Switch becomes the best-selling Nintendo console ever

Despite the availability of the Switch 2, Nintendo's original Switch portable game console is still on offer. It's now the company's best-selling game console, according to Nintendo's own figures, having sold 155,370,000 units. The Nintendo DS, which sold 154m million units since 2004, is now in second place.

Sony's PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling console of all time, with 160m units sold. Though less than 5m behind, the Switch's 1.36m-sold holiday quarter suggests it won't surpass it unless Nintendo continues to produce and market it for a few more years. Nintendo has sold 17.37m Switch 2s since launching it last summer.

The numbers were posted in Nintendo's latest earnings report.

Only Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360, Sega's Megadrive/Genesis, and Atari's 2600 join Nintendo and Sony models in the all-time top 20. Nokia's fabled N-Gage is in 45th place, with about 3m units sold.

Séamus Bellamy wrote about the Switch nearly a decade ago.

I love the Switch! It's a lot of fun. I'm glad to own one and so far, my productivity hasn't suffered for it. I wish that it was a little bit more rough and tumble, like my GBA Micro is, but that's a minor complaint – I'm an adult and should be able to look after my stuff well enough to keep the console alive. I'm looking forward to a long relationship with this thing. Hopefully, it won't disappoint me.

Previously:
• Nintendo's 'Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream' looks wonderfully strange
• First look: Super Nintendo World brings video game magic to Universal Orlando