After 9 years in Wii U prison, sci-fi JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles X debuts as March's best-selling Switch game in the US, kicking Mario Kart 8 into second place

One of the most underrated Wii U games, Xenoblade Chronicles X, has finally been given a new lease of life on Nintendo Switch, and the sci-fi JRPG has had a phenomenal debut month after dethroning Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the console's best seller for March in the United States.

Xenoblade Chronicles X, despite being an absolute gem, had become somewhat forgotten in comparison to the main Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy. For over nine years, it was stuck on a console that sold notoriously poorly, with no other way to play it. This changed with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which truly lives up to its name as the best way to play the JRPG, and more importantly makes the game accessible on Switch, introducing it to a massive new audience.

Little over a month after its launch, it's clear that it's taking full advantage of this. According to data shared by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition's physical sales made it the best-selling premium game on the platform between March 2 and April 5, beating Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and more when ranked on dollar sales.

Circana's data accounts for physical sales, as well as digital ones "from digital data sharing publishers," although most of the titles on here – those aforementioned three included – don't include digital sales. It's also worth noting that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition was released on March 19, so it fought its way to the top spot in little over two weeks.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe may not always be at number one in these charts, but it's the undisputed king of Switch games as the console's best-selling title by an enormous distance. According to Nintendo's own data, by the end of last year, the racing game had racked up 67.35 million sales – almost 20 million more than the runner up, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (which had sold a very respectable 47.44 million copies at the time).

What's more, despite releasing in 2017, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe always seems to be in the best-selling game charts for Switch. Looking at previous data shared by Piscatella, this year, it's not left the top 3 in the US. Needless to say, being able to shift it from the top spot is something worth celebrating, and also proves that Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft has a hit on its hands.

It really deserves it, too. The gorgeous open-world JRPG lets you tear around an alien planet in a transforming mech, fighting for survival as one of the last humans from a destroyed Earth. If that's not worth you shifting over from Mario Kart races for 80 or more hours, I don't know what is.

I spent 10 years waiting for the answers to Xenoblade Chronicles X's haunting cliffhanger ending, and it was worth the wait.