The gloves are off in the battle for the games console market

Its net profits grew 77.2% to 174.3bn yen (�731m; $1.4bn) in the year to 31 March, while sales surged 90%.

Nintendo had been struggling against rivals Sony and Microsoft until its new innovations revitalised its business.

It said it sold 23.56 million handheld DS consoles, and was hoping to sell a similar number this year.

The Kyoto-based firm added it aimed to sell 14 million Wii consoles in 2007/8, up from 5.84 million in the year to March.

Competition

The improvement in profits comes as little surprise given the success of its latest products.

The video game industry is now on a growth path Nintendo

And its share price has almost doubled in the past year as investors were impressed by its turnaround.

The DS console, which allows users to control play with a stylus, has proved popular with women and older users.

Meanwhile the motion sensitive Wii has proved popular after introducing a new way of playing computer games.

The Wii is competing against Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

"The video game industry is now on a growth path," Nintendo said.

Nintendo games are best known for characters such as Mario, Pokemon and Donkey Kong.