Nintendo Australia
Encyclopedia
Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. established in 1994, located in Victoria
is Australia's local head office, sales, licensing and distribution centre for products and other Intellectual Properties created by Nintendo
Co., Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and is owned by Nintendo
Co., Ltd in Japan. Prior distribution of Nintendo products inside Australia had been handled by Mattel
. The company was originally jointly managed by Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK and Graham Kerry who worked prior as the general Manager of Mattel. It is currently managed by Yuji Bando, who succeeded Rose Lappin as Managing Director in March 2010. Rose Lappin had worked for Nintendo since the early 90's when Nintendo's products were distributed in Australia by Mattel
. Aside from distributing its own products, the company also distributes some games for its systems by developers including Capcom and Atlus.
Nintendo Australia distribute Nintendo's products to most of the Oceanic region. Distribution of Nintendo's products in New Zealand was handled by Monaco Corporation Ltd, then Softprint Interactive Ltd, until Softprint went into bankruptcy. There was a major delay of Nintendo Australia's products in New Zealand after Softprint's bankruptcy until Nintendo Australia took over marketing and distribution of their products in New Zealand in the middle of 2008. Nintendo Australia then heavily marketed the DS and Wii in New Zealand throughout September and October 2008.
Nintendo Australia also acts as the Australian office for The Pokémon Company
and handles all licensing for the Pokémon
products and also handles licensing of Nintendo's other IP's to Toy Companies like Takara Tomy
. Nintendo Australia handles all licensing of the Pokémon anime, and has given the Australian distribution rights to Magna Pacific
. Former distributors were Siren Entertainment and Shock.
and over 2 million consoles to date including over half a million Nintendo 64
consoles and
162,936 GameCubes to the third quarter of 2006. The Wii
has sold over 2 million as of November 2010 and the Nintendo DS
has sold over 3 million units to December 2010. The Pokémon
video games have sold over 2 million copies.
According to Ms Lappin, this is a result of the way the company is structured globally, meaning game releases are aligned to Europe rather than Japan where titles typically arrive first. She says the company is working towards a schedule that would reduce delays in titles for regions outside of Japan.
"Our fans are very passionate and want games straight away. We are working on that as a priority and trying to get [the release schedule] to be more global."
Nintendo Australia markets their games though mass media, magazines and the Internet, and has the Australian version of the monthly magazine, Official Nintendo Magazine.
Nintendo Australia plays its Australian TV spots in New Zealand, which is fine for general advertising, but often means that TV spots in New Zealand show the Australian release dates for games, which are generally a few days earlier than the actual NZ release. This can lead to some confusion when people see a release date in the TV spot, but are then told at stores that the game will not be out until a few days later.
(which was released in March 1998 while Europe waited until December), Animal Crossing
was also released nearly a year ahead of Europe (though it arrived in Australia over a year after North America). The Australian version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
contained a gold cartridge, though the European version did not.
The Game Boy Color
had a custom shell featuring the Australian flag and the Game Boy Advance SP
received a model that had branding by Rip Curl
. An All Blacks
SP was also released and for a limited time only Toys R Us was selling a limited edition "Gold" coloured Game Boy Advance SP which was only available to Australia .
Games that were distributed in Australia but not in North America or Japan include Super International Cricket
. Nintendo Australia have the Nintendo rights to some games from Capcom and has most of the rights to new games from Atlus
for the Wii and DS. Nintendo Australia has been publishing the Harvest Moon games on Nintendo consoles since the late 90's.
Nintendo also donates product to various sporting, leisure, not-for-profit and youth organisations nationally.
Since the Nintendo DS
was released in 2005, Nintendo and Telstra
, which was then apart of the Australian Government (Now only hold a 49% stake), announced that they had become partners and that Telstra would put Wireless hotspots in every McDonald's restaurant in Australia (except food courts) and would have DS Game Demos available for download in every restaurant. This is still a continuing partnership as of 2009.
(1993 til 2000), Nintendo ran party tours in conjunction with Toys "R" Us. These events were only promoted in Nintendo Magazine System and happened every two to three years.
Each year since 1999 Nintendo stages free national tours involving live character appearances, stage shows, Nintendo challenges, product giveaways and competitions. To date Nintendo’s Pokémon
Tours have been the country's biggest free, shopping centre activities ever, including Pokémon Mew Tour in 1999, Pokémon Stadium
2000 and Pokémon Celebi Tour in 2001. Nintendo Australia also hosted the world’s biggest Pokémon event in Sydney
in 2000, including the global Pokémon Stadium Championship.
In January 2006, Nintendo held the Nintendo DS Connection Tour '06 and visited 4 states; New South Wales
, Queensland
, South Australia
and Victoria
. Another Connection Tour was held during June/July 2006 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nintendo's mascot and most famous character, "Mario
". During this tour, they visited four states including Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia
.
In September/October 2006, Nintendo hosted the Pokémon 10th Anniversary - Journey Across Oz tour. This tour was held in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. A number of Toys R Us stores also held events, in the states mentioned before, and South Australia.
