Nintendo's latest financial results are here, and among somewhat slumping sales and a promise that Switch 2 will be announced soon there's one big thing to marvel at: Mario Kart 8 just won't stop selling. 10 years after the kart racer's original launch on Wii U, the game's Deluxe successor on Switch still managed to sell better than every single first-party game Nintendo has released this year.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has managed to sell 3.62 million units between January 1 and September 30, 2024, combining sales data from Nintendo's first half FY25 results and Q4 FY24 results to get the full numbers for the calendar year. Nintendo's best-selling new release this year is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which sold 2.58 million units in the four days between its launch and the cutoff for Nintendo's latest financial results.
It's possible Zelda might keep selling well enough to eclipse Mario Kart 8 Deluxe by the end of the year, but even as an avowed Echoes of Wisdom liker I can't really see it happening. It's also possible that Super Mario Party Jamboree or Mario & Luigi: Brothership, both of which will report first sales data next quarter, could take on Mario Kart, but Nintendo's setting a high bar for itself.
Nintendo released a total of 9 new games between January 1 and September 30, with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door having sold 1.94 million units and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD having sold 1.57 million units since launch. A couple of Q1 launches - Princess Peach: Showtime and Mario vs. Donkey Kong - managed to squeak onto Nintendo's million-seller list for FY24, but they haven't reappeared on that list for FY25, meaning they've fallen well short of matching Mario Kart this calendar year.
According to Nintendo's official sales totals, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 64.27 million units on Switch, making it the best-selling standalone game Nintendo has ever released, and that's not even counting the 8.46 million the game originally sold on Wii U. Wii Sports is the only Nintendo game that's gotten into more people's hands, thanks largely to its inclusion as a pack-in with the motion control console. Nintendo's clearly set a high bar for itself with Switch 2 on the horizon, and personally I'm looking forward to the inevitable Mario Kart 9 finally giving its predecessor a proper race.
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