Either that, or perhaps after every tenth thread about VR? 

Splatoon is such a beast in Japan. If Splatoon hasn't outsold Mario Kart 8 in Japan yet, I think it definitely will in 2016. Hopefully it does, and it shows Nintendo that they can make new IPs that will sell amazingly well.

"newness" is a non factor. Splatoon is a success because it's an amazing game.

Well...... Bayonetta 2 is an amazing game. 

If DQ and FF 15 are on nintendo's next home console, they will only be above splatoon by adding wii u + ps4 sales. Even if that doesn't happen, it will still be though to beat splatoon (for DQ, FF has no chance). I think splatoon will easily be above 2m by the end of 2016, possibly 2.5m lifetime retail + digital.

Presented in a niche way. Splatoon belongs to a more mainstream genre and was marketed acordingly.

Yep! That's why it takes more than it to be an "Amazing Game" to be a success, espcially on the Wii U. 

It actually gives me more confidence that NIntendo will be fine when some of the older guys like Miyamoto retire since Splatoon was made by a couple of the younger Nintendo employees with little to no directorial experience.

You should add Mario Maker because why not

The biggest barrier for that to happen is FFXV, though looking at the declining sales of the Final Fantasy series and the sales of PS4 hardware along the low attach rate for FF games, I'm inclined to say that yes, Splatoon will end up being the top selling 8th gen home console game in Japan.  Since DQXI isn't much of a threat, becaue the 3DS version should end up hurting the PS4 version a la SSB4.  The other opponent being FFVII Remake, but that would be hard to follow sells, because of its episodic nature.  So yeah, at the moment Splatoon will take the title, unless of course a FFXVI releases on PS4 near the end of its lifetime.