Japanese Charts: Pokémon Legends Z-A Surpasses 1 Million Sales On Switch 2

Congratulations on passing 1 mil, Z-A! I still want to play that one, hopefully sometime this year.

I really wish more people would play Bananza. It's incredible, but people sadly aren't biting just because it isn't Mario. Even my own friends who like Nintendo games and 3D platformers have no interest, despite my recommendations.

Japan is Switch 2 land. Legends ZA is more fun, gameplay-wise, than Scarlet. And I actually liked Scarlet a lot.

Pokemon is a zombie franchise, even moreso than the Simpsons. Yet it will still sell, because people and the fans don't care about quality.

Air Riders still dominating the Japan charts despite the cartoonish backlash in the West. Love to see it. Good job to ZA all around, too.

As long as the sales are massive, Gamefreak and Nintendo will never significantly improve this franchise.

For all its deficiencies, PLZA is still the best Pokemon game in my opinion. It’s just so much fun to play, and I struggle to go back to the traditional play style of the franchise whenever I need to check back in with SwSh or SV (on Switch 2).

It does have flaws and areas it can improve, but I don’t feel like they significantly detracted from the fun I had playing.

@MirrorFate2 Why do you even still have a Shaymin avatar if you hate the franchise so much?

Bananza still underappreciated, SMH.

@UpsideDownRowlet It would make sense if they don't have or aren't interested in the Switch 2, but otherwise that's bizarre.

Currently playing ZA as my main game at the moment. Really liking it so far.

If my math is mathing correctly - Switch 2 also eclipsed 50% of lifetime PS5 sales in Japan this week.

Gen 1-5er for life here, and I don’t think they’ll make a game as good as the 2D entries again. However, I got this game as a present and it definitely has its qualities and a fun loop. I think it’s an improvement over Legends Arceus, despite the city design being undercooked.

@MirrorFate2 Or, the games actually aren't that bad and for their faults, have a lot of redeeming qualities that people enjoy.

Seeing these charts is a periodic reminder that my gaming tastes aren't out of left field. They just don't align with many Western countries apparently.

Fantastic news!! For the past few weeks, ZA is actually selling more physical copies than Mario Kart World!! The current gap in lifetime sales is only 100k. There's a good chance ZA could surpass that in the coming weeks.

@MirrorFate2 PLZA is the most fun I’ve had with a pokemon game on Switch and 3ds, and I’ve played all games and their third versions except for Red/Blue, Yellow and Crystal.

ZA might be my favourite Switch era PM game. The city setting is really refreshing as is the real time combat. Even the story and characters are pretty solid.

@BrazillianCara ...Because I used to enjoy Pokemon back then?

@Tyranexx Me too. It's refreshing to see no sporting games which is basically the same released ever year.

PS5 sales this week look okay I guess.
And PS4 is still selling too despite by 15 units.

@Dee123 Definitely. I'm clearly not wired for many of the more popular genres that trend in the West. The only "sports" game I've even remotely enjoyed is Wii Sports. The closest I get to enjoying FPS games are the Metroid Prime games, and that's more because they feel like 3D Metroid and still retain the puzzles, upgrades, and exploration I enjoy in the core series.

I still haven’t picked this one up yet but I may at some point, I did like Arceus a lot but I’m not loving how closed off everything is in this one. I was waiting to see if they’d release a physical version of this plus the dlc, but it doesn’t seem like that adds much to the game either.

@TYRANACLES trust me I don’t love modern pokemon so much, gen 1er here.
That being said, I believe ZA is better than Arceus which I thought was a refreshing game. So much negativity towards it made me only just pick it up, yet I think it’s one of the best Pokemon games I’ve played for quite some time. I can’t speak for the DLC but base game is decent, I’m around 30ish hours in and would recommend it easily. I agree with IronMan30 above.

Total Nintendo domination 🤩

The official Nintendo website is still only showing world wide sales figures up to the end of September. Hope we get an update soon; want to see it top the DS

Pokemon is a monster. Legends is turning out to be a big hit for the series. Arceus wasn't a fluke.