Kirby and the Forgotten Land has graced our lives for a week now, and has already made its mark in franchise history. Famitsu has shared the game’s launch numbers in Japan, reaching a strong 380,000 and taking the top spot for the week. That’s fantastic, but it’s when you look at past Kirby launches that it becomes impressive.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land had the 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛 for the series in Japan, with a 70% increase over launch sales of Triple Deluxe.
It's the second biggest launch of 2022 in Japan so far, behind Pokémon Legends and above Elden Ring. pic.twitter.com/6Vlmp1tOq4
— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) March 31, 2022
Per Game Data Library, this floats far above the next best launch for the series (Kirby Super Star Ultra on the DS) by a factor of over 100,000 units. They also point out that it’s the second best game launch in Japan of 2022, behind Pokémon Legends: Arceus and ahead of Elden Ring — the news following this week’s reveal of Kirby also landing in the number one spot in UK charts.
Again, this is all limited to the Japanese market, and when global numbers come into play things might look different. That said, it’s no less impressive an achievement for Kirby games, the Nintendo Switch as a platform, and the character’s popularity.
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Written by Ricky Berg
When he isn’t writing for Nintendo Wire, Ricky’s anticipating the next Kirby, Fire Emblem, or if the stars ever align, Mother 3 to be released. Till then he’ll have the warm comfort of Super Smash Bros. to keep him going.
