Nintendo Co. Ltd. shareholders were shouting Wii! on Monday as the game console maker surpassed Sony Corp in market value and for the first time became one of Japan's Top 10 issues.

Nintendo has now reached the rare atmosphere shared by global household names such as Toyota Motor Corp., Canon Inc. and Honda Motor Co. on the list of the 10 most valuable Japanese companies.

Shares in Nintendo were up 1.5 percent at 46,150 yen by midday, boosting its market value to 6.54 trillion yen (53 billion U.S. dollars), while Sony fell 1.1 percent to 6,480 yen, or 6.50 trillion yen in market capitalization.

Nintendo's Wii game console has outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 by 3 to 1 in Japan and by more than 2 to 1 in the United States so far this year, according to game magazine publisher Enterbrain and research firm NPD.

Demand for its DS handheld game players also far outstripped that for Sony's PlayStation Portable.

"It is becoming quite clear that Nintendo is taking back its market share from Sony in the console market while well defending its stronghold of portable games," Mizuho Securities analyst Takeshi Koyama said.

Sony shares have risen 67 percent over the past two years, outperforming the Nikkei average, which rose 57 percent. But Nintendo shares skyrocketed more than fourfold over the same period.

Sony, which has dominated the 30-billion-dollar game industry over the past decade with its PlayStation and PlayStation 2, saw a slow start for the PS3 because of its high prices and lack of attractive software titles.