By Mike Snider, USA TODAY
Nintendo has sold more than 5 million 3DS portable video game systems in the United States.
The company cited data from market-tracking firm NPD Group in its announcement. The Nintendo 3DS has been on a sales pace ahead of the Nintendo DS since hitting the market in March 2011 in the U.S., said NPD's Anita Frazier in the firm's June sales report.
"The 3DS is still up nearly 25% over where the (Nintendo DS) was in a similar point in time after release to market, and has topped portable hardware unit sales for the last 11 months," she said. "I am excited by the content that is coming to market later this year, and to watch what impact that will have on hardware sales."
The Nintendo DS went on to become the best-selling gaming hardware system ever, selling more than 151 million worldwide.
Another sales mark for the company: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D became the third Nintendo 3DS title to sell more than 1 million units. The others: Super Mario 3D Land (2.1 million units sold life to date) and Mario Kart 7 (1.75 million).
Nintendo has a new larger 3DS XL version of the glasses-free 3-D game handheld coming to market Aug. 19, the same date that the much-anticipated 3DS game New Super Mario Bros. 2 arrives.
"Nintendo 3DS is entering the next phase of its life cycle with new hardware, new games and proven franchises," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing in a statement. "This milestone shows we've got a great foundation to build from."
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