The Pokémon franchise is in the midst of one of its biggest periods ever, with the Pokemon GO mobile app becoming the biggest hit in its medium, a long-awaited live-action feature film in development and the global phenomenon showing no signs of fatigue or slowing down after over 20 years of the enormously-successful Nintendo property's continued popularity.

Now, more good news: Pokémon Sun & Moon, the latest two-part release for the main series of games, has set a Nintendo sales record. Announced via press release by Nintendo of Canada, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon have become the fastest-selling games ever released in The Americas by the Japanese international gaming giant - no small feat, considering that the same company also publishes the similarly ubiquitous Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and Kirby franchises (among others.)

For more on the success of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, here is an official statement by Nintendo:

After becoming the most pre-ordered video games in Nintendo history, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon – the latest games in the wildly popular Pokémon franchise – have now become the fastest-selling games that Nintendo has ever launched in the Americas. In less than two weeks, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems sold a combined total of 3.7 million units. That’s an 85 percent increase over PokémonX and PokémonY – the previous record holders for Nintendo’s fastest-selling games – during the same period when these games launched in 2013.

Ash Pikachu Pokemon

The powerful sales figures will no doubt be received as a particularly welcome shot in the arm to the traditional games industry and Nintendo in particular - given that both titles were released exclusively to the handheld 3DS platform. The 3DS has been steadily losing market presence to the rise of increasingly complex mobile and smartphone-based gaming over the last decade. As Pierre-Paul Trepanier (Nintendo of Canada’s General Manager and Senior Director) put it:

“With these huge sales figures, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon have proven themselves as two of the hottest video games to buy this holiday season. With great reviews and outstanding fan response, these next iterations in the Pokémon series are sure to please any player in the family.”

Rumors persist that a third version of the game, thought to be titled "Pokémon Stars". may be planned for release on Nintendo's upcoming Switch console; which transforms between home and handheld modes and is meant to unify the company's two tracks of game development into one. No official word has yet come from Nintendo as to whether this is actually the case.

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Source: Nintendo