Japanese Wii launch details

PALGN News | ¥25,000, December 2nd.

A few hours ago, Nintendo held a press conference in Japan detailing the company’s plans for the Wii launch in that region. After a short period of applauding the success of the Nintendo DS in Japan, company president Satoru Iwata declared that the Wii will be on sale 2nd December for ¥25,000 (US$212 / AU$283 / £113 / €167). This includes sales tax (typically 5%).

In Japan the Wii will come boxed with:

Wii console
Remote control strap attachment
The nunchuck controller
AC adapter
AV cable
Wii stand
Wii auxiliary plate
Wii sensor bar
Plug server stand
2 batteries

This date comes as something of a surprise after the North American release date of November 19th and price US$250 (AU$333 / £133 / €197) was leaked earlier this morning. The details of the Australian and European release will be revealed some time in the next 24 hours.

Also at the conference, information surrounding the pricing of the Virtual Console (VC) was revealed. The VC allows users to download games from previous Nintendo systems directly from the internet to play on the Wii. Pricing in Japan will be:

NES - ¥500 (US$4.24 / AU$5.65 / £2.26 / €3.35)
SNES - ¥800 (US$6.80 / AU$9.04 / £3.62 / €5.36)
Nintendo 64 - ¥1,000 (US$8.50 / AU$11.30 / £4.52 / €6.70)

There is set to be between 60 and 30 titles available on the VC by the end of 2006. This includes Mega Drive and PC Engine (Turbo-Grafx/Genesis) games. Following that, there will be 10 new VC games each month.

Finally came the announcement of game prices. It appears that the games will sell for between ¥4,800 (US$41 / AU$54 / £22 / €32) and ¥6,800 (US$58 / AU$77 / £31 / €46) including tax in Japan. Two launch titles were used to demonstrate the difference. Wii
Sports will retail for ¥4800, while The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will appear in Japanese stores for ¥6800. It appears that Wii Sports will not be bundled with the console in Japan unlike the US.

Stay tuned for PAL launch details in the next 24 hours.

Global Wii launch details;

November 19th - United Stated - US$250 (AU$333 / £133 / €197 / ¥30,000) excludes sales tax [article]
December 2nd - Japan - ¥25,000 (AU$283 / £113 / €167 / US$212) [article]
December 7th - Australia - AU$399.95 (£160 / €238 / US$300 / ¥35,000) [article]
December 8th - Europe - €249 / £179 (AU$419 / US$315 / ¥37,000) [article]

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16 Comments

slapshakle

5 years ago

Very good pricing on the VC games I believe. Heres hoping we get it before '07 with Wii Sports [/prays]

onggie

5 years ago

Also the offical Wii website has been launched you can see it here.

D.Dark

5 years ago

Yea i went to the site earlier today and read some quite interesting things which makes me think the Japanese community will embrace the Wii more than the DS. I wonder which games they'll be showing off at this NY press event

838 La

5 years ago

Box looks a little cheap : P

chriharr

5 years ago

Dam that Wii Packaging looks better than the 360 boxes, just the box alone grabs my attention

renegadesx

5 years ago

I still think the US details are false

James

5 years ago

renegadesx wrote

I still think the US details are false

The internet disagrees.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

chriharr wrote

Dam that Wii Packaging looks better than the 360 boxes, just the box alone grabs my attention

The box wasn't hard to predict, personally I think it looks mighty ugly. I don't know what's wrong with the Xbox 360 boxes.

Also remember if the Wii has any bundled software, it'll have an OFLC mark on it

admeister

5 years ago

I like the Box.

The VC prices are alright, could be better. Let's hope for a decent release date for PAL regions.

838 La

5 years ago

Swanny

5 years ago

So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! he he Wiied my self! (sorry guys) what the heck is with the North America date? WTF?

Swanny

5 years ago

with Wii sports? i preordered the other day and the dude tried to make me preorder Wii Sports but if it's included...........!

wobbler

5 years ago

Seems to me that the US gets Wii sports included for an extra $40US or so compared to Japan. I don't understand why everyone would want Wii sports included with the Aus deal as it will just drive the price up. Wouldn't people want the choice of what game to get rather than having Wii sports forced on everyone that buys a Wii?

nin2000

5 years ago

wobbler wrote

cause its such a good games, and shows off the Wii's potential. It also will help sell the console.

DancesInUnderwear

5 years ago

wobbler wrote

Spot on. Wii sports looks alright, but I really don't want to pay anything over $50 for it. I get the feeling we'll be looking at a $400 price point because of it, tohugh, and that makes me a sad panda.