Nintendo has posted its first annual profit in four years, as the Wii U fails to hit the 10 million lifetime sales milestone.

Nintendo managed a profit of 41 billion yen (£226 million), which is a very healthy turnaround from last year, which saw a loss of 23 billion yen (£126 million). It is the first time the company has managed a profit since 2011.

The Wii U did not manage to hit Nintendo’s prediction of 3.61 million units for the year, but fell short with 3.38 million consoles sold. This means the lifetime sales of the Wii U stand at 9.54 million. Nintendo have forecast that 3.4 million consoles will be sold by March 2016.

Nintendo did note that there were two standout games for the Wii U this year; Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. which enjoyed sales of 5.11 million and 3.65 million, respectively.

On the other hand, Nintendo said the New 3DS/New 3DS XL “got off to a good start and continued to sell well.” However, they say that sales of the Nintendo 3DS prior to the launch of the new consoles “did not grow as anticipated.”

Across all variations, the 3DS sold a total of 8.73 million in the year, missing out on the target of 9 million for the console. The revised sales for the handheld next year have been dropped to 7.6 million. The console has now managed a lifetime sales total of 52 million, a third of the original DS’s 154 million lifetime sales.

Pokémon Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire and Super Smash Bros. 3DS were the games highlighted by Nintendo for their successes. The Pokémon games’ managed a combined sales total of 9.94 million and Smash Bros. beating its’ Wii U counterpart with 6.75 million sales.

In the next year, Nintendo have promised to continue support of Mario Kart 8 and the two Super Smash Bros. games with additional DLC planned. They are also looking at Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, a new Fire Emblem on the 3DS and Rhythm Tengoku will be the positive influences on the 3DS. They hope that the Wii U will benefit from the introduction of Splatoon, Yoshi’s Woolly World and Mario Maker. They’re also looking at the introduction of amiibo cards, woolly amiibos and the Nintendo 3DS NFC Reader/Writer accessory will have a positive impact.

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