Nintendo Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, and immediately broke company records with more than 3.5 million units sold in its first four days alone. More than a year later, the console's software charts tell a clear story: Nintendo's biggest names are still doing the heavy lifting, but one unexpected title is closing the gap fast.
Mario Kart World leads by a wide margin
Mario Kart World sits comfortably at the top with 15.39 million copies sold as of June 30, 2026. Its position as a launch title gave it a head start no other game on the platform has been able to match, and that early lead still shows in the numbers a full year on.
Behind it, the rest of the top tier looks like this:
- Donkey Kong Bananza: 4.78 million copies
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2 Edition): 3.99 million copies
- Pokemon Pokopia: over 5 million copies, achieved in only a few months
- Kirby Air Riders: 1.90 million copies
- Super Mario Party Jamboree: Switch 2 Edition: 1.15 million copies
The real story is Pokemon Pokopia's climb
Mario Kart World may own the biggest total, but Pokemon Pokopia is the title generating the most buzz. Released in March 2026, this social simulation and sandbox spinoff jumped from 2.4 million to over 5 million copies sold in just a few months, a growth curve none of Nintendo's other 2026 releases have matched. It also topped the Switch 2 eShop sales charts in Japan for the first half of 2026, a strong signal that word-of-mouth is doing real work here rather than brand recognition alone.
Only six games past the million mark
A year into the console's life, just six titles have crossed one million units sold. That's a modest number compared to where the original Switch stood at the same point in its lifecycle, and it underlines something worth keeping in mind: the Switch 2's exclusive lineup is still being built out, not fully established.
Critics are on board too
On the review side, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch 2 Edition) holds the platform's top Metacritic score at 95, tied with Hades II. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch 2 Edition) follows closely at 94, alongside Silksong and Donkey Kong Bananza, both praised for their art direction and design.
What it all means
The pattern here is familiar: Nintendo's core franchises, Mario, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, continue to carry the console's early years, just as they did for the original Switch and the Wii before it. What's new is the presence of a title like Pokopia proving that original concepts can still break through without a decades-old mascot attached to them.
Nintendo's next financial reports should clarify whether that momentum holds as more exclusives reach the market. For now, the takeaway is simple: the Switch 2's software library is growing fast, but it's still early days compared to what the franchise-heavy years ahead are likely to bring.
