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Nintendo 3DS sells 4m in Japan

The Nintendo handheld has exceeded 4m sales in Japan, with two Mario titles selling more than a million each too. Pity the poor Vita.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Wow. Here's some very interesting reading from the land of the rising sun. The Nintendo 3DS has sold over 4 million units in the 10 months it's been on sale in Japan, but perhaps most interestingly, over 500,000 of those were sold in the last week, The Verge reports.

Seeing as the brand new PS Vita sold over 300,000 in its first two days on sale in Japan, it seems the 3DS has some serious staying power.

In comparison, Nintendo sold over 5 million units of the original DS in its first 13 months, but that included two Christmases.

So, which games are selling? Well perhaps unsurprisingly, Mario is king. Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 have each sold more than a million copies, making them the first 3DS titles to do so. That's all the more surprising considering Mario Kart 7 has been on sale less than a month, and has actually outsold Super Mario 3D Land (1.08 million as opposed to 1.04 million). The release of Mario Kart 7 may well help explain the surge in interest in the console, though no doubt Christmas did its part too.

The stats come from research company Enterbrain.

The PS Vita went on sale last weekend, and while it sold over 300,000 in its first two days, not all units were without problems: some froze, while others had stains on the screen. Sony issued a software update to fix the bugs. It also priced up all the first-party launch titles, though sadly us Brits won't be getting a 32GB memory card when it touches down on 22 February. Doesn't Sony trust us with them or something?

Does the PS Vita have enough to knock the 3DS off the top of the handheld podium? Let us know which you prefer in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page.