Those of you who were expecting to be able to play import Gamecube games on the Wii will unfortunately be in for a shock. Yes those head honchos at Nintendo UK have decided to implement a region lock meaning that you will only be able to play Gamecube titles from your own territory.
This sadly isn’t just applicable to Gamecube games either, yes the Wii Virtual Console will also see a region lock system in place. This means that here in England you will only be able to play the European versions of software titles, not the American equivalent and vice-versa – something that’s sure to have the majority of hardcore import gamers riled up.
As most of you are aware gamers here in England have had it rather bad over the past few years, missing out on some classic titles from previous Nintendo consoles such as the infamous Super Mario RPG and the spectacular Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo amongst others. Fingers are tightly crossed that we don’t miss out on these superb titles a second time around…
I wasn’t too bothered about mario RPG or Chrono Trigger, it was Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2) that I really wanted a UK version of.
Luckily, some kind soul has translated it and released it on the internet:
http://www.dgemu.com/snes-screenshots-5945.html
This really comes as no surprise. They can get more money out of the European market.
TBH I have never been a great importer because high street stores do not accept import versions of console games as trade.
However if they are going to region lock for whatever reason they decide to choose, I really wish they would narrow the gap between releasing games in Japan and America and those released in Europe. Sometimes games can come over here up to 6 months after elsewhere – this is unfair and they wonder why people do import.
As I mentioned there are a number of cult and classic titles that we sadly missed out on in the ‘hay days’ of the Super Nintendo. Secret of Mana 2 was one of those games I avidly wished to play but at the time couldn’t afford the stringent import prices. Subsequently I missed out on what’s often seen as a revered title within the RPG genre.
Hey Becs I’m much the same as yourself with regards to not purchasing import titles due to the reluctance of many UK retailers taking import games as trade ins. Certainly the games store that I work at will not except them, but it is nice to have the choice of being able to play them on our Ds’es without the use of an action reply or something of a similar ilk.
I think is a sad thing to hear about this. Because I love to play import games from Japan and I thought they would not have this dumb problem with the whole region lock case. Some of these games dont even come to the US or other counties at times. This is an sad case, but the wii will sell.