Nintendo 3DS surpasses 4 million sales in Japan

Although most industry watchers believe Nintendo’s autostereoscopic 3DS videogame console has been something of a damp squib at retail, unit sales still suggest healthy interest in the supposed flop.

More pointedly, a new regional report from research specialist Enterbrain has revealed that Nintendo has sold somewhere in the region of 4.1 million 3DS units in Japan since the device launched in February of 2011.

It’s also worth noting that eager Japanese consumers with an apparently revitalized interest in the 3DS snapped up approximately 510,000 units during the week directly preceding December 25.

In terms of comparative sales, Nintendo managed to sell around five million units of its original DS console during its first 13 months of availability, reports Famitsu.

That being said, it’s likely that the recent rush of 3DS purchases have been bolstered by new hardware colors and the release of major software titles such as Monster Hunter 3D, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7.

The latter two games have since gone on to sell more than one million copies each—making them the first Nintendo 3DS titles to push beyond the million mark at retail.

Sales of the 3DS outside of Japan are not quite so robust, however. For example, hardware units sales in North America stood at around 1.65 million in November.