While annual reports typically celebrate the year's best-selling games, a fascinating counter-narrative has emerged. This year, figures uncovered a remarkable roster of over 175 games across various platforms that all sold precisely one copy.
This data comes from retail sales tracking, excluding pre-owned sales from sites like eBay or garage sales. This paints a distinctive picture of specialized buying habits in a market saturated by high-profile launches.
A Surprising Concentration on Legacy Systems
The primary takeaway is how gamers continue going out of their way to purchase software for once-dominant consoles. Both of the best-selling American consoles ever dominate this unusual ranking: the DS with 44 entries and the PlayStation 2 with 40.
Even, newer but discontinued hardware like the Nintendo 3DS featured a broad variety of single-sale games. This list contains significant games such as the Dragon Quest VII remake and Sims 3. Additionally, loyal enthusiasts proved devotion for niche systems like the PlayStation Vita and the aging Color, the oldest system represented.
No Clear Trends in Sales
Drawing significant trends from *what* sold is notably challenging. This collection shows virtually no clear trend, mixing hyper-specific titles with mainstream series installments.
For every solitary purchase of a title like Need for Speed: Carbon on PS2 or I Heart Geeks on Nintendo DS, there exists a core Pokemon title or a God of War collection. The only possible exception involved the Nintendo 3DS, where multiple entries from the Etrian Odyssey franchise hint at a single player discovering the series this year.
The following is the complete organized list of titles that secured a single new owner in the past year.
3DS Titles
- 7th Dragon III Code: VFD
- Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer
- Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack
- Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
- Bust-a-Move Universe
- Disney Epic Mickey Power of Illusion
- Disney Magical World 2
- Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
- Dragon Quest VII Fragments of the Forgotten Past
- Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
- Etrian Odyssey 4: Legend of the Titan
- Etrian Odyssey 5: Beyond the Myth
- Ever Oasis
- Fantasy Life
- Fossil Fighters Frontier
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
- Kirby Battle Royale
- Kirby Extra Epic Yarn
- LEGO Jurassic World
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
- LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens
- Lego The Hobbit
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings
- Mario Sports Superstars
- Metroid Samus Returns Special Edition
- Paper Mario Sticker Star
- Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth
- Pokemon Ultra Moon Starter Pack
- Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright
- Resident Evil: Revelations
- Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner Soul Hackers
- Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
- The Legend of Legacy
- The Sims 3
- Tmnt: Master Splinter's Training Pack
- Ultimate NES Remix
- Young Justice: Legacy
GBA Titles
- The Legend of Spyro A New Beginning
- Pokemon FireRed with Wireless Adapter
- Pokémon Ruby
Game Boy Color
- TNN Fishing Champ
Nintendo Gamecube
- Geist
- Harvest Moon: Another Life
- Kirby Air Ride
- Mario Power Tennis
- Mario Superstar Baseball
- Need for Speed Most Wanted
- Resident Evil
- Simpsons: Hit & Run
- Sonic Riders
- Spider-Man: The Movie
- Tony Hawk's Underground
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom
DS Titles
- Animal Crossing: Wild World
- Baby Pals
- Big Hero 6 Battle in the Bay & Frozen Olaf's Quest
- Cake Mania
- Charm Girls Club My Fashion Show
- Cooking Mama
- Go Diego Go! Build and Rescue
- Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell
- Ener-G Dance Squad
- Exit
- I Heart Geeks
- Lego Batman 2: Dc Super Heroes
- LEGO Battles
- Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- LEGO Legends of Chima Laval's Journey
- Littlest Pet Shop 3 Biggest Stars: Blue Team
- Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story
- Mario Hoops 3-on-3
- Megamind: The Blue Defender
- Monster High Ghoul Spirit
- Monster House
- Monster Jam Path of Destruction
- My Amusement Park
- My Healthy Cooking Coach
- MySims Kingdom
- MySims SkyHeroes
- Operation Vietnam
- Pokemon Conquest
- Polarium
- Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
- Scrabble
- Scribblenauts Collection
- Smart Girls: Magical Book Club
- SpongeBob SquarePants Creature from the Krusty Krab
- SpongeBob SquarePants Plankton's Robotic Revenge
- Sudoku Mania
- That's So Raven: Psychic on the Scene
- The Croods Prehistoric Party!
- The Smurfs 2
- Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
- Touchmaster 2
- TRON: Evolution
- Ultimate Puzzle Games: Sudoku Ed
- World Championship Games: A Track & Field Event
PS2 Titles
- Bombastic
- Crash Nitro Kart
- Crash Twinsanity
- Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
- Dragon Ball Z: Budokai2
- Dynasty Warriors 6
- FIFA Soccer 12
- Gladius
- Grandia III
- {Gretzky Nhl 2005|Gretzky NHL 2005
