Nintendo has revealed the most downloaded games in Japan in 2021 and there is a surprising number of third-party games on the list. The Nintendo Switch's best-selling games list has been dominated by first-party titles in the past, with games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being sales juggernauts that keep on bringing in revenue for the company.
2021 was a big year for the Switch. The system had a killers row of exclusives, including Metroid Dread, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Shin Megami Tensei V, Mario Party Superstars, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, and New Pokémon Snap. The OLED version of the system was also released in time for the holiday season, giving Nintendo something that could compete with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S over Christmas. In addition, the Nintendo Switch Online service received the paid Expansion Pack, which added N64 and Sega Genesis games to the service, along with giving free access to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC.
Nintendo has been particularly successful in Japan throughout the year, where it has crushed the competition in the console market. The official Nintendo website in Japan has a page that reveals the most downloaded games throughout the year. Topping the list is the highly-acclaimed Monster Hunter Rise, which was a Switch exclusive in 2021, but is coming to PC next month. Among Us was the number two game, which isn't surprising, considering how the game exploded in popularity during the pandemic, and its incredibly cheap price point
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond took the third spot, but Pokémon Shining Pearl is in the fifth spot. The game separating the two is the latest entry in the Momotaro Dentetsu series, which hasn't been localized outside of Japan. The Monotaro Dentetsu is a board game-style video game that is similar to Monopoly, where the players become rich by buying properties. The rest of the top ten consist of Human: Fall Flat, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Minecraft, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It's surprising that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is thirteenth on the list, suggesting that interest in the game might be starting to wane, following its surge of popularity during the pandemic, when it seemed poised to become the best-selling Nintendo Switch game.
The list above only accounts for digital games in Japan. The Monster Hunter series is more popular in its home country than it is abroad, even if it has been developing a fanbase in recent years, and the Momotaro Dentetsu games don't have English language versions. It will be interesting to see what games dominated Nintendo's global sales, during the company's next fiscal report in Q1 2022.
Source: Nintendo