It seems like the Nintendo 3DS is doing pretty well in Japan, if not globally.

Per reports, Japanese tracking company Enterbrain has revealed that the popular handheld gaming console Nintendo 3DS has hit 10 million sales in its resident country Japan.

This milestone, reportedly, took precisely 98 weeks to achieve, and it’s also inching closely with the Nintendo DS as far as sales are concerned. The system, in reality, came into prominence, especially in sales, after the 3DS price cut was announced in 2012 and this was followed by its biggest ever sales last year.

The console is believed to have garnered more popularity with the arrival of ‘Animal Crossing: New Leaf’ that sparked more Nintendo 3DS sales.

“New Leaf was the first Nintendo 3DS game to sell over 2 million copies in Japan, with approximately 1 in every 110 people now owning a copy. In its short space on the market, the latest Animal Crossing has already trumped other popular titles Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and Monster Hunter 3G,” a Cubed3 report stated.

Only recently Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, speaking to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, discussed the exceptional performance of ‘Animal Crossing: New Leaf’ in Japan so far. Iwata stated that ‘Animal Crossing’ is a game (translated from Japanese) to enjoy where there are a variety of events happening in a forest, and while the game isn’t goal oriented, as such, but the players’ ability to operate a village and try to become the mayor will definitely be taken into account as the game progresses.

“A growing chunk of these numbers, both software and hardware, are down to an increase in female owners - with the highest percentage in the first three weeks of sales being 19 to 24 year old women, ‘an age range found typically in fewer numbers for Nintendo’,” the Cubed3 report added.

However, for the sake of comparison, the biggest competitor to Nintendo 3DS, the PlayStation Vita, is struggling a lot, with the current difference between two gaming hardware being over 9 million.

The 3DS went on sale on Feb. 26, 2011 and was revealed to have sold a whopping 10 million when counted on Jan. 6, 2013.