Post by nocturnal YL on Dec 17, 2017 13:28:48 GMT -5
I've been wondering how does Nintendo operate outside of their usual markets. Up until now, the answer is that Nintendo doesn't seem to care. Club Nintendo didn't exist for those regions; games either weren't translated, or they were, but they also used a different region code. It's like Nintendo treated them as second-class citizens.
Information I know so far:
Eastern Europe:
Distribution handled by an importer. Games were not localized, and still aren't today, except Russian. The consoles themselves are the same as the European version.
Northern Europe:
Games weren't localized until the Wii U era, and even then it was limited to Dutch for select games (like Smash). I don't know if NOE handles the distribution in Scandinavia. The consoles themselves are the same as the European version.
South Korea:
Their GameCube releases were done in a mix of Japanese and English, resulting in oddities like Four Swords Adventures' main modes rendered in English but with Navi Trackers intact (and in Japanese).
Wii and 3DS had their own region code and proper localization, resulting in Korean versions of the games not playable in other regions' systems. There was never a Korean Wii U.
I'm not sure whether they simultaneously import Japanese and/or English games and consoles along with the Korean ones.
Taiwan / Hong Kong:
So much to add because I live in Hong Kong. There was no local Nintendo branch in Hong Kong until New SMB Wii came out. Before that, Taiwan would import Japanese games and Hong Kong would have both Japanese and NA games.
Wii: A select number of Wii games (including New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play) were translated to Traditional Chinese, but those games are region-coded as Japanese and meant to be played on Japanese consoles. There was never a Traditional Chinese-coded Wii or Wii U.
Nintendo 3DS: The Traditional Chinese (for both Taiwan and Hong Kong) version of 3DS had its own region, and the games released on it are a mix of localized games (e.g. Super Mario 3D Land) and Japanese games region-coded as TC (e.g. Fire Emblem Fates). This version never sold well due to its absymal number of games available, and Nintendo eventually gave up and instead worked on making Japanese-region games also available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese (e.g. Pokémon Sun and Moon, Fire Emblem Echoes) while still making TC-region versions of those games.
Nintendo Switch (Hong Kong): Although there is a Hong Kong "version" of the console (which is the Japanese console with the AC adaptor replaced with a British 230V plug), the imported games were just the same as the Japanese ones. Hong Kong has no game rating system (instead, the law simply requires media depicting a certain level of violence to bear an additional "sold to 18+ only" label), so there is no reason to make Hong Kong versions of the games.
Nintendo Switch (Taiwan): Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan is not a launch region and the Switch wasn't officially available until 1 December 2017. Before that date, they just imported the Japanese versions like usual.
Traditional Chinese localization is done by NCL insead of Nintendo Hong Kong. There used to be a Nintendo of Taiwan in the early 3DS era, but a debacle involving Nintendo of Taiwan's CEO being incompetent eventually lead to the subsidiary's closure and Taiwanese distribution was handled by Nintendo Hong Kong instead.
China:
Besides the famous iQue player, they also had their own versions of GBA and DS. The iQue DS in particular supported other regions' game cards, but the Nintendo DS could not play iQue DS games. In case you're wondering, the iQue DS system menu could be configured to the European languages in addition to Simplified Chinese (which replaces Japanese). Good for those who import European games and want to learn European languages that way, I guess. Their 3DS also has their own region, and comes with Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land preinstalled.
I think Nintendo plans to launch the Switch there, but they're still working on it.
That's it. I'm unfamiliar to the other regions (besides stories of their infamous Brazilian importer loving to screw over everyone by doubling the price of the systems), and would appreciate any extra information in that aspect.
I think both the Switch being region-free and having Club Nintendo replaced by My Nintendo are the results of Nintendo finally realizing they were excluding customers from the other regions. Internationalizing their system and allowing for cross-region My Nintendo accounts immediately got rid of this problem.
Information I know so far:
Eastern Europe:
Distribution handled by an importer. Games were not localized, and still aren't today, except Russian. The consoles themselves are the same as the European version.
Northern Europe:
Games weren't localized until the Wii U era, and even then it was limited to Dutch for select games (like Smash). I don't know if NOE handles the distribution in Scandinavia. The consoles themselves are the same as the European version.
South Korea:
Their GameCube releases were done in a mix of Japanese and English, resulting in oddities like Four Swords Adventures' main modes rendered in English but with Navi Trackers intact (and in Japanese).
Wii and 3DS had their own region code and proper localization, resulting in Korean versions of the games not playable in other regions' systems. There was never a Korean Wii U.
I'm not sure whether they simultaneously import Japanese and/or English games and consoles along with the Korean ones.
Taiwan / Hong Kong:
So much to add because I live in Hong Kong. There was no local Nintendo branch in Hong Kong until New SMB Wii came out. Before that, Taiwan would import Japanese games and Hong Kong would have both Japanese and NA games.
Wii: A select number of Wii games (including New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play) were translated to Traditional Chinese, but those games are region-coded as Japanese and meant to be played on Japanese consoles. There was never a Traditional Chinese-coded Wii or Wii U.
Nintendo 3DS: The Traditional Chinese (for both Taiwan and Hong Kong) version of 3DS had its own region, and the games released on it are a mix of localized games (e.g. Super Mario 3D Land) and Japanese games region-coded as TC (e.g. Fire Emblem Fates). This version never sold well due to its absymal number of games available, and Nintendo eventually gave up and instead worked on making Japanese-region games also available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese (e.g. Pokémon Sun and Moon, Fire Emblem Echoes) while still making TC-region versions of those games.
Nintendo Switch (Hong Kong): Although there is a Hong Kong "version" of the console (which is the Japanese console with the AC adaptor replaced with a British 230V plug), the imported games were just the same as the Japanese ones. Hong Kong has no game rating system (instead, the law simply requires media depicting a certain level of violence to bear an additional "sold to 18+ only" label), so there is no reason to make Hong Kong versions of the games.
Nintendo Switch (Taiwan): Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan is not a launch region and the Switch wasn't officially available until 1 December 2017. Before that date, they just imported the Japanese versions like usual.
Traditional Chinese localization is done by NCL insead of Nintendo Hong Kong. There used to be a Nintendo of Taiwan in the early 3DS era, but a debacle involving Nintendo of Taiwan's CEO being incompetent eventually lead to the subsidiary's closure and Taiwanese distribution was handled by Nintendo Hong Kong instead.
China:
Besides the famous iQue player, they also had their own versions of GBA and DS. The iQue DS in particular supported other regions' game cards, but the Nintendo DS could not play iQue DS games. In case you're wondering, the iQue DS system menu could be configured to the European languages in addition to Simplified Chinese (which replaces Japanese). Good for those who import European games and want to learn European languages that way, I guess. Their 3DS also has their own region, and comes with Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land preinstalled.
I think Nintendo plans to launch the Switch there, but they're still working on it.
That's it. I'm unfamiliar to the other regions (besides stories of their infamous Brazilian importer loving to screw over everyone by doubling the price of the systems), and would appreciate any extra information in that aspect.
I think both the Switch being region-free and having Club Nintendo replaced by My Nintendo are the results of Nintendo finally realizing they were excluding customers from the other regions. Internationalizing their system and allowing for cross-region My Nintendo accounts immediately got rid of this problem.
