Chart: Nintendo’s Highscores | Statista

If there was a prize for boldness within the online game trade, Nintendo would definitely be a serial winner. After failing miserably to copy the success of the motion-controlled Wii with the Wii U that was launched in 2012 and discontinued simply 5 years later, the Japanese firm may have reverted to a confirmed method with its subsequent console. As a substitute, Nintendo doubled down on one of many Wii U’s standout options, i.e. a gamepad with a show, and turned its subsequent console right into a full-fledged hybrid between house and handheld console. And to nice success!

Not solely was the Swap a return to kind after the Wii U catastrophe, nevertheless it even ended up overtaking the Wii as Nintendo’s most profitable house console ever when it comes to gross sales. With greater than 130 million items offered, the Swap is now solely trailing the moveable Nintendo DS in lifetime gross sales, which it may nonetheless find yourself catching within the not-too-distant future.

As our newest Racing Bars video properly illustrates, Nintendo’s historical past is one in every of hits and misses. Whereas the Sport Boy and the corporate’s first two online game consoles for the lounge had been blockbuster successes on the time, the Nintendo 64 and GameCube didn’t promote as properly. The Nintendo DS and Wii, launched in 2004 and 2006, respectively, marked Nintendo’s return to kind, earlier than the 2012 Wii U flopped utterly and was rapidly changed by the favored Nintendo Swap.