Famitsu’s latest reader ranking keeps Pokémon Winds & Waves at No. 1, but the movement beneath it says plenty about Switch 2 demand, RPG competition, and the games to watch next.
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Pokémon holds No. 1, but the chase pack has changed
Pokémon Winds & Waves remains the most wanted game among Famitsu readers, according to the latest chart reported by My Nintendo News on July 5, 2026, with 837 votes. The immediate tension is no longer whether Pokémon can stay on top. It is how quickly the field beneath it is changing as Nintendo Switch 2 software, Japanese RPGs, and major PlayStation releases crowd the same anticipation chart.
The latest top 10 has Pokémon Winds & Waves first, Splatoon Raiders second with 716 votes, Persona 4 Revival third with 594, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave fourth with 403, and Grand Theft Auto VI fifth with 329. The back half is Onimusha Way of the Sword at 262, Final Fantasy VII Revelation at 260, Ace Combat 8 Wings of Theve at 254, Kingdom Hearts 4 at 228, and Kyoto Xanadu at 193.
That is a stronger and stranger list than a simple Pokémon victory lap suggests. Famitsu reader rankings are reader-vote polls, as GoNintendo describes the magazine’s recurring “Most Wanted” feature, so they are not sales forecasts, preorder charts, or publisher disclosures. Still, they are useful because they show where highly engaged Japanese readers are placing their attention before release. This week, that attention is concentrated around Nintendo’s next hardware cycle and a thick block of RPG-adjacent releases.
The week-to-week movement favors Pokémon, Persona, and late-arriving RPG names
The biggest confirmed change is the widening gap at the top. GoNintendo’s June 28 report put Pokémon Winds & Waves at 795 votes and Splatoon Raiders at 726. In the July 5 chart reported by My Nintendo News, Pokémon climbs to 837 while Splatoon slips to 716. That turns a 69-vote lead into a 121-vote lead in one week.
The broader month-long trend is even clearer. Nintendo Everything reported the June 7 Famitsu chart, based on votes cast between May 20 and May 25, with Pokémon Winds & Waves at 578 votes and Splatoon Raiders at 419. My Nintendo News then reported Pokémon at 631 on June 14, 678 on June 21, 795 on June 28 through GoNintendo’s post, and 837 on July 5. Splatoon also rose sharply across that period, from 419 on June 7 to 500 on June 14, 562 on June 21, 726 on June 28, then down slightly to 716 on July 5.
Persona 4 Revival is the other major climber. It was third with 345 votes in Nintendo Everything’s June 7 chart, fourth with 382 in My Nintendo News’ June 14 report, third with 456 on June 21, fourth with 514 on June 28, and now third with 594. Its rank has moved around because Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo surged in late June, but its vote total has consistently grown in the available snapshots.
The July 5 list also brings notable turnover. Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo and Rhythm Heaven Groove, both present in the June 14, June 21, and June 28 top 10s, are absent from the latest top 10. Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Kingdom Hearts 4 enter the visible top 10 in the July 5 report, while Ace Combat 8 Wings of Theve returns after appearing at No. 10 on June 28 and No. 16 in Nintendo Everything’s fuller June 7 chart. Star Fox, which appeared at No. 10 on June 21 after being No. 23 in the June 7 full chart, is also absent from the latest top 10.
Switch 2 demand is the clearest signal, but it is still a reader signal
The Switch 2 angle is hard to miss because the top two games are tied to Nintendo’s new platform in the source material. My Nintendo News described Pokémon Winds & Waves on June 14 as the next Pokémon games for Nintendo Switch 2, and its July 5 report calls Splatoon Raiders a Nintendo Switch 2 title. Nintendo Everything’s June 7 chart also listed Pokémon Winds / Waves, Splatoon Raiders, and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave with NS2 platform tags.
That gives the latest Famitsu most wanted games chart a specific hardware shape. The top two positions are Switch 2 games, and Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave sits fourth in the latest ranking with 403 votes. In the older June 7 Famitsu listing published by Nintendo Everything, Fire Emblem was sixth with 196 votes. In the My Nintendo News snapshots it rose to 233 on June 14, 254 on June 21, 307 on June 28, and 403 on July 5.
The practical reading is cautious but meaningful. Famitsu’s poll does not tell us how many Switch 2 systems Nintendo can sell, how many copies these games will move, or whether interest is evenly spread outside Japan. It does show that Famitsu’s participating readers are repeatedly elevating Switch 2 software over enormous multiplatform names. Grand Theft Auto VI is fifth in the latest list with 329 votes, while Pokémon and Splatoon are far ahead and Fire Emblem is above it.
For Nintendo, that kind of sustained reader attention matters because early hardware libraries need clear identity. Based only on these charts, Japanese enthusiasm is clustering around familiar progression-driven pillars: collecting and team-building in Pokémon, a single-player Splatoon adventure as described by My Nintendo News on June 21, and tactical character growth in Fire Emblem. Those are the kinds of games that give players long reasons to keep returning to a system rather than treating launch-window excitement as a short burst.
The RPG calendar is starting to look crowded before dates are settled
From an RPG player’s perspective, the July 5 chart is less about one winner and more about congestion. Pokémon Winds & Waves, Persona 4 Revival, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Kingdom Hearts 4, Kyoto Xanadu, and Onimusha Way of the Sword all sit inside the top 10. Some are traditional role-playing games, some are action RPGs or tactics RPGs, and some occupy adjacent territory, but all compete for the same scarce player resource: long-session attention.
