Nintendo 3DS continued its strong year with another first: The platform was the best-selling video game hardware platform in the United States in May. The launch of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D on May 23 and another strong month for Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon helped Nintendo 3DS software sales in stores increase by more than 60 percent over the same time last year. Nintendo 3DS also had two of the top three best-selling software SKUs for the month, with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D at No. 2 and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon at No. 3.

At the recently concluded E3 trade show in Los Angeles, Nintendo defined its proposition for the holiday season by showcasing a cavalcade of great games coming for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems in 2013. Starting in August and continuing through the end of the year, Wii U will launch one major game a month, including Pikmin 3 (Aug. 4), The Wonderful 101 (Sept. 15), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (October), Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (November) and Super Mario 3D World (December). Nintendo 3DS will build on its momentum with the successive launches of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (Aug. 11), Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (Oct. 12) Mario Party for Nintendo 3DS (name not final, November) and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (November).

*Data regarding physical sales of games in May is from the NPD Group and is specific to the United States only.

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