‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ has become the top-selling game in Japan.

The Nintendo offering is the best-selling game in their home country, according to Game Data Library, who collect information on the Japanese video game sector.

The title has surpassed 10.45 million copies in Japan alone, breaking the record set by the Pokemon Red and Blue titles for the Game Boy console, which stood at 10.23 million.

The feat took just over two years to achieve and the following three games - which along with the Pokemon games includes ‘Super Mario Bros’ - debuted in the 80s and 90s respectively. ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ is the fifth best-selling game after coming out in 2018.

According to Nintendo’s sales data, the 2020 edition of the ‘Animal Crossing’ franchise has shifted 40.17 million units across the world, implying that more than 35 per cent of Switch’s 114.3 million users own it. It comes second to the company’s best selling game, ‘Mario Kart 8: Deluxe’, which has sold 48.1 million copies.

The latest edition of the game - which sees users create their own towns populated with animal friends - has outsold the previous edition by more than three times after it only sold 12 million units, which at the time made it the best-selling reincarnation of the game, which first debuted in 2021.

At the time of release, Aya Kyogoku, the director of the game admitted they need to be constantly evolving to keep up its popularity.

He said: “While this is the real pleasure of developing a series, it is also the most difficult point,” adding that hte development team knew that the series “cannot be sustained without change.”