What's going on?

Not even the slipperiest of bananas could trip up Nintendo’s quarterly results: the Japanese game maker upped its full-year profit outlook on Tuesday.

What does this mean?

The currency gods are smiling upon Nintendo right now: the yen�s fallen to a 30-year low against the US dollar, which is good news for a firm that makes 80% of its sales outside Japan and pays most of its software production costs in yen. Such good news, in fact, that you might overlook the fact that Nintendo sold fewer Switch consoles last quarter than at the same time last year. See, the firm actually reported a swish 18% uptick in operating profit last quarter, and � despite slashing this year�s forecast for Switch sales by 10% � upped its full-year profit outlook by a (Princess) peachy 18%.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Game plan.
The Nintendo Switch tends to see a tidy sales bump whenever a popular game hits the market, so some analysts expect its new Pok�mon installment � due out later this month � to help knock�this�quarter�s results out of the park again. But the Switch has been on the market for six years now, and while Nintendo says demand�s still strong for the aging hardware, analysts are closely watching for signs of sluggish sales as supply constraints ease. That said, there is rumored to be a new, high-powered Nintendo Switch Pro in the works, which could boost the firm�s sales with the financial equivalent of a super-speed Mario Kart Rocket Start.

Zooming out: Sony levels up.
Nintendo�s Japanese rival Sony has had trouble producing the PlayStation 5 console ever since its release back in 2020, but it seems things are finally looking up for the firm. Sony announced last week that production went better than expected last quarter, and it�s now aiming to beat its annual sales target. Investors liked the sound of that, and sent Sony�s shares up 7% after the news.