Within 24 hours 400,000 Japanese gamers got their hands on Nintendo's new 3DS.

After the success of the DS and Wii expectations for the release of the 3DS were high and Destructoid confirm that these were met upon the release of the console in Japan. 400,000 units were sold within 24 hours of the console being released.

This means that all the units Nintendo shipped were sold on the day of release and while the majority of the sales come from pre-orders, that themselves were snapped up in one day, there was still a few places that had stock on a first-come-first-served basis. Popular electronics store Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, Tokyo, was one such store and eager gamers queued in their hundreds to get their hands on the console.

Nintendo has promised to try and ship out 1.5 million units in Japan before the end of March but these will likely all go to pre-order customers too. Next month will see the console being released in America and Europe and early indicators suggest that it will be in as much demand. The footage of the launch below was captured by Nintendo to commemorate the event, or perhaps just to show off.