Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes that North American DS sales came in just short of 1.15 million units during the month of April.

In a note distributed ahead of tomorrow’s release of official NPD sales data, Hickey forecast year over year DS sales growth of 175 percent, driven by the early April release of Nintendo’s DSi.

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter and EEDAR's Jesse Divnich have predicted April DS sales of 800,000 and 950,000 units respectively, while Lazard’s Colin Sebastian noted earlier today that the DSi’s launch would generate “solid growth in Nintendo’s handheld business” during the month.

“We think the current generation console (estimates do not include PS2) and handheld unit sales will be up 25 percent y/y in the month of April, attributable to an estimated 175 percent y/y increase in DS sales, compliments of the new DSi release,” Hickey wrote. “Nintendo’s DS sales should also benefit from a meaningful boost in the average price of the platform.”

The only other console Hickey expects to see year over year growth is Microsoft’s Xbox 360, yet he predicts a decline in total dollars sales given the average reduction of the console’s retail price over the past year, which he pegs at $80.

The analyst also forecast a 20 percent decline in software sales, compared to growth of 68 percent for the same period last year. He attributed this to “a less competitive release slate” that lacked big hitters like last April’s Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii.