger budget Japanese games these past few years feel modern yet still distinctly Japanese (Ace Combat 7, Tales of Arise, Sakura Wars, etc.) & I'm afraid that if they don't sell too well in Japan they'll begin to westernize them too much like they tried back in the PS360 era.
Monster Hunter just scraped into #1, very close with Pokemon. I'm impressed to see ring fit in the top#5
See what happens when BAMCO tries, Harada? Little Nightmares II NSW outsold the PS4 version 3:1 despite the franchise arriving way later (and with a price hike nontheless) on Switch and the series having “great gfx/atmosphere” as a dev focus and selling point, but when the port is good and there day 1 you get the numbers. Still ridiculous that no Soul Calibur port exists.
Ugh. There are SO MANY fantastic games in the eShop in Japan that all lose to Human Fall Flat (which might be okay; I haven't played it) and all the major releases, because Japanese people tend to follow trends instead of searching out good stuff on their own. Maybe Nintendo Life needs a Japanese-language version. Eh? Eh??? I know a guy who can do the translating! But if he's busy, I can do it.
Nice to see a new game released for the Nintendo Sixty4 in 2022… did alright too it seems, landing at number 54 and hitting over 100k sales! 😉
@Anti-Matter
or Nintendo + Sony = 4ever. Maybe in that parallel universe their marketing is all about love instead of competition.
My favorite videogame title is Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi – Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi.
Surprised Metroid Dread didn't fare better (#37 with 140k sold), even for a Q4 release.
@westman98 That's impressive for 2020 but not 2021. Super Mario Odyssey and Minecraft which came out a long time ago were still able to stay in the top 100.
@Specter_of-the_OLED
PlayStation in general has been losing relevance in Japan for years. Don't be surprised if the situation gets even worse in the coming years, especially as PS4 is phased out.
Just reminds me that Tsukihime needs an English patch, lol
Tap here to load 32 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...