That matters for upcoming JRPGs 2026 searches because reader interest is already forming around games that demand time. A new Pokémon release asks players to invest in a regional journey, party construction, collection, and post-game goals. Persona’s appeal is built around calendar planning, party builds, dungeon pacing, and social progression. Fire Emblem brings roster management, tactical maps, unit growth, and route-defining decisions. Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Kingdom Hearts 4 point toward story-heavy action systems with returning character arcs, though the provided Famitsu ranking material does not include new details about their mechanics, dates, or platforms.
The sources do not provide release dates, prices, editions, file sizes, upgrade paths, performance targets, or global launch timing for the games in the latest chart. That absence is important. A most-wanted ranking can tell readers which names are gaining heat, but it cannot answer whether these games will collide in the same month, whether publishers will stagger Japanese and Western launches, or whether Switch 2 versions will arrive alongside other platforms.
The scheduling pressure is therefore an interpretation, not a confirmed publishing plan. If even a portion of this RPG-heavy group lands close together, players who usually complete campaigns rather than sample openings will have to prioritize. For completionists, the smartest approach is to track dated announcements rather than ranking position alone. A game rising in Famitsu is a signal to watch, not a reason to clear your backlog yet.
Platform gaps and chart changes leave several unanswered questions
One reason this chart is useful is that it exposes missing information. The latest My Nintendo News list gives names and vote totals, but it does not attach platform labels to every game. Nintendo Everything’s June 7 Famitsu chart did list platforms for that issue: Pokémon Winds / Waves, Splatoon Raiders, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, Star Fox, and several editions were tagged for Nintendo platforms, while Persona 4 Revival, Grand Theft Auto 6, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Ace Combat 8 were shown with PS5 tags in that older chart.
Because those platform labels come from the June 7 chart, they should not be treated as a complete July 5 platform breakdown. The July 5 report itself confirms Splatoon Raiders for Switch 2 in prose and links Pokémon Winds & Waves to prior coverage, while earlier My Nintendo News coverage called Pokémon Winds & Waves the next Pokémon games for Nintendo Switch 2. For the rest of the July 5 top 10, the provided latest source does not restate platform availability.
There is also a naming wrinkle. GoNintendo’s June 28 and My Nintendo News’ July 5 reports list “Ace Combat 8 Wings of Theve.” Nintendo Everything’s June 7 full chart listed “Ace Combat 8” without that subtitle in the visible top 30 excerpt. The provided sources do not explain whether the longer name is a subtitle update, a translation variation, or a reporting difference. The safest treatment is to use the title as it appears in the latest chart while noting that earlier reporting used a shorter listing.
The same caution applies to chart exits. Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo and Rhythm Heaven Groove dropping out of the July 5 top 10 does not prove declining interest overall. It only confirms they are not in the top 10 as reported in the latest Famitsu reader ranking. Without the full July 5 chart beyond No. 10, we cannot see whether they fell to eleventh and twelfth or much farther.
The games to keep on your radar now
For readers tracking the most wanted Switch 2 games, Pokémon Winds & Waves is the obvious anchor. It has led every provided Famitsu snapshot from June 7 through July 5, and its vote total has grown from 578 in Nintendo Everything’s June 7 report to 837 in the latest My Nintendo News post. If you only follow one Switch 2 release from this chart, this is the one with the strongest sustained reader signal.
Splatoon Raiders remains the second game to watch even after its small week-over-week dip. My Nintendo News has described it as a colorful Nintendo Switch 2 game and, in its June 21 report, as a single-player Splatoon adventure. That single-player framing is important for players who bounced off competitive Splatoon but like campaign structure, unlocks, traversal challenges, and authored encounters. The Famitsu vote total says the premise is resonating with Japanese readers.
Persona 4 Revival deserves attention because its rise has been steady across the available charts. For RPG players, the name alone suggests a project aimed at the Persona audience that values party roles, social scheduling, and long-form character arcs, though the provided Famitsu sources do not give new feature details. Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave is the other progression-heavy watchlist pick, especially for players who care about unit builds, permadeath-style tension if included, and tactical decision-making. The latest source confirms only its chart position and 403 votes, not its systems.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Kingdom Hearts 4 are the late-chart power names in the July 5 top 10. Their presence shows Square Enix-related demand inside Famitsu’s reader base, but this specific source set does not provide release windows or new gameplay information. Kyoto Xanadu is also worth tracking because it has appeared repeatedly across the June and July lists, including No. 12 in Nintendo Everything’s fuller June 7 chart, No. 9 on June 21 and June 28, and No. 10 on July 5.
For action-focused players, Onimusha Way of the Sword has held a stable top-10 presence across the provided snapshots, moving from No. 10 on June 7 to No. 7 on June 14, No. 8 on June 21 and June 28, and No. 6 on July 5. Grand Theft Auto VI remains in the top five this week, but in this particular Japanese reader poll it is being outpaced by several Nintendo and RPG-led names. That contrast is one of the ranking’s most useful takeaways: global scale and Famitsu reader anticipation are related only loosely, and this chart is currently rewarding games with strong Japanese platform and genre gravity.