Nintendo has sold more Switch consoles in 10 months than it did Wii U's in 5 years

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Legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

• Switch just smashed Nintendo's expectations and has already outsold its predecessor, the Wii U.
• The hardware sales have been fueled by a fantastic year for games, with hits including "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Nintendo is on a roll.

The company, which reported a blockbuster holiday quarter on Tuesday, announced that its Switch console has already outsold its predecessor, the Wii U. The Wii U was first launched in November 2012 and was discontinued last fall after five years on the market.

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After launching in March last year, Nintendo has sold 14.86 million Switch units, nearly 900,000 ahead of its 2017 target with three months left of its financial year. That makes its objective to sell another 20 million of the consoles in 2018 all the more realistic.

As The Verge pointed out, hardware sales have been fueled by a fantastic year for games, too, thanks to hits like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey," loved by critics and customers alike.

"Odyssey" in particular topped the charts, with 9.07 million units sold, while "Zelda" reached 6.7 million copies. Other hits were "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," which moved 7.33 million copies, and "Splatoon 2," with 4.91 million.

The strong results made the company adjust its forecast for the fiscal year ending in March. It now expects to make a profit of 160 billion yen ($1.47 billion/£1.03 billion), 33.3% above previous forecasts.