Japanese Nintendo posted a 3.17 billion yen ($26.3 million) profit for the fiscal second quarter, as a result of sales growth of portable video game machines and software titles. The company said Wednesday that July-September sales rose 18 percent to 113.96 billion yen ($946.5 million), allowing it to stay in the black for a second quarter in a row.

The company reported 8.97 billion yen ($74.6 million) operating profit for the fiscal first half compared with a loss of 215 million yen a year earlier.

It said sales of Nintendo 3DS game devices including two newer models launched during the previous fiscal year reached 2.28 million units in the first half.

Sales figures were also pushed by software titles such as "Animal Crossing," which sold more than 2 million units, the company said. A software title featuring all-time favorite Super Mario for the Wii U home console also got off to a good start, it said.

As for the Nintendo 3DS software, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer became a hit, marking 2.02 million units in sales.

With respect to Wii U, Super Mario Maker, which was released globally in September offering a new taste to the Super Mario series, marked 1.88 million units in sales and got off to a good start.

Splatoon, which was released in May, marked 2.42 million units in sales and contributed to vitalizing the Wii U platform. The worldwide sales of the Wii U hardware and software were 1.19 million and 12.37 million units respectively.

Nintendo left its annual profit forecast unchanged at 35 billion yen ($290 million).

The company also conformed that it plans to unveil its first videogame for smartphones on Thursday,.