Breath of the Wild Gets the Best Japanese Debut of the Series in Years

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Nintendo Switch shines in its Japanese debut with strong sales that make the console sit comfortable at the top of the weekly rank according to Media Create. Many of the games released alongside the console have also taken the top positions, especially The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which achieves one of the strongest recent debuts of the series.

Counting both Nintendo Switch and Wii U editions of Breath of the Wild, the latest entry in the long-running series has sold 230.981 copies. That is well above the debut of Twilight Princess, which sold 163.911 in Wii and Gamecube, and also more than Skyward Sword on Wii, which managed 194.978 sales.

The other big Nintendo Switch game of the week has been 1-2 Switch, with sales of 79.536. While the console launched in Japan with more games than in the West, titles like Dragon Quest Heroes I-II haven’t really caught the attention of the public. Sadly, the big failure of this launch week is Disgaea 5 Complete, which couldn’t even enter the top 20.

But there were are other important releases this week aside of Nintendo Switch titles, as the PlayStation 4 exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn confirmed its strong debut around the world with 116.997 sales in Japan. Definitely a good result for a Western production.

On the hardware chart, Nintendo Switch had a solid launch in line with other recent releases, as Famitsu advanced earlier this week. PlayStation 4 also had a good week thanks to its recent string of exclusive releases, and if someone expected 3DS sales to slow down with the arrival of Switch, they were certainly wrong this time, as the portable console actually improved its numbers by a couple of thousands units from last week.

Software List

01. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 186.379 / NEW
02. [PS4] Horizon: Zero Dawn – 116.997 / NEW
03. [NSW] 1-2-Switch – 79.536 / NEW
04. [WIU] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 44.602 / NEW
05. [PS4] NieR: Automata – 38.002 / 236.545 (-81%)
06. [NSW] Super Bomberman R – 36.623 / NEW
07. [NSW] Dragon Quest Heroes I & II for Nintendo Switch – 25.606 / NEW
08. [PS4] Super Robot Wars V – 15.321 / 115.475 (-85%)
09. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 – Professional – 13.426 / 163.058 (+3%)
10. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris – 12.854 / NEW
11. [PSV] Super Robot Wars V – 12.813 / 96.546 (-85%)
12. [3DS] Pokemon Sun / Moon – 12.292 / 3.189.271 (-9%)
13. [PS4] Nioh – 10.210 / 128.824 (-41%)
14. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V [New Price Edition] – 7.357 / 291.327 (+19%)
15. [PS4] Resident Evil 7: biohazard – 7.176 / 291.666 (-31%)
16. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS – 7.042 / 983.867 (+0%)
17. [PS4] For Honor – 6.435 / 59.700 (-51%)
18. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki – 5.980 / 681.240 (-2%)
19. [PS4] Winning Post 8 2017 – 5.793 / NEW
20. [3DS] Doraemon the Movie: Nobita no Nankyoku Kachikochi Daibouken – 5.481 / NEW

Hardware List

01. Nintendo Switch – 329.152

01. PlayStation 4 – 37.807

02. Nintendo 3DS – 23.848

03. PlayStation Vita – 9.889

04. PlayStation 3 – 615

05. Wii U – 565

06. Xbox One – 147


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Jose Belmonte
From Murcia to New York City, I go through life learning as much as I can about technology, TV shows and videogames. My motto is: Coffee, coffee, coffee.