Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Dominates September Releases in Japan, Selling Over 200,000 Copies in Four Days

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom took the top spot as the best-selling boxed game in Japan for September, with sales exceeding 200,000 copies in just four days. According to Famitsu's latest charts, which cover data from August 26 to September 29, this figure is more than double that of any other game released last month. Its nearest rival, Bandai Namco's Gundam Breaker 4 on Switch, sold nearly 68,000 units, securing the second position in the monthly sales rankings. When combining the sales of the PS5 and PS4 versions, Gundam Breaker 4 achieved almost 130,000 units, despite being available for the entire month. The success of Gundam Breaker 4 propelled Bandai Namco to become the second-largest publisher in terms of revenue, trailing only Nintendo. Notably, Gundam Breaker 4 has already surpassed the lifetime sales of its 2018 predecessor, New Gundam Breaker, which sold 106,000 copies. More than half of the Top 30 games, 18 in total, were new releases. Other notable successes include the Switch version of Cygames' Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash, which debuted at number three with over 50,000 sales, Square Enix's Visions of Mana on PS5 and PS4, which combined for 54,000 sales, and the PlayStation hit Astro Bot, which sold 35,000 copies. Nintendo had only one other new release in the Top 30, the new Famicom Detective Club outing Emio: The Smiling Man, which sold 31,000 copies. However, the company maintained a strong presence in the chart, holding nine positions thanks to the ongoing popularity of Animal Crossing, Nintendo Switch Sports, and Mario Kart 8. The latter has now sold six million copies in Japan. Only three new Western releases broke into the charts: EA Sports FC 25 on Switch and PS5, which combined for 16,500 sales, and Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, which sold 12,500 copies. In terms of hardware sales, the Switch OLED was the top-selling console for the month, with 193,647 units sold, accounting for exactly 50% of all hardware sales. The PS5 trailed behind, with 15.6% of hardware sales, totaling 60,427 units, a decline from the 86,000 units sold the previous month.