The Best-Selling Games for Each Console

Have you ever stopped to think about the best-selling games on each platform released over the years? Of course, there are games that were acclaimed, won awards, and became among the most played and appreciated by a fan base, but they aren't necessarily the best-selling games on that console. Take, for example, Shenmue on the Dreamcast.

It was acclaimed and adored by a fan base on the late SEGA console who waited for years to find out the end of the story. But, in terms of sales, the game was so expensive to produce that each Dreamcast owner had to buy two copies of the game to cover the production costs. So, knowing this difference between sales and public acclaim, we'll talk about the best-selling games on each console.

We're only covering the major home and portable consoles and leaving out niche systems that few people owned or remember, like a Jaguar, a Philips CDi, or Nintendo's Virtual Boy. We'll also only consider officially released sales data. Some of these numbers may have changed or are in the wrong order, but as of 2025, this is as up-to-date as possible based on the most recent official data.

So, let's talk about these games, and if you have any questions, leave a comment.

With 8 million, the round, yellow mascot dominated Atari console sales, as early home consoles were primarily a way to play the best arcade games at home, so it makes sense that Pac-Man would be the Atari 2600's best-selling game. After Cookie Monster's 8 million copies, the aliens from Space Invaders come in a distant second with just over 6 million, and finally, Donkey Kong rounds out the top three with just over 4 million.

While it's not possible to be certain of the exact sales figures, it's estimated that 40 million copies of Super Mario Bros. were sold to Nintendo 8-Bit owners. But, we have to say: despite being one of the best Mario games and certainly selling millions on its own, Super Mario Bros. was a game that came with the NES.

In fact, this game was probably the reason most people bought the console, so we'll never know for sure how many copies the game would’ve sold had it not been included with the console. However, included or not, the sales figure of over 40 million copies is no surprise. Even with Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. 3, which were also bundled together, the hunting game sold only 28 million copies, and the third game with the mustached man only 18 million copies, respectively. If you don't count these combos, the best-selling NES game would be Tetris, with 8 million copies sold.

Just as Nintendo's main mascot topped the NES sales charts, Sega's Sonic was easily the best-selling Mega Drive game with 15 million sales. However, we have to make the same observation about this Sonic game as we did with Mario, because it was also sold along with the console. If we're going to look at second place, there's none other than Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with around 7.5 million copies. These are big numbers, but they really show how dominant Nintendo was during the console wars of the 1990s.

Although there are no official figures, SEGA revealed that one of the best-selling and most acclaimed games for the 8-bit console was the RPG Phantasy Star. Developed to compete with Nintendo's exclusive Final Fantasy, it tells a deep story with excellent characters that delight players to this day. Phantasy Star wasn't included in any console package, making it a very impressive feat.

Here in Brazil, it also received Portuguese subtitles from Tec Toy, allowing us to enjoy the game even more. Now, another contender for the console's top seller is Alex Kidd in Miracle World, which was included within the console. So, it's quite likely that Alex and Alis dominated the 8-bit scene, even losing out to the competing plumber.

With 31 million units sold, what else could be the Game Boy's best-selling game than the franchise that dominated the world and even appeared on the cover of Time! The monster-catching games, Pokémon, launched the franchise into the stratosphere and gave the handheld a second lifespan of almost 10 years after the first game. Some might think it's a bit unfair to group the sales of both games together, but that's how Nintendo has always done it. Furthermore, the second best-selling game is Tetris, but that was a game sold with the console, and third place goes to Pokémon Gold & Silver, with 23.7 million.

Despite appearances, the Game Gear and Master System weren't exactly siblings, with similar technical specifications or games ported from one to the other. Each had its own particularities, and this also reflected in sales. Sonic 2, developed by Aspect and published by SEGA, was the best-selling game for the handheld console, with 400,000 copies sold. Unlike others, Sonic 2 is an exclusive adventure and not a "demake" of the 16-bit version. And, despite its screen size limitations and its reputation for consuming batteries, the hedgehog game became incredibly popular on handhelds. Sonic Chaos, exclusive to the Game Gear but released for the Master System in Brazil by Tec Toy, was the second best-selling game.

With 20.6 million, is anyone surprised that another Mario game tops the list? Once again, we have to point out this huge sales milestone, as it's part of a bundle that included the game with the console. Just like with the NES, however, Super Mario World is one of the best SNES games and would likely have sold very well regardless of whether it was bundled with the console. If you want to find the next best-selling game that isn't a game-and-console bundle, we have to go all the way to ninth place, where we have Street Fighter II Turbo with 4.1 million copies sold.

With 10.85 million copies sold, it was a very close race between first, second, and third place, but the first GT on Sony's console, the racing game that kicked off the franchise, took the first place. Besides being a great game, Gran Turismo was, and still is, an incredible graphical showcase for Sony's consoles, drawing a huge crowd just to demonstrate what the console could do. Second place went to Final Fantasy 7 with 10.02 million copies sold.

To the surprise of zero people, another Mario game was the best-selling game on a Nintendo console, with 11.91 million. Shocking, isn't it? But this is, once again, a situation involving a game sold with the console. In fact, the N64's first to fourth places all share this same observation, including Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Fifth place, however, goes to Super Smash Bros. without this addendum and with a respectable 5.55 million sales. Mario 64 is a true milestone, demonstrating how to adapt a side-scroller to 3D and spawning a flood of similar games, such as Banjo Kazooie, Bomberman 64, and others with "64" in the title that followed the Super Mario formula.

