Pikmin 4 has been quietly dominating Japan’s sales charts

A decade after Pikmin 3, the franchise finally received a follow-up this year in the form of Pikmin 4. Serving as a soft reboot for the series, Pikmin 4 brings back the franchise’s classic gameplay with a few new twists, such as the inclusion of Oatchi the pup.

You’d be forgiven if you’ve forgotten about this game already, as 2023 has been filled with massive games demanding your attention. Nevertheless, the game did have a successful launch where it managed to knock Tears of the Kingdom from its number one spot on the Famitsu charts which track physical sales in Japan.

It launched on July 24, and it has been at the top spot almost every week since. It was briefly nudged from the top spot by Armored Core 6, which launched on August 25, though it quickly bounced back the following week. Pikmin 4 is currently sitting with 817,846 total physical sales, which means it has taken just two months for the game to beat Pikmin 3 Deluxe‘s lifetime sales of over 513,000 physical units.

The Famitsu top 10 chart for September 4 to September 10 looks like this, with total sales in brackets:

1. Pikmin 4 (Switch) – 31,013 (817,846)
2. The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Promises Made with Her (Switch) – 10,720 (New)
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) – 10,447 (5,475,776)
4. Virche Evermore: -EpiC:lycoris- (Switch) – 8,633 (New)
5. Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) – 7,658 (3,458,561)
6. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS5) – 7,311 (141,505)
7. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet (Switch) – 6,934 (5,118,914)
8. Minecraft (Switch) – 6,846 (3,257,489)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – 6,838 (1,854,786)
10. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS4) – 5,350 (64,202)

Pikmin 4‘s amazing performance bodes well for the franchise’s future. For players who enjoyed the game, they hopefully won’t be waiting another decade for the next entry.