Nintendo Switch has now officially surpassed the sales of the Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 marked the Japanese console-maker’s first foray into the age of 3D gaming, giving us such classics as Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Banjo-Kazooie. It was one of Nintendo’s most popular home consoles (behind the Wii, NES and SNES) but it has now been bested by the Nintendo Switch’s sales numbers, as revealed in a recent financial figures report.
The Nintendo Switch has sold 34.7 million consoles to be exact, ever so slightly overtaking the Nintendo 64’s lifetime sales of 32.93 million. It’s still unclear whether or not the Nintendo Switch will ever reach the storied heights of Nintendo’s best-selling console, the Wii (which stands at 101.63 million), but it definitely bodes well for the future of the hybrid console.
Nintendo itself cites this impressive milestone as being a result of great sales of such first-party games as Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In total, 23 Nintendo Switch games each sold more than a million copies in 2018 – and with triple-A Nintendo games like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem: Three Houses still to come, 2019 looks to be another successful year.
It’s worth noting that despite the Switch selling 34 million units in just over two years, this figure still falls slightly short of what Nintendo was expecting. Originally, the goal was to reach 20 million over the 12 months ending on 31st March 2019, before revising this figure to a more reasonable 17 million. It still only sold 16.95 million. However, with continuing rumours that a Nintendo Switch hardware revision could be arriving as soon as June, this is sure to provide a significant boost.