After looking over the forum I couldn't find a thread for owners of a japanese Wii to discuss asian release games and/or japanese games in english, so I am starting this thread to discuss any topic that could be of interest for a on-japanese speaking JP Wii owner...

Some rumours I got from Internet regarding the launch of Wii in Asia :

• Hong-Kong : Wii version to be JP/Asian, launched in Q1 2007
• Taiwan : Launch should come by Lunar new year. Version should be jp/asia compatible, & hopefully launch will come with some chinese/english version games.
• China : JP/Asia compatible version likely, launch rumored to be around April
• Singapore : Launch rumored for late January/February, Wii version to be rumored to be US (so no interest for JP Wii owners...)
• Korea : Korean version (JP/asia compatible) to launch in late 2007

Wii Asia release rumours

I don't have a lot of information so if you know anything about launch dates of JP version asian wii games, let me know.

Also, these are the JP version games I have that can be easily played although I don't understand the language. Please post here if you know more like that (I was wondering if elebits & Wario require any knowledge of japanese to fully enjoy the game...) :

• Wii sports
• Wii play
• Bleach (menus subtitled in english)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids (a couple of mini games will take you a few tries to get it but overall it's easy)
• SOnic and the secret rings has the English language option !

From what I've gathered here in Hong Kong (talking with distributors at retail and all that):

- The Wii will launch Q1 2007 (called Nintendo of Hong Kong and Nintendo's authorized distributor here and this was the best they could tell me)

- The Wii in Hong Kong will likely launch with English, not Japanese, as the system's language. Japanese isn't even an official language in Hong Kong, but English is, so if anything, the Hong Kong Wii will be English-based. Having said that, I would not be one bit surprised to see multilingual versions of the console for not just Hong Kong, but for Asia in general.

Thanks, laputaquelepario, I've updated my thread with your infos... But... Where did you come with that avatar name ??

I gather you understand Spanish...

I was just sick and tired of having to type RANDOMNICKNAME348 or SOMEONE_ELSE_TOOK_THAT_NICK_9309 all the time, so I thought if I came up with a really "unique" nickname, I could use it anywhere without fear of someone having taken that nickname, or having to attach any amount of ridiculous number after it...

Oh, I forgot to mention this:

I called Nintendo of Hong Kong about a month-and-a-half ago to ask about Hong Kong Wii launch dates. I got transferred to someone "who knows that information" and all she could tell me is "we expect it sometime between the end of January and the beginning of February". The lady was from Hong Kong.

Sounds suspiciously like preparations for a Chinese New Year launch (Feb 17 if I'm not mistaken).

However, I called about two weeks later and this time, they flat-out told me "we do not have any information from NoJ at all". This time, I talked to a man who was Japanese.

Guess they are trying their best to keep any information under wraps...

February the 18th I think it is...

Any news from the Chinese New Year launches ???

I bought my wii beginning of may
still no english and no hong kong version.

In fact they may not even be launching one.

If anyone has any information about this let me know.


Does anyone have a list of games that causes conflicts with WII's from japan? Some games can cause system crashes that result in the machine having to be sent off to japan for repair...at the cost of the consumer.

Thanks

Hi Billy,

I didn't hear about such games but I would be curious to know about them.
I have read somewhere (lost the link) that the Asian launch will come by winter 07 for all asian countries (except Japan & Singapore).
Singapore has had its launch in April, but their system is the US version, not the Japanese one. Sorry I don't have more info at the moment.

Theres a list here: http://wiki.gbatemp.net/index.php/Wi...atibility_List

and by the way, only one game so far can brick/break your Wii resulting in the need for a repair, and that is Super Paper Mario NTSC-USA and only if your Jap Wii's firmware is less than 2.2J, i.e if you have a Jap Wii with firmware 2.2J it will work fine, with no breaking. If you have 2.1J or 2.0J, update it first using a Jap disc that has a firmware update on it, or through the WiiConnect update service.

Hi, want to get a Wii soon, and as an American in Tokyo this seems like the right thread to join..

Arnaud, any more hints or updates on games that work in English on the JP unit? ..or.. have any other tricky ways of doing such appeared? ... I'm studying kanji, but I'm only at about 150 or so. I'm not _too_ worried about the menus--maybe it's just wishful thinking that I'll actually learn faster

And for anyone who's interested, I'll be asking my akihabara geek friends about English on the Wii. I'm not really a hard-core gamer, so if there are keywords besides "freeloader" and "mod chip" that I should bring up, kindly post, thanks

TokyoYank: You cannot change the language of the menus on the Japanese console. You also cannot change the in game language on titles so far.

Thought that was generally the point for Asian region games. .. Or are they all in English only so far?

... Or are they not even out yet? (Wii games I mean)

TokyoYank, I believe Asian region games will be launched this winter together with the Korean version of the Wii (If Nintendo follows the pattern they did for the gamecube).
That means that you won't get a lot of games in english on your japanese system until then...
Having said that, Nintendo was very disappointed with the rampant piracy of the DS in Korea - I hope that will not deter them from launching an Asian version of the Wii...
To answer your question about Asian wii games, none have been released yet - only japanese, US or european/Australian version. Unfortunately.

But games like FPSs, SMSB and others are playable in Japanese (english is really not necessary to undersand them) while waiting for the asian wii launch !

I think the Asian Wii version is here but not official yet - soft launch. I know because I acquired Wii last month and I thought its a US version (with US Adapters) but no it was not. The adapter is an Asian version which do not need a converter for it. My Wii is a US/Asian version.

Where are you located? What is your power plug like? Wikipedia on different plug types

The same as standard power plug but no label saying NINTENDO on it. Im from Brunei FYI.

Zeroskull, you most likely got the Singapore version, which is a US version of the Wii (with different plug type).
When I say US version, I do not mean the power plug is US, I mean that US games will play on it.
This US version Wii is limited to Singapore at the moment (and Brunei too it seems).
However the "real" asian version for the rest of Asia (Korea, Taiwan,...) is said to be launched for end of this year - it should be compatible with Japanese games as this part of Asia is NTSC/J (=same system as Japan).