After just one day, the Nintendo 3DS is a hit in Japan.
If you live in Japan and didn’t get up very early to go out and buy a Nintendo 3DS on its launch date of February 26, you probably didn’t get one. Reports from the region are saying that the initial shipment of the no-glasses 3D handheld sold out in a day.
Total sales so far have hit over 400,000 units. Hundreds of people were seen lining up outside of popular electronics retailers before opening to get their hands on the device.
However, this doesn’t mean that the 3DS is now impossible to purchase in Japan. Only the “initial shipment” sold out, meaning the shipment prepared for the launch day.
There are apparently more shipments on their way to Japanese stores, but it isn’t exactly clear how fast they’ll get there. The only indication we have is that Nintendo says 1.5 million 3DSs will be shipped to Japanese stores by the end of March 2011. Based on the system’s “futuristic” capabilities, I would expect the 3DS to perform just as well when it launches in other regions on March 25 (EU), March 27 (NA), and March 31 (AUS).
Source: IGN