Kirby Air Riders was the top-selling game in Japan during its launch week
- Marc Kaliroff
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Kirby Air Riders scored a big victory this past week in Japan, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has been following the game since its announcement.
According to Japanese publication Famitsu, during the launch week of Kirby Air Riders in Japan, the game sold 195,594 physical units. Nintendo has not provided digital sales numbers for the title, but official data has confirmed that Air Riders beat Mario Kart World and Pokémon Legends: Z-A from holding the top spot on the charts at retail.
While that may sound extra impressive on the surface, for context, Mario Kart World and Pokémon Legends: Z-A have been out for quite some time and have remained in Japan's top-selling games chart. Mario Kart World managed to pull in 780,000 physical units sold during its launch week, a total that outshines its biggest competitors this year, Kirby Air Riders and Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, combined.
Despite this, 195,594 physical units is still very notable for the Kirby franchise and Nintendo's first-party Nintendo Switch 2 catalog.
For comparison, Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch debuted in Japan with roughly 380,000 physical units sold. While Forgotten Land did sell substantially more than Air Riders, that game was available on a widely owned system and was a mainline entry in the Kirby series. Air Riders is exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2, a console that debuted on the market just this past year.
When Nintendo reports official numbers for how much Kirby Air Riders has sold, we will be sure to let you all know! Just don't expect those numbers for a while, as Nintendo typically only delivers sales data during its usual investor meetings and quarterly financial reports.