Given the nature of gaming discourse, it’s easy to take for granted just how well certain games actually end up selling. The most critically acclaimed ones are seldom heavy hitters when it comes to sales. For instance, despite consistently earning critical praise with each and every new installment, The Legend of Zelda is not on this list. In fact, not a single game came close. Not only did Zelda not make this list, neither Metroid or Donkey Kong made it either. All three franchises have what many consider to be the best games of all time, but they’re not part of Nintendo’s best sellers.
It makes sense, though. Nintendo very much has a specific way to market their games. You’ll notice a pattern throughout this list: all of Nintendo’s best sellers follow a specific formula. Whether it be due to bundling games with consoles or accessories, or simply by using a proper launch window, the best selling Nintendo games are the ones that play into Nintendo’s penchant for marketing to you. Why does the Switch sell so well? Because Nintendo know what they’re doing and they know what you want. While most of the best sellers are quite obvious, there are a few surprise hits lying in wait.
25 Mario Kart 8 | 17.04 Million
It’s worth noting, per Nintendo of Japan’s sales tracker, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe makes up over 11 million of the game’s units sold. That means, in less time than its Wii U counterpart, the Switch port was able to nearly double the original’s lifetime sales. While this doesn’t speak to the quality of the game, it does speak to how consumers viewed the Wii U and the Switch.
Due to its poor marketing and naming convention, the Wii U struggled immensely with its attach rate and adoption. You’ll notice later on in this list that Mario Kart games tend to sell incredibly well, but 8 would not have even come close to making this list had the Switch not attracted audiences with its stellar marketing campaign.
24 Super Mario Land | 18.371 Million
It really cannot be understated just how well the original Game Boy sold. Nintendo’s first real foray into a dedicated piece of handheld hardware, the Game Boy was billed as the NES’ natural companion. As a result, fans of the Nintendo Entertainment System naturally flocked to the Game Boy’s familiar titles.
A mini Mario on the go.
As Super Mario Bros. is one of the best selling games of all time (spoilers,) it’s only fitting that Super Mario Land, its miniature cousin, also sell gangbusters. While far from the best entry in the series, and easily the worst of its own sub-series, there is a certain charm to Land that made it appealing to fans of the franchise and those just looking for something fun to play on the go.
23 Brain Age | 19.01 Million
Speaking of fun on the go, how about that Nintendo DS? One of Nintendo’s best selling handhelds of all time, don’t be surprised to see quite a few DS games on this list. While its legacy thrived on the 3DS, the DS had quite a few gems that the gaming community has since forgotten. Which is strange considering how well they sold.
Brain Age, Nintendo’s all purpose intelligence test managed to sell 19.01 million units without so much as leaving a cultural impact on the industry. Few sequels, few spin-offs, and few imitators exist to challenge the Brain Age name. At the same, perhaps that’s for the best. After all, Nintendo more or less knocked the game out of the park in one go and the sales show.
22 Wii Fit Plus | 21.13 Million
Although most of the entries on this list are sequels- because well-timed sequels print money- it’s important to recognize that said sequels are a part of long-running franchises. Wii Fit is a series with two entries, the second installment little more than a glorified remaster of sorts with some new content.
Because you are always do better.
With that in mind, this sells just how impressive its total lifetime sales actually are. Despite following up a game that, quite honestly, was standalone by design, Wii Fit Plus still somehow sold 21.13 million units. In truth, this is a testament to the sheer willpower of the Nintendo Wii and its ludicrous legacy.
21 Super Mario 64 | 23.24 Million
Given that we live in a medium generation running what seems to be exclusively nostalgia, it’s not particularly difficult to misremember the things we onced loved in our youth as “good.” This is not to say the Nintendo 64 is mind, it’s a great console with some of the best games ever made, but it didn’t sell all that well.
This statement is made even more surprising over the fact that Super Mario 64 is one of the best selling games of all time at 23.24 million. How could this be if the Nintendo 64 didn’t sell all that well? Well, these sales also include the DS port which released on a system that sold almost impossibly well.
20 Mario Kart DS | 23.60 Million
Remember what we said about Mario Kart? Naturally, its Nintendo DS version sold an impressive 23.60 million units. While Mario Kart is more or less always guaranteed to sell well, Mario Kart DS is one of the better games in the series from a quality perspective, introducing several franchise staples.
