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Topic: Japanese import Wii & games

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mikejonesuk

I've read the excellent article on importing UK and/or US Wiis (http://wii.nintendolife.com/news/2009/11/guides_everything_you_need_to_know_about_importing_a_wii) but would like some advice on whether it's worth importing a Japanese Wii and/or games.

Basically, I really want to play Xenoblade and The Last Story, both only available in Japan. (I feel the need for a good RPG so badly, I've got hold of an old PS2 and am playing Final Fantasy XII, with Final Fantasy X on order!)

I'm in the UK, by the way.

So, a few questions:

Do I need to buy a Japanese Wii? If so, how do I get hold of one and how much would it cost?

How would I set it up with a PAL TV?

How much does it cost to import Japanese games?

And now for the dumb question! I f I had a working Japanese Wii set up, would there be any point importing either of these games as I don't speak or read Japanese?!

Thanks for any advice.

mikejonesuk

pixelbuffer

Getting ahead of ourselves, are we? Why not wait for The Last Story and Xenoblade's (aka Monado: Beginning of the World) English releases? They're both basically confirmed to be coming out in the west. Or at least, at this point there's no reason to believe they won't be localised.

Yes, there would be little point in importing them since they will definitely be text-heavy, seeing how they are RPGs.

EDIT: I might also add that if there were any games you'd want to get a Japanese Wii for, they'd be Zangeki no REGINLEIV and 428: 〜Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de〜. Neither ever got an English release and both are top quality titles. Unfortunately they're text-heavy too so there'd be no point in those either.


As for your questions about importing:

1. The Wii is region locked. I have a Japanese copy of 428 and it won't run on my NA Wii. You will need to get a Japanese Wii in order to play Japanese games. You'll have to get a speciality store to import one for you. Alternatively you could order it online.

2. I believe most modern PAL TVs (bought in, say, the past 5 years or so) can read an NTSC signal just fine.

3. The games' prices should be quite reasonable when converted to GBP, but the cost of shipping is a killer if you live in Europe. It can also take several weeks for your goods to arrive.

But as I said I don't think it would be worth it seeing how the games you want to play are text-heavy.

[Edited by pixelbuffer]

pixelbuffer

X:

mikejonesuk

Thank HolyMackerel for your very useful (though disappointing) reply.

I guess I have to wait to see if there are European localisations of these games.

I know that Xenoblade (or Monada, as it is also known) is on the future release shedule in America for NoA, but can find no conformation that it's being considered for European release by NoE, And, of course, the localisation of The Last Story has not been confirmed for the US yet, much less Europe.

I did read somewhere that European localisations were less likely due to the amount of time and expense involved in translating all those languages. (See here for example: http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=148021 )

That may sound paranoid, but several PS2 games that I was interested in made it to the States, but not Europe.

Perhaps I need to take Japanese as an evening class.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu, HolyMackerel-san

[Edited by mikejonesuk]

mikejonesuk

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