Splatoon Raiders' 475K Japan Debut Proves Switch 2 Momentum

The most revealing number in this week’s Famitsu Top 30 isn’t the 474,684 copies Splatoon Raiders moved in its debut week — it’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game from 2020, still selling 2,361 copies alongside it. Japan’s handheld market is running two Switch generations in parallel, and this chart captures the exact moment the new hardware stops being an upgrade path and starts being a platform of its own.

Splatoon Raiders’ first-week blowout leads a Top 30 where Switch 1 heavyweights — Minecraft, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — keep pulling thousands of weekly sales. That’s the handoff: the old library keeps sustaining players while Switch 2 proves it can launch a franchise-defining exclusive entirely on its own.

Splatoon Raiders Opens Big — and Doesn’t Cannibalize the Old Guard

474,684 in seven days is a statement for any exclusive in Japan, and it’s arriving on hardware that’s still building its install base rather than riding a launch-window spike. The contrast eleven spots down the chart makes the number sharper: Splatoon 3, the Switch 1 original, still moves 3,020 copies per week and sits at 4.56 million lifetime — the same long tail that pushed Raiders to number one in the UK charts last week. Raiders isn’t stealing those sales — the franchise is recruiting a second generation of players on the new handheld. That’s the healthiest sign a platform transition can show: new demand, not reshuffled demand.

The Switch 1 Long Tail Is the Switch 2’s Best Feature

Scroll below the exclusives and the chart reads like a museum of portable classics. Minecraft at 4.24 million lifetime, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 6.59 million, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 5.93 million, Animal Crossing at 8.45 million. Japan keeps buying these in 2026 because they’re the ultimate handheld games — pick up, play for twenty minutes, put down, repeat. On that front, Raiders fits the pattern: our review found its 20-hour campaign built for exactly these short bursts. For Switch 2 owners, that persistent long tail is the pitch: backward compatibility means the new handheld inherits the deepest library in Nintendo’s history on launch day. The Switch 1’s sales aren’t competing with Switch 2 — they’re the installed base that makes the upgrade feel like a safe bet.

Switch 2 Editions Are Matching Brand-New Exclusives

Breath of the Wild Switch 2 Edition (2,155) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch 2 Edition (2,175) are charting within a stone’s throw of brand-new Switch 2 exclusives like Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (2,235) and Digimon Story: Time Stranger (2,339). Games that already sold millions on the previous handheld are keeping pace with titles that cost years of development. That’s the upgrade economy Nintendo is running: pay for the enhanced handheld experience — better performance, visual upgrades — without losing your save file. The sales data says it’s working, and that all but guarantees more Switch 2 Editions — and more double-dip decisions for your library — in the coming months.