Nintendo squeezes out surprise profit thanks to weak yen, great games (update)

Strong sales of Super Smash Bros.for Nintendo 3DS and Mario Kart 8 coupled with a weak yen helped Nintendo turn a profit this quarter, Nintendo reported this morning.

The company is expected to post a net profit of about $224 million for its July to September quarter, according to the company's earnings release. Analysts had expected a loss for the quarter.

While a weak yen helped stoke the profit, Nintendo says it was also powered by strong sales of two key titles.

The company said they sold 3.22 million copies of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS globally during the six months ending September 30. Tomodachi Life sold 1.27 million copies worldwide. All told, the global sales for Nintendo 3DS software was 23.3 million and the company sold 2.09 million of the portable console.

Wii U sales were helped along by both Mario Kart 8, which continues to show steady sales, as well as Hyrule Warriors, Globally, the company sold 9.4 million games for the Wii U during that period, and 1.12 million of the consoles.

The company said it believes that the upcoming release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, along with the continuing popularity of Mario Kart 8 and the launch of the amiibo figures will lead to strong sales of the Wii U over the holidays. The 3DS, which was starting to experience slow sales, will also turn around for the holidays, the company said it believes, thanks to the coming release of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire.

Make sure you check out our graphic charting the history of Nintendo sales right here.

Update: This story has been updated to change from operating profit to the more routinely used net profit.