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Thu May 26, 7:40 AM ET TOKYO - Japanese video game maker Co.'s net profit more than doubled for the latest fiscal year, lifted by strong sales of its newly launched portable game player Nintendo DS and gains from foreign exchange fluctuations, the company said Thursday.

The Kyoto-based company, which makes the Super Mario game software and GameBoy Advance portable machines, said its group net profit surged to 87.42 billion yen ($809.44 million) in the year ended March 31 from 33.19 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales edged up to 515.29 billion yen ($4.77 billion) from 514.81 billion yen in the same period a year ago.

For the current fiscal year through March 2006, Nintendo forecasts a group net profit of 75 billion yen ($694.44 million) on sales of 520 billion yen ($4.81 billion).

Nintendo, Japan's top portable game-machine maker, said its mainline operations were supported by the debut of the Nintendo DS. Launched in Japan and the United States late last year and in Europe this March, combined sales of the "double screen" game player have climbed to 5.2 million units, the company said. The machine has liquid crystal display screens that let users control game characters' movements by touching the screen with a stylus or their fingertips.

The instant success of the handheld Nintendo DS helped offset the slumping sales of Nintendo GameCube game consoles due to intense competition, the company said.

A favorable exchange rate also helped boost the value of the company's overseas earnings, as it posted 21.85 billion yen ($202.31 million) in foreign exchange-related gains for last fiscal year versus losses of 67.88 billion yen due to currency fluctuations a year ago.

Nintendo keeps a large share of its foreign earnings in overseas markets to take advantage of greater interest income than in Japan, where interest rates remain relatively low.

Nintendo's earnings figures were based on a stronger dollar, which bought 107.39 yen this fiscal year, up from 105.69 yen the previous year.

Nintendo shares, which have been relatively stable for the past year, fell 1.4 percent to 11,620 yen ($107.59) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange shortly before its earnings were announced.

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