IT'S A HAND-HELD HOLIDAY AS SHOPPERS SNAP UP 500,000 NINTENDO DS UNITS

Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube Also Post Big Numbers

REDMOND, Wash.--Dec. 1, 2004--Shoppers spent Thanksgiving week

stuffing their shopping bags with Nintendo hardware, setting the stage

for 2004 to be the year of the hand-held holidays. Shoppers snapped up

more than 500,000 Nintendo DS(TM) systems during Thanksgiving week,

representing more than 90 percent of all units available in stores

across the United States.

With Nintendo DS sales moving faster than anticipated, some

locations have reported sellouts, and Nintendo predicts the initial

North American supply will be depleted within days. As additional

shipments are rushed to stores by this weekend to meet the demand,

Nintendo expects to sell 1 million Nintendo DS units in North

America alone by the end of 2004 -- a mark that took Apple's iPod 19

months to achieve.

"Consumers have voted the Nintendo DS as the hot item this

holiday, so if you see one, you'd better buy it," says Reggie

Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales &

marketing. "Nintendo owns the hand-held market, and once again we're

the hit of the holiday season."

Nintendo's other hand-held system, Game Boy(R) Advance, also

soared during the holiday weekend. Nintendo sold more than 800,000

Game Boy Advance and Game Boy(R) Advance SP units during the past

week. The combined 1.3 million Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance units

sold last week set a new one-week sales record for hand-held systems.

And the Game Boy Advance line remains on track to be the best-selling

hardware line of the year.

Nintendo GameCube(TM) also posted impressive numbers. The special

bundle of a Nintendo GameCube and a "Mario Kart(R): Double Dash!!(TM)"

game has sold more than 250,000 units since its introduction in

mid-November.

Nintendo DS is revolutionizing video games by providing players

completely new ways to interact with their games. The sharp, angular,

silver-and-black dual-screened system comes with a stylus and features

a touch screen, voice control and wireless communication. Nintendo DS,

available now at an MSRP of $149.99, represents a third, distinct

product line for Nintendo, along with Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo

GameCube. Nintendo DS comes packaged with both a free, embedded

"PictoChat(TM)" communication program, and a playable demo of

"Metroid(R) Prime Hunters" with both single-player and multiplayer

modes.