Today, Nintendo is one of the world’s biggest video game companies, which isn’t bad, seeing as it launched in the 19th century as a playing card manufacturer. Nintendo entered the gaming industry in the 1970s. First with toys and electronic games, then with the Color TV-Game system. That lacked interchangeable games, but over time, Nintendo grew into the massive multimedia organization it is today with some of gaming’s biggest and most profitable franchises. We looked at the company’s records and found its best-selling game on each of its consoles (excluding the aforementioned Color TV-Game system), and listed them below.
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1) Game & Watch – Donkey Kong
Nintendo’s first handheld system was a clamshell LCD game device called Game & Watch, named for its built-in clock. While not interchangeable, the company produced more than 60 game models, including 35th-anniversary full-color ones in 2020 and 2021. All told, Nintendo sold over 43.3 million Game & Watch systems, and its best-selling game was Donkey Kong, which moved over 8 million units. That’s unsurprising, as the gameplay is similar to that of the Donkey Kong arcade game, which helped save Nintendo from bankruptcy in 1981 and made it a power player in the video game industry.
2) Nintendo Entertainment System – Super Mario Bros.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the most profitable and influential video game console of the 1980s, and it helped the industry claw its way out of the Video Game Crash of 1983. While it featured a plethora of popular games and launched many great franchises, its best-selling game is none other than its first pack-in game, Super Mario Bros. The game was a huge success, stretching the limits of what an 8-bit system could do at the time with catchy music, bright, colorful graphics, and easy-to-learn gameplay. The game was sold both individually and as a pack-in title, for a total of over 40,240,000 copies.
3) Game Boy & Game Boy Color – Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue
Like the NES, the Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color, were game changers in the handheld gaming market. The simple design and decision not to use a color screen (at first) resulted in longer battery life. The system featured an excellent library of games, and the best-selling title on either platform was none other than the first-generation Pokémon games: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue. All three were released at the same time in February 1996, with a total of 31,300,000 copies sold. If you include Pokémon Yellow, released in September 1998 and the last of the first generation, the total sales jump to 45,900,000.
4) Super Nintendo Entertainment System – Super Mario World
Nintendo entered the 16-bit era a little late with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and like its predecessor, the console featured a massive library of excellent games. The SNES featured a ton of pack-in games, and its best-selling game is part of Nintendo’s biggest franchise. Super Mario World was the first Mario game released on 16-bit hardware, and it was a huge step above its predecessors. It also introduced Yoshi to the franchise while expanding on and improving everything introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3. It didn’t remain a pack-in game forever; Super Mario World was sold individually, bringing the total number of games sold to over 20,610,000.
5) Virtual Boy – Mario’s Tennis
The Virtual Boy was a massive failure for Nintendo, and while it was incredibly ambitious and featured some impressive technology, it didn’t move the needle much in terms of sales. The device caused eye strain and migraines for many of the people who tried to use it, and it had to be played by leaning into it on a table. It was a poor design, but it still hit the market and featured only 22 games. The 32-bit system’s best-selling game was Mario’s Tennis, though it’s unclear precisely how many copies of the game were sold. Mario’s Tennis was one of the system’s five launch titles and the pack-in game in North America, which helped it take the top spot in sales.
6) Nintendo 64 – Super Mario 64
The Nintendo 64 was an impressive system when it launched, showing what Nintendo could do with 64-bit hardware, which was a lot. The company shifted much of its focus from 2D to 3D games, leading the way in terms of camera controls and 3D platformers. The system featured some excellent titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and GoldenEye 007, but its best-selling game was Super Mario 64. The pack-in game was the first in the franchise to feature 3D graphics, and it boasted an incredible story, excellent controls, and a large open world that drew many gamers. The game sold well, both with and without its pack-in status, with total copies sold exceeding 11,910,000.
7) GameCube – Super Smash Bros. Melee
The GameCube was Nintendo’s answer to the 6th console generation, competing with the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Xbox, and Sony PlayStation 2. It lost that console war battle, but the system was nonetheless loaded with great games, many of which continued as franchises long after the GameCube’s discontinuation. The system’s best-selling game was Super Smash Bros. Melee, the second in the franchise and an incredibly popular fighting game that fans dove headfirst into. It included characters from the first game, but also some from Fire Emblem and other franchises that North American players hadn’t been exposed to previously. Nintendo sold over 7,410,000 copies of Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube.
