Online Japanese news publication Rocket News 24 have confirmed that even Wii U GamePads are region locked. This basically means that you can’t use an imported Japanese Wii U GamePad on your North American system. We already knew that Wii U consoles and games are region locked, but it’s unusual for Nintendo to region lock the controller.
Thanks, Aeolus
well that’s stupid
SNES controllers were region locked… the system wont boot if the controller doesn’t match the system’s region!
that’s not true, i use imported gamecube controller for wii.
SNES != Gamecube.
^This
He said SNES you idiot. (As for the region locking on SNES, that is not true.)
mehh, famicon controllers were console locked, that was stupid
My guess is that maybe the pads might operate on different frequency bands depending on the region.
Nope they all operate on a (surprisingly good) 5ghz band.
Next time, region lock region locks!
I lol’d so hard
region locks are so fucking dumb. no wonder hackers hack consoles to void that shit.
OFC but…. fucking dumb for us (users) and good for Nintendo (money).
You’re being naive if you think they hack consoles to save us from evil region lock.
hey guys! got the wii u to fully update! anyone else using their gamepad to view this site? the browser is amazing.
The Wii U Web Browser is truly the best app and has better speed than the two rival consoles’ browsers.
wow why the controller? i wonder if the next think they do is wii u pro controller will be region locked.
knowing ninendo they will
that would actually surprise me
this really doesn’t
so does this mean i can’t use my gamepad when i travel?
sorry let me rephrase this, i can’t charge the game-pad when i travel?
You can. What this means is that you can’t use an NA GamePad with a Japanese/EU console.
I shuddered when I read the article acknowledgement…it’s almost more disturbing than the region lock news….
Aeolus works for my nintendo news. His incessant attacks on nintendo gets hits for the site. Only thing is it’s not good for his Sony loving self lol. This is okay, it means job security :).
Only nintendo fans provide a balance of intelligence, common sense wisdom and laughter. Was on a Sony site my goodness, talk about being lost in Trentton’s pomposity lol.
Nintendo fanboys, Sony fanboys, Apple fanboys, Microsoft fanboys, they all do the same thing.
You can’t deny that tons of people on this site talk crap about other companies and worship Miyamoto and Nintendo.
It’s gamers, in the truest sense of the word, who provide that balanced view – not “only nintendo fans.”
nintendo fans have no equals
Old Nintendo fans (since NES-SNES)….. not “new” Nintendo fans (after PS1 or 1st Xbox).
FAN is not equal to FANBOY….
The next thing they’ll region lock are the HDMI, the composite and the component cables as well as the USB cable for the pro controller.
After that they’ll region lock the packaging so you can’t unbox a japanese Wii U if you are an American.
And it get’s worse! They will region lock the look of the system so americans can’t look at japanese Wii Us.
Why is my comment marked as anonymus and why is it here twice?
Don’t worry, just leave it to the homebrew community, they’ll fix this.
Damn Aeolus , why didn’t you let us know about this BEFORE I ordered my 3 Japanese gamepads *sarcasm*
Now you’re just being petty. Have some pride.
The next thing they’ll lock are the HDMI, Component and Composite cables.
After that they’ll lock the packaging so you can’t unbox a japanese Wii U if you are an American.And it get’s worse! They’ll region lock the look of the system so you can’t look at a japanese Wii U if you are an American.
That’s one thing where Sony is really doing a better job because I can play all imported games on an unhacked PS
Well, not all, but yes, most.
Ha all you people whinning. I have always and will always support region lock. Why would anyone bring their gamepad to Japan to play on a Japanese Wii U.
You seem like a sane man in an insane world. Region lock might indeed be good for some purposes. BUT the problem is that many of the best games do not hit NA or Europe, we almost missed out on 3 of the greatest Wii titles… Region lock could’ve screwed us on the best games for the Wii.. Just saying.
I have no interest in Xenoblade or Pandora’s Tower or The Last Story. The Tales games are the only RPG games I like.
I discovered it the hard way while traveling to Europe with my american Wii U. I had asked my brother to lend me his european gamepad so I wouldn’t have to carry mine… If you read the article, you know what happened next.
I am the biggest Nintendo fan, but this is SO FREAKING STUPID.
This is a good thing, because it provides job security for employs of nintendo in every region. Harsh but convinient.
HAHAHAHAHAHA the stupidity not have a ends
Of Nintendo
May I offer to pay for English lessons for you?
hahahahaha
All of this “region locked” crap really gives me an attitude towards game companies. There’s no excuse for it. They’re just being asses when they region lock something. They don’t have to do it. They just do. Causing everyone to have to mod their consoles etc., or find some region unlocking software. It’s total bull crap!
Yes, it’s stupid from our point of view, but it’s done to control Supply V’s Demand, which influences pricing. The controller may end up being cheaper in Japan compared to say, Australia (which is a given, considering how expensive things are here), and Nintendo want to stop you from buying any secondary accessories from the Asian region and importing them at a much cheaper cost than buying them locally.
Good business sense in theory, it annoys your consumers in reality.
so whats the point of importing the gamepad if it`s expensive and you can just send you`re broken gamepad to nintendo and theyll replace it for how much?
I love nintendo but that is gay.
This protectionist attitude has to go away and I hope Nintendo can adapt rather than disappear. My Wife is Japanese and the fun of buying Japanese software to play when we come back from Japan nearly swayed me to buy a playstation. If the new playstation is region free again I may pick one up next year and sell or shelve the WiiU. I hate this greedy protectionist shortsightedness prevalent in this monopolistic industry and others.
Ugh. Why is Nintendo doing this? It is not fair. This WILL cause chaos if that MOTHER game is Japan-only.
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its a the game pad not like there are games out at the moment where you need two and why buy from over seas when it is easy to get a game controler out of a shop instead of waitingup to two ta three weeks for one.
That doesn’t sound like a region lock, nor does the warning indicate so, as much as it sounds like a video streaming issue between countries.
My curiosity is more with the pictures of the controllers from the link, it looks like one is smaller than the other But it could just be an optical illusion.
Sorry can’t be too mad at Nintendo for this one, they can’t control video broadcast standards no more they can control electrical current standards from country to country.
What I don’t get, is why people are complaining about it? Must they have a US system with a Japanese GamePad?
Steve that is a bunch of hogwash snes. controllers where never region locked,my friend who introduced me to snes and zelda: alttp,had a pal snes with the purple buttoned American snes controller and worked perfectly
don’t knw why posting lies
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You guys need to remember the Wii U console itself is region-locked. It wouldn’t make sense if the console was region-locked and the controller wasn’t.
As much as I don’t care that much, I think that is stupid. Plus, the worry about “lost” sales for this is way too far, I don’t think it’s going to hurt the company to make it region free, could have some effect though. But worrying about it by doing this just isn’t right. Just make them cheaper, so that way a lot of people can be happy. xD Guess for now, I would have to buy a whole new Wii U from Japan if I ever wanted to play there type of games.
Hope the hackers make it region free I guess… Probably won’t be in a long time.
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Not too surprising…Because the controllers are expensive and you aren’t really expected to buy them separately, they’re like part of the console itself, and so are region locked with the console. I don’t see why they region locked it but it does make sense
Only problem I could foresee is if they sold a special edition gamepad in Japan. But I could always just swap the gamepads case.
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