Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Has Biggest Release Weekend in Japan Since Animal Crossing

 

Last Friday saw the release of the 5th generation Pokémon remakes, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, on the Nintendo Switch, the first of two Pokémon games that will be released over the next six months. It seems that Pokémon fans in Japan were beyond excited for the game, giving it the best launch for a Nintendo Switch game since the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

 

According to Famitsu, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold 1.396 million copies in the first three days of release in Japan. This makes it the second-highest first three days for a Nintendo Switch game in Japan, only behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons' over 1.88 million copies sold. For reference, when Pokémon Sword and Shield launched in Japan in 2019, it sold 1,365,000 copies over its first three days. 

 

Famitsu only tracks physical sales of games, as well as download cards that are sold in stores across Japan, so these numbers do not include eShop downloads and sales, which continue to increase every year. For Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, double pack sales are also included.

 

With the release of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Nintendo Switch sales increased dramatically over the previous week, with over 168,000 consoles sold, doubling last week's 87,000 units sold. This has pushed the Nintendo Switch past 22 million consoles sold in Japan, nearly doubling the 13 million units the Nintendo Wii U sold worldwide during its lifetime.

 

 

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl hit Nintendo Switch on November 19. 

 

Source: Famitsu

 

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

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