Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl is the second biggest boxed game launch of 2021 | UK Boxed Charts

It's another blockbuster launch for Pokémon this week, with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl taking the top two positions in the UK charts.

The remakes of the classic DS titles are comfortably the biggest Switch game launches of the year, beating Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury -- in fact, Brilliant Diamond achieves that alone, without even counting Pearl sales. Brilliant Diamond takes the No.1 position, followed by Shining Pearl at No.2, while the double pack featuring both games lands at No.9.

The Pokémon games combined are the second biggest boxed game launch of the year, behind FIFA 22 but ahead of Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Compared with other mainline Pokémon releases on Switch, launch sales are 26% down over Sword and Shield, which were the big new Pokémon games released in November 2019. Sales are up 13% over the Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu games, which were released back in November 2018.

Coming in at No.3 position is EA's new Battlefield 2042. The game's launch sales are 59% down compared with the launch of 2018's Battlefield 5. However, download figures are not in yet, and the digital marketplace has accelerated significantly over the last three years. We'll have a better idea of how Battlefield performed at the end of the week.

In terms of physical sales, the game unsurprisingly sold best on PlayStation platforms. 50% on PS5, 20% on PS4, Xbox One claimed 17% share and Xbox Series S and X took the remaining 13%. A few things to note here. The Xbox platforms skew more heavily digital than PlayStation's devices, but also Halo: Infinite's free multiplayer mode was released last week on Xbox, which will have competed with Battlefield.

That means Call of Duty: Vanguard's two-week stay at the top of the charts has come to an end. Activision's game slips to No.4, with sales down 37% week-on-week.

Elsewhere, more PS5 stock came to UK stores last week, which has boosted sales of PS5 exclusives. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is up from No.14 to No.6 after a 366% sales increase. The game featured heavily in PS5 bundles last week, and was also discounted as part of early Black Friday promotions.

Speaking of early Black Friday deals, Ubisoft was very active last week. Far Cry 6 has risen three places to No.8 after an 180% sales increase, Just Dance 2022 is up five places to No.10 after a 232% sales spike, Riders Republic has gone to No.14 after a 169% sales rise, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla re-entered the boxed charts at No.15 after a 462% sales jump. All four games features heavily in pre-Black Friday deals.

Last week's big new release, Forza Horizon 5, has fallen 12 places to No.16 after a 56% sales drop. Meanwhile, Jurassic World: Evolution 2 has tumbled from No.6 to No.23 after a 66% sales slide. The other new game of last week, Switch exclusive Shin Megami Tensei 5, has dropped out of the charts altogether.

There were a handful of other new boxed releases this week. Nerf Legends debuts at No.18 and Kena: Bridge of Spirits is at No.24.