Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Off To An Incredible Start, Already Hits Huge Milestone

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has proven to be a major critical and commercial success for Nintendo since it released on Switch last month. Despite launching toward the end of the year, the title was Amazon's best-selling video game of 2018 and the fifth best-selling game in the US (not accounting for digital sales), and now it's hit another huge sales milestone.

In its latest financial earnings report, Nintendo revealed that the mascot fighter has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it the company's third best-selling Switch game to date. According to Nintendo's updated list of best-selling Switch software, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate moved a combined 12.08 million physical and digital copies as of December 31, 2018--a figure that's all the more impressive considering the game had only been available for roughly three weeks by that point.

Ultimate launched for Switch on December 7 and quickly set new sales records for the series. The title has already sold more than twice as many copies as its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. At this rate, it's also on track to overtake the series' best-selling entry, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, which sits at 13.29 million units--assuming it hasn't already done so, as Nintendo has yet to share Ultimate's January sales figures.

Ultimate wasn't Nintendo's only big sales success in 2018. Switch's first Pokemon RPGs, Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, have also sold a combined 10 million copies since their launch in November. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, meanwhile, remains the companies best-selling Switch game, surpassing 15 million units, with Super Mario Odyssey following at 13.76 million.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's first DLC character, Piranha Plant, arrived earlier this week as part of the game's big 2.0.0 update. Those who've registered their copy of the game via My Nintendo by January 31 are able to claim it for free; here's how to do it. Everyone else will be able to purchase Piranha Plant at a later date.