Nintendo Co Ltd tumbled to a 19.6 billion yen ($258 million) operating loss for the July-September period, worse than it forecast and falling short of market expectations

The figure compares with a profit of 30.89 billion yen profit in the same period last year.

The games giant with the Super Mario franchise also slashed its full-year operating profit forecast to just 1 billion yen from 35 billion yen.

Nintendo has been battling growing competition from smartphones and tablets, but this quarter also faced a massive hit from the soaring yen, which has crushed the value of profits repatriated from abroad, especially the euro zone. ($1 = 75.990 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Miyoung Kim)

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