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Mario Kart World Was the Best-Selling Game in Japan in 2025, Switch 2 Sold 3.78M

Mario Kart World Was the Best-Selling Game in Japan in 2025, Switch 2 Sold 3.78M - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 January 2026 / 3,350 Views

Mario Kart World (NS2) was the best-selling game in Japan in 2025 at retail with sales of 2,668,381 units, according to Famitsu data (December 30, 2024 - December 28, 2025).

The top 10 best-selling games in 2025 in Japan was dominated by new releases as there were just three games released in previous years.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NS) came in second place with sales of 1,529,823, while Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (NS2) took third place with sales of 1,004,154.

There was one game not released on a Nintendo platform in the top 10 and that was Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5), which came in fourth place with sales of 838,319 units.

Donkey Kong Bananza (NS2) is in sixth place with sales of 435,206 units and Kirby Air Riders (NS2) is in seventh place with sales 424,837 units.

Minecraft (NS) is in eighth place with sales of 346,606 units, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS) is in ninth place with sales of 342,866 units, and Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (NS) is in 10th place with sales of 316,439 units.

The Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling platform in Japan in 2025 with 3,784,067 units sold. The Switch 1 sold 1,520,384 units, the PlayStation 5 sold 879,204 units, the Xbox Series X|S sold 31,226 units, and the PlayStation 4 sold 1,087 units.

Here are the best-selling games in Japan:

  1. [SW2] Mario Kart World (Nintendo, 06/05/25) – 2,668,381 (NEW)
  2. [NSW] Pokemon Legends: Z-A (The Pokemon Company, 10/16/25) – 1,529,823 (NEW)
  3. [SW2] Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (The Pokemon Company, 10/16/25) – 1,004,154 (NEW)
  4. [PS5] Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom, 02/28/25) – 838,319 (NEW)
  5. [NSW] Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo, 10/17/24) – 498,397 (1,452,658)
  6. [SW2] Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo, 07/17/25) – 435,206 (NEW)
  7. [SW2] Kirby Air Riders (Nintendo, 11/20/25) – 424,837 (NEW)
  8. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 346,606 (4,109,192)
  9. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 342,866 (6,510,483)
  10. [NSW] Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (Square Enix, 10/30/25) – 316,439 (NEW)

Here is the hardware breakdown (followed by lifetime sales):

  1. Nintendo Switch 2 - 3,784,067 (NEW)
  2. Nintendo Switch - 1,520,384 (36,416,143)
  3. PlayStation 5 - 879,204 (7,298,210)
  4. Xbox Series X|S - 31,226 (688,927)
  5. PlayStation 4 - 1,087 (9,505,874)

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.


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2 Comments
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Signalstar (on 19 January 2026)

Japan Yearly Physical would be a more fitting title.

  • +7
Salnax (on 19 January 2026)

The big story of the year seems to be Monster Hunter Wilds only selling 838k. Back in 2018, World sold 1962k on PS4, and in 2021, Rise sold over 2350k on Switch.

Digital has grown, but not THAT much.

Besides that? Mario Kart is doing as expected, Pokemon Legends Z-A is doing comparably to Legends Arceus, Jamboree is doing on par for a Switch era Mario Party, Air Riders and Bananza are doing well but not exceptional, and the rest of the Top 10 is pretty predictable.

  • +1