In a press release gloating over its March NPD numbers, Nintendo of America revealed that the recently-launched DSi has went on to sell 435,000 units in its first week of introduction.

Impressive. To make this feat even more remarkable is that according to Nintendo, the DS Lite sold 226,300 units during the week following its launch. Yes, that means the DSi somehow nearly doubled that. Either there’s a whole lot of people out there that have been waiting to spring on a DS, or folks were enticed into upgrading from their current portable setup.

Full release after the break.

NINTENDO SYSTEMS ACCOUNT FOR 58.4% OF VIDEO GAME HARDWARE SOLD IN MARCH

Nintendo’s Wii™ home console and the Nintendo DS™ portable video game system comfortably led U.S. sales in March, according to data from the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Pokémon™ Platinum Version for Nintendo DS emerged as the No. 2 video game of the month, with nearly 805,000 units sold.

Wii tallied sales of nearly 601,000 in March, while Nintendo DS sold more than half a million, even in advance of the April 5 launch of the new Nintendo DSi™ system. Both Wii and Nintendo DS extended their lead as the best-selling video game systems of this generation.

“Nintendo systems accounted for 58.4 percent of the video game hardware sold in March, more than all other systems combined,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Consumers continue to be attracted to the wide range of software available and the great value of Nintendo systems.”

Four games published by Nintendo finished in the top 10 best-sellers of March. These include Pokémon Platinum Version at No. 2, Wii Fit™ at No. 3 with more than 541,000 sold, Wii Play™ at No. 8 with more than 281,000 sold and Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 9 with more than 278,000 sold.

Early U.S. sales of the new Nintendo DSi hand-held system are ahead of those for Nintendo DS Lite, according to Nintendo’s internal tracking numbers. In its first week, Nintendo DSi sold 435,000 in the United States. After the same amount of time on the U.S. market after its launch, Nintendo DS Lite had sold 226,300 systems. These numbers demonstrate that the Nintendo DS brand remains strong, and that consumers continue to look for the best new experiences on their portable video game systems.

So far this year, video game industry revenues are on par with 2008, but Nintendo remains a key driver. Without Nintendo products, the industry would be down 14 percent for the year, according to the NPD Group.

Read more: Nintendo: One DS Sold Every Five Seconds, Nintendo Responsible For 60 Percent Of Industry Growth In 2007, 2 Million PS3s Sold In Japan, PSP Maintains Top Spot, Nintendo Officially Announces Colbalt/Black DS Lite, PSP Dominates Famitsu Sales Charts