Shares in video game maker Nintendo Co were overwhelmed with buy orders on Wednesday as investors welcomed its long-awaited move to bring its iconic game characters such as Super Mario to smartphones.

The flood of buy orders meant Nintendo shares were untraded, but bids were indicated 21 percent higher, up by their daily limit of 3,000 yen limit to 17,080 yen after it announced a partnership with social gaming company DeNA Co.

Nintendo's American depositary receipts (ADRs) rose 27.5 percent overnight.

Nintendo and DeNA said their partnership will include a capital alliance as well as an agreement to jointly develop and operate gaming apps.

DeNA shares, which had been heavily shorted prior to Tuesday's announcement, were also untraded. Bids jumped by their 300 yen limit to 1,707 yen.

"Finally, Nintendo has turned a corner and embraced a huge strategic shift," said Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal, upgrading his recommendation on the shares to "buy" from "hold" and raising his price target to 30,000 yen from a previous 12,400 yen.

Investors had long called on Nintendo to shift its focus to mobile devices after losing customers to both smartphone gaming app makers and stronger console rivals like PlayStation maker Sony Corp and Xbox maker Microsoft Corp.