Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Sell 1.4 Million Physical Copies in Japan Within 3 Days; 5th Biggest Pokémon Game UK Launch

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are off to a good start with the remake selling roughly 1.4 million units in Japan in retail in its first 3 days.

The remakes of the 2006 DS games launched last week, and as reported by Japanese gaming outlet Famitsu, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are estimated to have sold 1.396.000 copies in Japan within 3 days after launch. Interestingly, in Japan, nearly 1.6 million copies of the original 2006 games were sold within its first 4 days. As reported by Famitsu, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is the second-largest game launch in Japan, only being beaten by last year’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

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Courtesy of Gamesindustry.biz, we also have some overseas data – according to the publication, the remake is the fifth biggest Pokémon game launch in the UK.

Fourth on the list is 2011’s Pokémon Black and White for the Nintendo DS. The third biggest Pokemon game launch in the UK is 2014’s Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby for the 3DS. 2^nd on the list is 2019’s Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Switch. To date, Pokémon Sun and Moon for the Nintendo 3DS experienced the biggest mainline Pokémon game launch in the UK.

This data only includes boxed sales, and digital downloads aren’t included. As such, it’s likely that the Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl remakes are actually higher on the list due to the acceleration of digital downloading of games.

And that takes us to 2021 and the latest set of Pokémon remakes — Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The game is the fifth biggest Pokémon launch in UK charts history, but is only narrowly behind Black and White in fourth place and Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby in third. Sales of the remakes are 53% higher than the original Diamond and Pearl. With digital, that will have been even higher, and it’s reasonable to assume the game would have been at No.3 in the UK.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are available globally now for the Nintendo Switch.