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The first Switch has become Nintendo's best-selling console — report

Sofi Reyes
By Sofi Reyes Editor | Content Writer
Last updated: Feb 04, 2026
The first switch has become nintendos best selling console report

First Switch Becomes Nintendo's Best-Selling Console — Report

The original Switch has officially taken the crown from the Nintendo DS to become Nintendo's best-selling console. This is signaled by data from the company's third-quarter report: the updated shipment figure for the Switch has surpassed 155 million units, while the DS managed just over 154 million.

Below are the most interesting highlights from the "Big N's" report:

Key Figures

  • Over the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Nintendo's net revenue soared by 99.3% compared to the same period last year, reaching 1.9 trillion yen ($12.2 billion). Net profit also shows impressive figures — 358.8 billion yen ($2.3 billion), a growth of 51.3%.
  • Almost all of the company's revenue is generated by the segment involving consoles, games for them, and the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Only 2.86% of the total sum came from movies, merchandise, mobile content, and the like. However, this figure may soon increase as the premieres of "Super Mario: Galactic Movie" and the film based on The Legend of Zelda approach.
  • Over 9 months, sales outside of Japan accounted for 77.2% of the total. The largest contribution came from consumers in North and South America (40.3%), followed by Europe (24.7%), with the company's home country, Japan, rounding out the top three (22.8%).

Console Successes

  • Nintendo Switch sales volume as of December 31, 2025, reached 155.37 million units. The hybrid console has now overtaken the aforementioned DS and is breathing down the neck of the PlayStation 2, which has 160 million units sold. Will the "owl" be able to surpass its competitor, considering the first's sales are slowing down? In the third quarter, 1.36 million Switch units were sold, and the company expects to sell another 750 thousand units by April 1, when the fiscal year ends. Previously, Nintendo stated they would continue selling the first Switch, "taking consumer demand and market conditions into account."
  • Meanwhile, the Switch 2 continues to gain momentum, holding the title of the fastest-selling console for the "Big N." Over the holiday quarter, more than 7 million consoles were purchased. The total shipment of the device is 17.37 million units. It took the console less than a year to surpass the Wii U's lifetime sales of only 13.7 million units. Overall, the company hopes to sell 19 million Switch 2 units by the end of the current fiscal year.
  • Regarding games sold for the Switch and Switch 2, the first's result for the quarter is 47.37 million units, while the second's is 17.31 million units. The lifetime totals for the consoles differ even more. The first Switch has accumulated 1.5 billion games sold, while the second currently has only 37.93 million games sold.
  • The share of digital game sales in the third quarter was 46.1% — an increase of 2.7 percentage points compared to a year ago, but a decrease of 5.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter.
  • Nintendo stated that the rapid rise in prices for RAM and SSDs is not having a significant impact on the company's results in the current fiscal year. However, company president Shuntaro Furukawa noted that if this trend persists longer than forecasted, it could negatively affect profitability in the long term.

Best-Selling Switch Games

  1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — 70.59 million copies sold (+1.03 million copies in the quarter).
  2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons — 49.32 million copies (+700 thousand copies).
  3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — 37.44 million copies (+510 thousand copies).
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — 33.64 million copies (+300 thousand copies).
  5. Super Mario Odyssey — 30.27 million copies (+430 thousand copies).
  6. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet — 28.08 million copies (+470 thousand copies).
  7. Pokémon Sword & Shield — 27.08 million copies (+120 thousand copies).
  8. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — 22.40 million copies (+250 thousand copies).
  9. Super Mario Party — 21.28 million copies (+50 thousand copies).
  10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe — 18.8 million copies (+270 thousand copies).

Game Shipments Not in the Top 10

  • Nintendo Switch Sports — 17.84 million copies (+1.57 million copies since March 2025).
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder — 17.15 million copies (+1.12 million copies since March 2025).
  • Super Mario Party Jamboree — 9.41 million copies (+770 thousand copies).
  • Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch) — 8.41 million copies.
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch) — 2.42 million copies.
  • Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) — 2.28 million copies.

Switch 2 Game Results

  • Mario Kart World — 14.03 million copies (+4.46 million copies).
  • Donkey Kong Bananza — 4.25 million copies (+760 thousand copies).
  • Pokemon Legends: Z-A — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — 3.89 million copies.
  • Kirby Air Riders — 1.76 million copies.

Last quarter also saw the release of Metroid Prime 4, but Nintendo did not disclose its sales data. This may indicate that the game failed to sell more than a million units on either the Switch or the Switch 2 — the company counts sales separately for each platform. It's possible that the combined sales of Metroid Prime 4 across both consoles did surpass the one million copy mark.