Fan buzz around the life-simulation game Pokemon Pokopia sent Nintendo shares soaring on Wednesday, with some hailing the new title as a welcome antidote to global conflicts.

Japan¡¯s Nintendo has enjoyed bumper sales for its latest Switch 2 console, but some have called the lineup of new games for the device lackluster.

So early success for Pokemon Pokopia, released on March 5 to rave reviews and reports of store sellouts around the world, has relieved investors.

Pokemon Pokopia launched as a Switch 2 exclusive, ¡°immediately becoming a viral stealth hit,¡± analyst Atul Goyal from investment bank Jefferies said.

¡°The title successfully bridges the gap between core gamers and casual audiences,¡± Goyal said.

The new Pokemon game has an aggregated review score of 89 on Metacritic, which Goyal described as a high for the three-decade-old video game franchise.

Nintendo shares were up 9% in mid-morning trade on Wednesday, also likely boosted by the release of the final trailer for the star-studded upcoming ¡°Super Mario¡± movie sequel.

Players have compared the game, in which they control a human-like character to rejuvenate a village, to Animal Crossing ¡ª another Nintendo life-sim that became a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

¡°If you¡¯re looking for a mental break from the world def get Pokopia, it¡¯s like therapy,¡± U.S.-based influencer Ashley Duncan wrote on X.

¡°For Covid we had Animal Crossing. For WW3 we have Pokopia. Thank you for the distractions, Nintendo,¡± said another X post from fan account Pokemon Daily Post, which has nearly 90 million followers.

The basic premise of Pokemon, inspired by the Japanese summer childhood tradition of bug-collecting, is to catch and train in battle hundreds of round-eyed ¡°pocket monsters.¡±

The phenomenon has evolved since the first 1996 game release with anime series, movies, a trading card game and the augmented reality smartphone app Pokemon Go.

Nintendo¡¯s Switch 2, the world¡¯s fastest-selling games console, launched in June 2025 as the successor to the first Switch.

The original is now the second top-selling console of all time after Sony¡¯s PlayStation 2, boosted by the popularity of games including Animal Crossing.