NINTENDO is pinning hopes of a revival in its fortunes on games character Mario after recording a £135 million loss due to poor sale.

The loss was a stark reversal in fortunes for the Japanese giant which has an unrivalled roster of gaming icons including Mario, Link and Donkey KLong. The previous year it booked a seven billion yen (£40m) profit.

Bosses admitted sales of the Wii U console have fallen short of company forecasts.

The new console was supposed to replace the phenomenally successful Wii but its specifications have since been superseded by consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

In January, Nintendo lowered its Wii U sales projection for the fiscal year to March from nine million to less than a third of that at 2.8m units.

Despite that the company remained upbeat and said it expects to sell 3.6m Wii U machines in the next year, helped by the planned release of popular games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.

Sales projections have been lowered repeatedly as people increasingly switch to smartphones and other devices to play games.

The Wii U has a touch-screen tablet controller called GamePad and a TV-watching feature called TVii.

Adding to its woes, Nintendo acknowledged that its relatively popular 3DS handheld also did not sell as well as it had expected.

The dismal results come despite a favourable exchange rate, which has in the past dramatically helped Nintendo earnings. The yen has been weakening, and that works as a plus for Japanese exporters.