Nintendo reports quarterly profit as sales improve

Nintendo Co. posted a 3.17 billion yen ($26.3 million) profit for the fiscal second quarter, buoyed by sales growth of portable video game machines and software titles.

The Japanese maker of Super Mario and Pokemon video games, said Wednesday that July-September sales rose 18 percent to 113.96 billion yen ($946.5 million), allowing it to stay in the black for a second quarter in a row.

The company reported 8.97 billion yen ($74.6 million) operating profit for the fiscal first half compared with a loss of 215 million yen a year earlier.

It said sales of Nintendo 3DS game machines including two newer models launched during the previous fiscal year reached 2.28 million units in the first half.

Sales were also buoyed by software titles such as "Animal Crossing," which sold more than 2 million units, the company said. A software title featuring all-time favorite Super Mario for the Wii U home console also got off to a good start, it said.

The solid result came after the company lost its legendary president Satoru Iwata, who died in July, raising questions about Nintendo's future direction. After two months without a replacement, the company in September picked a long-serving executive Tatsumi Kimishima as its new president.

Nintendo left its annual profit forecast unchanged at 35 billion yen ($290 million).

The company returned to profit in the fiscal year ended March 2015, after several years of losses.

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