Forbes Asia revealed its list of 40 richest Japanese for the June 18 issue, and numbers show that former Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi jumped up a few spots to third place.

Yamauchi's net worth of US$ 4.8 billion doesn't come close to Bill Gates' US$ 56 billion, but the increase in his riches mean something for Nintendo. Thanks to the massive success the Wii and DS are experiencing, Ninty shares have tripled since January 2006. After dominating sales charts across the world, and almost catching up with the 360 even with earlier release advantage, it's no suprise that the greens are rolling.

From a company that used to sell hanafuda cards and run love hotels, Nintendo sure have gone big with the gaming industry. The only guys that topped Yamauchi were Mori Trust (real estate corporation) CEO Akira Mori who came in at first and Softbank (a telecommunications corporation) CEO Masayoshi Son at second place.