SNES Classic Debuts with Huge Numbers in Japan

This week’s Japanese sales are marked by the return of Nintendo’s ‘other’ iconic home console. Having learned from the mistakes of the limited distribution of the NES Classic last year, the company made sure to ship enough devices to meet the demand, and they were rewarded with a huge number debut sales. According to Famitsu, 368.913 SNES Classic consoles were sold. That is well above the 262.961 sales the NES Classic had in its debut, highlighting the strength of Nintendo’s nostalgic products and their importance in the company’s current business.

If it wasn’t for the SNES, Nintendo Switch would have been the top selling console this week according to Media Create. However, the hybrid console has seen its sales decline this week for a lack of shipments to stores, however, the numbers are still higher than what the console used to do in the previous months, when the lack of stock was a major reason for concern. Besides, all major consoles suffered somekind of drop this week, with 3DS and PS4 following in the rank.

The hardware list is the only one to have bright spots this week, as all the new software releases did very poorly in their debuts. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions takes the number one spot with minimal sales, which in any other week would have left it a few positions below. The poor response to the game seems to be a global issue, as the title did not fare better in the United Kingdom.

Other new entries include the new PS4 version of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, and Tokyo Clanpool.

Software List

01. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions – 25.788 / NEW
02. [NSW] Splatoon 2 – 22.338 / 1.212.901 (-25%)
03. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 13.392 / 734.133 (-11%)
04. [PS4] FIFA 18 – 13.169 / 69.088 (-76%)
05. [PS4] The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III – 12.581 / 99.841 (-86%)
06. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX – 11.831 / 88.768 (-50%)
07. [PS4] Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen – 11.666 / NEW
08. [PS4] Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 – 10.825 / NEW
09. [NSW] Fire Emblem Warriors – 8.024 / 49.514 (-81%)
10. [PS4] Winning Eleven 2018 – 6.266 / 97.712 (-39%)
11. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 6.196 / 604.865 (-19%)
12. [PSV] Tokyo Clanpool – 5.197 / NEW
13. [3DS] Fire Emblem Warriors – 4.952 / 23.309 (-73%)
14. [NSW] Monster Hunter Double Cross: Nintendo Switch Ver. – 4.785 / 151.668 (-25%)
15. [NSW] FIFA 18 – 4.660 / 17.276 (-63%)
16. [3DS] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age – 4.370 / 1.737.922 (-23%)
17. [NSW] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch – 4.339 / 40.424 (-2%)
18. [3DS] The Snack World: TreJarers – 4.126 / 176.959 (-19%)
19. [NSW] Arms – 3.340 / 232.688
20. [PS4] Destiny 2 – 3.205 / 91.893 (-57%)

Hardware List

01. Nintendo Switch – 38.204
02. Nintendo 3DS– 23.051
03. PlayStation 4 – 22.549
04. PlayStation Vita – 3.545
05. Xbox One – 186
06. PlayStation 3 – 72
07. Wii U – 45

Famitsu: Super Famicom Mini – 368.913