Arguably the most important Mario Kart game of all time.
Not only did it bring with it the series’ only dedicated single player mode, DS also introduced online play and throwback tracks, courses that were lifted from previous games and reimagined for the newest installment. Mario Kart DS ushered the franchise into a new age and, at the time, it seemed like the best thing ever. Which it kind of was.
19 Pokémon Sun & Moon | 23.61 Million
Of course Game Freak’s flagship franchise would appear on this list. Every single Generation sells incredibly well, basically pushing units on their own. Game Freak may very well have saved the Wii U had they decided to release a new Generation away from their handheld shtick. Naturally, Sun and Moon make the list.
Keep in mind, this is just the first two installments barring their Ultra revisions. Even without their “third versions,” both games sold well enough to top the list- the same cannot be said for Generation V which also had sequels or Generation VI which only featured base games. Gen VII really brought new blood to the series.
18 Nintendogs | 23.96 Million
There’s a good reason Nintendo earned their reputation as the “casual” games developer back in the era of the Nintendo DS and the Wii. Not only were their games selling well almost consistently, the games that were selling were targeted at a more casual audience. Case in point: Nintendogs.
Now don’t get us wrong, a game’s casualness has no bearing on its actual quality. Nintendogs is quite good, in fact, making great use of all of the DS’ features while offering a fun pet simulator where your dogs can’t, you know, pass away. Definitely made for a casual audience in mind, but that’s what sells sometimes.
17 Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum | 25.27 Million
Generation IV of Pokémon was a massive deal. Not only did the franchise get quite the aesthetic makeover, making greater use of 2.5D models, Gen IV saw the series push familiar concepts into new territories. Like Mario Kart DS, the single player was more involved and online played a big role in winning over audiences.
Pokémon literally prints money.
When it comes down to it, Diamond and Pearl actually didn’t need Platinum to help bolster Gen IV’s sales. As the franchise’s first big foray on the DS, and at a rather comfortable time for the series’ popularity, both games sold fairly well. They may not have made it onto this list without the third entry push, but Game Freak certainly wasn’t hurting for money.
16 Wii Play | 28.08 Million
Wii Sports’ little brother, Wii Play was Nintendo’s attempt at even further experimenting with what the Wiimote could do as a controller. Although nowhere near as critically successful as Wii Sports, or even commercially (spoilers,) people were still eating up the Wii craze at the time, ensuring Wii Play sold more than just well. Of course, it doesn’t have nearly as strong a legacy and isn’t beloved, but just because something sells or grosses well doesn’t mean that it’ll have a cultural impact.
15 Duck Hunt | 28.31 Million
You’re probably wondering why or how Duck Hunt, a game that really only ever existed on the NES, sold as well as it did, beating out every single Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Donkey Kong game. Well, here’s the thing: not only was the NES insanely popular, Duck Hunt was bundled with it at one point.
It’s hard to believe it took four whole games before Duck Hunt got Smash representation.
You’ll come to learn that games that come bundled with consoles naturally sell very well because said units are actually shared between software and hardware. Every NES sold was a Duck Hunt sold. Is that a fair estimate of Duck Hunt’s attach rate? Not really, but also kind of? That’s just the nature of business!
14 New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 30.20 Million
These days, pretty much everyone is done with the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series. After massive market saturation, there’s really nothing to be excited about. Not only did the games never reinvent themselves aesthetically, we arguably got too many at once, damaging the brand to the point where the Switch is getting a compilation over a sequel.
During the Wii’s era, though, we weren’t as over the series. In fact, New Super Mario Bros. Wii was a massive deal! It was the sequel to one of the DS’ best games and was introduced an actual multiplayer component for the franchise, letting you platform with friends at the exact same time. It would have sold well even if it weren’t on the Wii.
13 New Super Mario Bros. | 30.80 Million
To put into perspective just how big of a deal the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series actually was, its first game was touted as Nintendo’s triumphant return to traditional, 2D Mario. Following Super Mario 64, Nintendo more or less shelved the 2D franchise in favor of 3D games and the occasional spin-off.
A fad series, but a profitable one.