With 2.5 million copies sold, unfortunately, not even Sonic could save this console, and his premium 3D adventure only managed to sell so far. Let's acknowledge Sonic Adventure's merits here: it retold the history of 2D games in a more mature and detailed way, finally bringing Sonic's lore (which had always been there, but had gone unnoticed by many) to the big screen, with incredible music performed by the band Crush 44. Then, it expanded on this in Sonic Adventure 2, creating a life of its own for the then-new Modern Sonic. Soulcalibur was the second-best seller with just under 1.3 million copies sold, and Shenmue, which put the final nail in the console's coffin, came in third with 1.2 million.

With 17.33 million sales, it may seem surprising how few copies the PS2's best-selling game has, considering it's the best-selling console itself (there are about 160 million PS2s out there)! Moving down the list, Gran Turismo 3 takes the silver medal with 14.89 million, and GTA: Vice City takes the bronze with 14.2 million.

With 8.46 million copies sold, Master Chief dominated Microsoft's first console attempt, which fared much better than expected. This success was largely due to the release of a well-designed game like Halo exclusively on the Xbox. The sequel, Halo 2, was one of the best-selling games at the time and revolutionized online gaming, allowing it to surpass the original Halo, which sits in second place with 6 million sales. The gap to third place is enormous, with Fable selling a still impressive 3 million copies.

With 7.41 million, Super Smash Bros. Melee won the battle for the top spot on Nintendo's console. Unfortunately, the console market began to slip from BigN's grasp with the GameCube, and only Super Smash Bros. Melee helped the company and played an important role in keeping the console relevant in sales and competitive scenes. It's also the first console where Mario was pushed into third place, though only technically, as the mustached man is also on SSB. Mario Kart: Double Dash is in second place with 6.88 million, followed by Mario Sunshine with 5.91 million. Ultimately, Mario remains at the top, somehow.

With 30.80 million copies sold, Nintendo's handheld saw a rare turnaround: Super Mario at the top and Pokémon well below at number five. The 30.80 million figure is a number Nintendo hasn't reached for a handheld featuring the plumber since the original Game Boy. Following it, Nintendo's top two sellers are Nintendogs, with 23.96 million, and lastly, Mario Kart DS just missed out, with 23.60 million.

With 24 million copies sold, would you have guessed that Kinect Adventures! was the best-selling game on the Xbox 360? You probably would’ve thought that Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Skyrim, or one of the other games that often appear on the "best Xbox 360 games" list would be the best-selling, but no, 24 million people bought Kinect Adventures! But let's be real: The 360 ​​was practically built around the Kinect, with several features built around the peripheral and still being marketed as a form of family fun—it's not surprising. However, the first place for a Kinect-focused game seems even crazier when you realize that this game outsold GTA V, with 22.95 million, and Minecraft, with 22 million on the console.

With 29.52 million sales, GTA V being the console's top seller probably feels more like what you'd imagine a top seller to be. GTA V absolutely crushed every other PS3 game in terms of sales by a huge margin, as you'd expect. The game, which followed three different protagonists in a huge open city that gave players the freedom to do practically anything, was an absurd success. Even Gran Turismo 5, which came in second, sold only 11.95 million copies, and Uncharted 3, in third place, with around 9 million.

With 82.90 million copies sold, Nintendo's strategy of bundling its games with its consoles has never been more successful than the Wii and Wii Sports bundle. This combo was often the only game many people had to play on the console, which explains its astronomical sales. Mario Kart Wii, which was also bundled, is second in sales, with around 38 million copies, and Wii Sports Resort comes in third, with 33.14 million.

With 8.46 million copies sold for a Mario Kart game, it's an abysmal success! Even though the console, which many people thought was an accessory, wasn't. But, like other Big N titles, this was also a bundled game. In fact, the top nine Wii U best-sellers were all bundled at one point or another. The first game that arguably sold the most without being part of a console/game bundle is Mario Party 10, with just 2.27 million copies. Of course, many of these games would sell much better when ported to a future console.

With 22.68 million copies sold, the PlayStation 4 was the generation in which PlayStation truly exploded ahead of the competition, and the exclusive Spider-Man game was one of the company's main weapons in making this happen. An incredibly popular character and a perfect development team were the ingredients for this game to reach 22.68 million sales—a complete market domination. God of War, the reboot, nearly came out on top, with 21.02 million sales, and GTA V somehow managed to sell almost as many copies as the PS3, with 20 million.

With 9 million copies sold, or downloaded since the game is free, PUBG: Battlegrounds is the best-selling game on the Xbox One. This should’ve been a warning sign to Microsoft that something was wrong with its console, or at least with its games. No offense to Krafton's game, but a battle royale selling more than Black Ops III, with 7.37 million copies, and Call of Duty: WWII, with 6.23 million, shows how dissatisfied the public was with Microsoft's console decisions.

With 68.29 million copies sold, you can see how the platform can make a huge difference. Despite being an updated version of the Wii U game, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe sold more copies on the Switch than the total number of Wii U consoles. Right after that comes Animal Crossing: New Horizons, selling 47.82 million, and then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, selling 36.81 million. These are incredible numbers, aren't they? It's even more incredible when you consider that the top 22 best-selling games on the Switch have sales figures over 10 million, and only start to drop below that starting with the 23rd!

Unfortunately, there's no official data available for the Xbox Series X/S. Microsoft stopped reporting much of its sales data for hardware and software units, claiming it's better for gamers and audience engagement, making it impossible to know for sure how many copies of games were actually sold.

And finally, with 11 million copies sold, the sequel to Marvel's Spider-Man stars Miles Morales alongside Peter Parker, web-slinging across New York. Considering we're still in the middle of the PS5 generation, these numbers are likely to change, but there's no doubt that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the best-selling game with 11 million copies sold. Second place goes to a surprise hit: Black Myth: Wukong, selling 5 million copies, and then a longtime Marvel franchise in third place: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, selling 3.97 million copies to date.