8) Game Boy Advance – Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Nintendo continued to innovate its handheld platform, moving the Game Boy into a new generation with the Game Boy Advance. It competed with the Nokia N-Gage and Bandai WonderSwan, so it didn’t really have much competition, taking a huge chunk of the market. Several versions were released over the years, and the system featured numerous excellent games. Its best-selling title was Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, which were released on the same day in November 2002. These two games combined to sell more than 16,220,000 copies, outperforming Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen by more than 4 million copies.
9) Pokémon Mini – Pokémon Party mini
The Pokémon Mini is a tiny system that was released in 2001, which hardly anyone knew existed, as it wasn’t marketed incredibly well. Regardless, it was made to play Pokémon games and related media, and to that end, its best-selling game fit snugly within the franchise. Sales figures aren’t entirely available, but from what data was found, Pokémon Party mini is the system’s best-selling game. There were only four titles released in North America, so the competition wasn’t too great, and only 10 games in total were made for the Pokémon Mini, so it’s not surprising that the system’s best-selling title was its pack-in game.
10) Nintendo DS – New Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo released the Nintendo DS, tapping into the company’s history and the design of its Game & Watch handheld systems for inspiration. The double-screen gimmick paid off, as players enjoyed and appreciated the dual-screen technology that enabled more information to be displayed on-screen, and the system featured some spectacular games. The best-selling game on the Nintendo DS is, by far, New Super Mario Bros., which has sold over 30,800,000 copies. That beat out every version of its second-best-selling title, Nintendogs, by nearly 7 million copies, so it wasn’t much of a contest.
11) Wii – Wii Sports
The Wii was perhaps one of Nintendo’s most brilliant moves to date, as the company didn’t attempt to outperform Sony or Microsoft, and instead catered to as wide a market as possible. To this end, Nintendo developed the Wii, targeting all age groups with its movement-based gaming. The Wii sold incredibly well, making it one of the best-selling gaming consoles of all time. The system’s best-selling game is one of its pack-in titles, included because it helped teach players how to use the console’s controls. Nintendo sold an astounding 82,900,000+ copies of Wii Sports, which significantly outperformed its second-best-selling game, Mario Kart Wii, by more than 45.5 million copies.
12) Nintendo 3DS – Mario Kart 7
The Nintendo 3DS took the Nintendo DS and upgraded it with better hardware, and converted its top screen to display autostereoscopic 3D visuals, allowing players to see their games in 3D without glasses. If a player experiences eye strain or headaches from this, they could use a slider to adjust the depth level. The innovative design proved incredibly successful, as players jumped at the chance to purchase a 3DS and enjoy its robust library of games. The handheld system’s best-selling game was one of its pack-in titles, at least for a while. Mario Kart 7 was a huge hit, moving close to 19 million copies throughout the life of the 3DS.
13) Wii U – Mario Kart 8
Nintendo tried to improve the Wii’s design with the Wii U, adding a touchscreen GamePad. This would become something of a transition system between the Wii and the Nintendo Switch, but consumers weren’t impressed. The system underperformed, and it failed in the marketplace. Still, it sold in the millions, and many players bought the console (myself included). Its best-selling game was one of its pack-in titles, Mario Kart 8, which sold more than 8,460,000 copies throughout its time on the Wii U. The number is significant because the system’s second-best-selling game, Super Mario 3D World, sold fewer than 5.9 million copies.
14) Switch – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Nintendo fixed its design and made a killing when it released the Nintendo Switch. The hybrid console that served as both a home system and a handheld catered to all kinds of gamers and featured a massive library of games. In a surprising twist, the system’s best-selling game is actually the same game that broke sales records for its predecessor. That said, for the Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a slightly different game that received an overhaul to improve performance on the newer hardware, so it’s not the same game. It’s also not not the same game, but either way, the Switch saw Mario Kart 8 Deluxe topple the competition with more than 70,590,000 copies sold.
15) Switch 2 – Mario Kart World
Since the Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t been out long (less than a year as of writing), its top-selling game will likely change as time passes. Still, the numbers do indicate which is its best-selling game right now, and the honor goes to Mario Kart World. Granted, Nintendo hasn’t revealed much about its sales figures for the new system, so other games may have surpassed it, but as of writing, Mario Kart World appears to have beaten the competition, with over 14,030,000 copies sold. Digital copies of other titles could have sold better since the Switch 2’s launch, but we’ll likely have to wait until the system has been on the market for longer to find out.
What’s your all-time favorite Nintendo game? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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