New Super Mario Bros. was Nintendo’s way of showing its audience that they weren’t done with 2D, not even close. Designed in the same vein as the NES entries, old school fans finally got a taste of what they had been missing for years. From Super Mario World to New Super Mario Bros., the 2D series was revived.
12 Wii Sports Resort | 33.08 Million
Wii Sports Resort didn’t sell as much as it did because audiences were just so thirsty for a sequel to the Wii’s introductory game. Wii Sports Resort sold well because Nintendo are literal geniuses who chose to package a game that wasn’t going to sell well on its own with Wii Motion Plus.
Most people bought the game not for the game itself, but for the peripheral billed as Nintendo’s way of improving the Wiimote in every way imaginable. It’s a bit much for an accessory to be honest, but totally affordable when it comes with a game! 33.08 million people couldn’t dream of passing up such a good deal.
11 Super Mario World | 34.183 Million
Widely considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, Super Mario World launched alongside the Super Nintendo and its sales show. You simply cannot separate the game from its home console. This was the game Nintendo used to advertise the New 3DS’ SNES virtual console when the time came to do so, after all.
Few games can truly rival Super Mario World.
Helping Super Mario World is its just as popular GBA port/remaster that introduced the game to an entirely new generation of fans looking to hangout with the Italian plumber. This is a game that is so ingrained into gaming history, that it’s only fitting it be one of Nintendo’s top-selling games.
10 Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald | 36.6 Million
Starting off our top ten is none other than Generation III of the ever popular critter catching phenomenon, Pokémon. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald’s lifetime sales really just go to show just how long and potent the series’ fervor was. After two main Generations with a combined seven games and dozens of spin-offs, fans were still eating the series up.
Even though Generation III seemingly took a step back in many respects, the shift to the GBA gave fans the indication that Game Freak wasn’t just going to abandon the series. While the series is derided for its lack of evolution these days, Generation III signified a desire to change and adapt with new hardware.
9 Mario Kart Wii | 37.10 Million
The last Mario Kart on our list was a perfect storm in the making when it came to sales. In many respects, it was a literal triple threat. Not only was it releasing on the Nintendo Wii as the follow up to arguably the most important entry in the series, it was marketed with a steering wheel for your Wii!
The best selling entry in the series and it isn’t even close.
Given what we’ve established about why games sell well, it is not at all difficult to see why Mario Kart Wii managed to sell an easy 37.10 million units without so much as a rerelease or port. It’s honestly baffling how poorly the Wii U sold considering just how strong Nintendo’s marketing game was during the Wii era.
8 Super Mario Bros. 2 | 38.39 Million
Super Mario Bros. 2 may not have sold as well as the original, but it’s hard to top what is arguably the best selling “traditional” game of all time. At release, this game was actually a massive deal. Not only did Nintendo advertise it heavily with some clever cross promotion via Nintendo Power, the game ended up being one of the hottest selling items of its holiday season. This was the game you wanted for Christmas as a kid which naturally sparked massive interest in the title, generating more sales than it would get otherwise.
7 Super Mario Bros. 3 | 39.52 Million
Typically, sequels in succession garner a downtrend in sales. It’s just the natural endpoint of business. Not everyone is going to hop on from entry to entry, choosing to skip the current for the next or feeling burnout from the last. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the rare game that actually sold more than its predecessor.
While it wasn’t by much, it’s important to consider the context around Super Mario Bros. 3. Following the second game, fans were looking for a more traditional sequel and Nintendo listened. The third game was not only back to basics, it did so by pushing the series forward as well and setting a foundation for Super Mario World. Which sold less.
6 Pokémon Gold, Silver, & Crystal | 42.21 Million
Common sense should tell us that Generation II was the peak of the franchise’s popularity, but it actually sold less than Generation I. Not by too much, though. Keep in mind that Generation I also had a fourth game in Japan, bolstering its sales significantly. Gen II, on the other hand, had its base two and then a third.
Marvel at what many consider to be the series’ finest hour.
Believe it or not, Game Freak actually thought Generation II would sell poorly. After all, at the time, Generation I seemed little more than a fad, and fads end. What Game Freak didn’t account for was the growth of the medium. Gamers became attached to the series and Gen II’s finale-esque nature ensured that fans would keep coming back for more.
