Mario Kart 8 Deluxe For Nintendo Switch Aces Rainbow Road Smashing Franchise US Sales Record

mario kart 8 deluxe
If you needed any additional evidence that the Nintendo Switch represents a return to form for the Japanese gaming giant, look no further than the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The game, which launched on Friday for the Nintendo Switch, has become the fastest-selling game in the franchise’s illustrious history.

Mario Kart first came into existence for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) all the way back in 1992, and has seen numerous iterations on Nintendo’s subsequent gaming consoles. The previous record holder for launch day sales for the Mario Kart series was Mario Kart Wii, which debuted in 2008 and sold 433,900 copies.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe threw a green turtle shell at that old record, slipping buy with a “Luigi Death Stare” at 459,000 copies sold on launch day.

In addition to the record-setting launch day performance, Nintendo says the attach rate for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is 45 percent, meaning that nearly half of all Switch owners purchased the game. That is nowhere near the new 1:1 attach rate for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it’s still an impressive figure for Nintendo. 

Nintendo says that Switch gamers can expect a number of attractive titles to launch in the coming months including Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (which launches next week), Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (which lands May 26th) and Splatoon 2, the sequel to the surprise hit Splatoon, which will debut on July 21st.

As we reported earlier, Nintendo has sold over 2.7 million Switch consoles since its early March debut and has resorted to costly air freight shipments to keep supplies flowing.