Video game home consoles date back to the 1970s, when swapping game cartridges wasn’t possible because that sort of thing didn’t exist. Still, some systems sold better than others, and as technology improved, each console generation had games that outperformed those from all other systems released during that period. We’ve taken a look at every console generation to find the best-selling game from each, choosing only one game that sold better than any other title on any of the available home consoles released at the time. Some of the best-selling games are surprising, while others aren’t surprising in the least.
1st) Pong
Image courtesy of Atari, Inc.
1st Gen: Atari Pong | Coleco Telstar | Magnavox Odyssey
Many people mistakenly believe that Pong is the first video game, but that’s not true. What is true is that Pong is the first commercially successful video game, which showed that games could be profitable. During the first console generation, it was indeed profitable, selling incredibly well when Atari licensed it to Sears for sale as home video game consoles. You couldn’t play anything else on the system, but players didn’t care because you could get lost in Pong, playing against friends for hours. The exact number of Pong units sold is unclear due to the abundance of clones, but with Atari’s home units and Sears’ Tele-Games Pong sets, the total is likely around 950,000.
2nd) Pac-Man
Image courtesy of Atari, Inc.
2nd Gen: Atari 2600 | Channel F | ColecoVision | Intellivision | Magnavox Odyssey 2
The Atari 2600 was the leading home video game console of the 2nd generation and also triggered the Video Game Crash of 1983. Still, the system featured some great games and one of the worst arcade ports of all time. Despite being what I consider to be a terrible port, the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man is actually the system’s best-selling game. It was released in 1982 after six months of development. Given the hardware’s constraints and the cartridges’ limitations, the game is actually pretty impressive. In terms of sales, we know precisely how many copies were sold: 8,095,586.
3rd) Super Mario Bros.
Image courtesy of Nintendo
3rd Gen: Atari 7800 | Nintendo Entertainment System | Sega Master System
The 3rd console generation was dominated by the Nintendo Entertainment System, which helped drag the industry out of the Video Game Crash of 1983. One of the ways it did so was with an incredible launch title that was also a pack-in game: Super Mario Bros. Because the game was included in so many NES versions, it sold well, totaling approximately 40,240,000 copies. That makes it the best-selling game on the NES and the top seller for the 3rd console generation. The best-selling game that wasn’t packed in is Tetris, with 8 million copies sold.
4th) Super Mario World
Image courtesy of Nintendo
4th Gen: TurboGrafx-16 | Genesis | Neo Geo | Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo kept its success going with yet another pack-in game in the 4th console generation. The Super Nintendo came bundled with Super Mario World as one of its pack-in games and sold roughly half as many copies as its predecessor, with around 20,610,000 units. Despite lower sales, the other consoles in the generation failed to reach the same sales figures. Sonic the Hedgehog, which is the best-selling game on the Sega Genesis, sold around 15 million copies, and the Neo Geo and TurboGrafx-16 were so niche that their sales figures don’t put them in competition with Sega and Nintendo, leaving Super Mario Bros. as the clear winner.
5th) Super Mario 64
Image courtesy of Nintendo
5th Gen: 3DO | Jaguar | PlayStation | Nintendo 64
The final 1990s entry that’s a pack-in game comes with the Nintendo 64, which featured Super Mario 64 as one of its leading bundled games. Not only was the game a huge success, but it was innovative in all the right ways. The 3D platformer perfected camera placement in a way no other platformer had before, and that formula has stuck. However, some devs still can’t emulate Super Mario 64’s success. The game managed to sell some 11.91 million copies throughout its time on store shelves, outperforming the PlayStation’s top-selling game, Gran Turismo, by a little more than 1.1 million copies.
6th) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Image courtesy of Rockstar Games
6th Gen: GameCube | Dreamcast | PlayStation 2 | Xbox
The 6th console generation pretty much abandoned pack-in games, forcing them to stand on their own merit. This wasn’t a problem for many titles released during this time, and the title that led in sales was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, and it sold incredibly well. Throughout its 6th-generation run, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold 17.33 million copies. Over on the Xbox, Halo 2, which was that system’s best-selling game, only sold some 8.46 million copies, while the GameCube’s best-selling title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, sold around 7.41 million.
7th) Wii Sports
Image courtesy of Nintendo
7th Gen: PlayStation 3 | Wii | Xbox 360
Believe it or not, Grand Theft Auto V, released during the 7th generation and selling around 44 million units, was not the best-selling game of its era. That distinction goes to Wii Sports, which was a pack-in game for the Wii. This was unusual, as pack-in games were pretty much abandoned by this time. Still, Nintendo correctly realized that it needed to introduce its movement-based gameplay with a title that showed players how to use it. This worked remarkably well, bringing in millions of players, young and old, many of whom had never played a video game in their lives. All told, Wii Sports sold around 82.9 million copies.
8th) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Image courtesy of Nintendo
8th Gen: Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 4 | Wii U | Xbox One
Mario Kart 8 was released on multiple platforms, including two different Nintendo systems in the 8th console generation. When it was released as Mario Kart 8 in 2014 on the Wii U, it became the system’s best-selling game with over 8.46 million copies sold. It then jumped to the Nintendo Switch, where it became that system’s best-selling game as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, selling a little over 70.59 million copies. When you add it all up, Mario Kart 8 sold around 79.05 million copies, which makes it the leader of the 8th generation and one of the best-selling games of all time.
9th) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Image courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment
9th Gen: Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series X|S
The 9th console generation continued the trend of abandoning console exclusivity, but some element of it remained when it came to the winner of the generation. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was initially released only on the PlayStation 5, though it did eventually arrive on PCs. Regardless, the game remains loyal to the PS5 as far as consoles go, and it’s an incredible title that is part of one of the best comic-book video game franchises ever made. Since its release, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has sold over 17 million copies during the 9th console generation.
10th) Mario Kart World
Image courtesy of Nintendo
10th Gen: Nintendo Switch 2 | PlayStation 6 | Xbox Project Helix
As of writing, there’s no consensus as to the start of the 10th console generation. That said, some in the industry have identified the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 as the start of the 10th generation, so, by that measure, the best-selling game thus far is Mario Kart World. The game was released as a sequel to Mario Kart 8, and was one of the Switch 2’s launch games, arriving in 2025. Since its release, Mario Kart World has sold over 14 million copies, making it the best-selling game on the Switch 2. Granted, something may overtake it (probably GTA VI on the PS6), but only time will tell.
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