In November 2006, Nintendo Australia hosted a National Play Wii Event allowing potential Wii customers and non gamers to try Nintendo's newest console (Nintendo Wii
) just over a month before it was released across Australia on 7 December. Games playable included Wii Sports
, Wii Play
, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
, Excite Truck
and many more. However, some states were limited to Wii Play, Wii Sports, Twilight Princess and WarioWare: Smooth Moves
.
In June/July 2007, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo DS Connection Tour '07. The main focus was on the newest Pokémon games: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
. The tour visited five states: Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia.
In September/October 2007, Nintendo Australia held a Nintendo Wii tour called Big Games for Big Brains. The tour was to promote Big Brain Academy Wii. The tour went to five states: South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales.
In January 2008, Nintendo Australia announced that they would sponsor the 2008 Australian Open
as the official gaming console. Because of that sponsorship, Nintendo Australia held a Nintendo Wii competition called Wii Championships. The winner got to play Mark Philippoussis
. There was also a lounge to relax and play Sight Training
.
Nintendo Australia announced in mid-2008 that it would open an Australian Nintendo World Centre in Melbourne in the near future and opening stores in Sydney and Brisbane is a possibility.
In November 2008, Nintendo Australia and EB Games Australia
announced "The Nintendo Experience", which is essentially a demonstration of what Nintendo has to offer. It was held at EB Games' Swanston Street store, and EB Games has hinted that it is looking at doing the same thing in Brisbane
and certain stores on Queensland's East Coast since EB Games Australia's headquarters are in Brisbane. Nintendo Australia ran a competition for 15 VIP's to attend on its opening night. Rose Lappin announced that Club Nintendo Australia would launch at Christmas or Q1 2009.
In October 2009, Nintendo Australia officially opened "The Nintendo Connection" at Myer in Sydney. This is the first Australian Nintendo centre to be located outside Victoria. This will be the place to hold Nintendo events at Sydney.
In June/July 2010, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo Connection Tour 2010. The main focus was on the Mario series games, in particular Super Mario Galaxy 2
where players could play the game before it was released (in Queensland only, the rest of Australia was done after the release date). The tour visited five states: Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia. Also, New Zealand was part of the tour.
In September 2011, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo Connection Tour 2011, similar to the 2011 event, the main focus was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
, with a demo version available, along with demo versions of other upcoming games and already released games. The tour went around to each state at selected Westfield stores.
, which was released almost 6 months after North America
. Despite the uproar with the delayed PAL release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl
, Nintendo Australia had moved the release date sooner to 26 June 2008.
In September 2007 Aaron Rex Davies published a detailed report on game delays in Australia. It covered most justifications for the delays, and explained why they were unacceptable. This report was subsequently received by Nintendo Australia, who were then questioned about it during October 2007. Nintendo Australia gave a "No comment
" response, which incensed some fans. The backlash was sufficient enough for Nintendo Australia to address the issue after being contacted by Kotaku Australia, blaming the delays on PAL conversion and localisation issues, even though these two justifications were directly addressed in Davies' report.
In December 2007, Rose Lappin was interviewed by The Age
. During the interview, she was questioned about the release dates of Wii games to which she responded:
This was seen as a possible sign that Nintendo Australia were attempting to actively reduce delays. Soon after the article was published, Vooks contacted Nintendo Australia. They were told that she has been misquoted, and that Nintendo Australia "are currently making efforts to minimise the time needed for localisations, as we understand that the difference in worldwide release dates is frustrating to fans.”.
Nintendo Australia has also been criticised for the expensive cost of their games, but this is the same with all video game distributors and subsidiaries in Australia, and Rose Lappin has said that the Australian and New Zealand dollar are weak on the exchange conversion rate, and they must raise the prices in order to keep running and to make a profit for their parent companies. This is despite multiple and recent occasions where the Australian dollar is reaching parity with the US.
, Enix
, Kemco
and Capcom
developed for Nintendo's consoles had Australian localisations, most of the time choosing to be in line with North American releases instead of PAL Region releases for the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64
. Before 2001, Nintendo Australia localised some of its first party releases e.g. the Game Boy Gallery, Mario's Picross
and Mario Kart 64
.
Most Nintendo DS games published by Nintendo Australia use localisations that originate from the USA, in comparison to other third parties which source localisations from both North America and Europe. All Wii games use European localisations in Australia due to being allocated as part of Nintendo's PAL Region
, despite not being a subsidiary of Nintendo of Europe.
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
is Australia's local head office, sales, licensing and distribution centre for products and other Intellectual Properties created by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Co., Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and is owned by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Co., Ltd in Japan. Prior distribution of Nintendo products inside Australia had been handled by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
. The company was originally jointly managed by Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK and Graham Kerry who worked prior as the general Manager of Mattel. It is currently managed by Yuji Bando, who succeeded Rose Lappin as Managing Director in March 2010. Rose Lappin had worked for Nintendo since the early 90's when Nintendo's products were distributed in Australia by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
. Aside from distributing its own products, the company also distributes some games for its systems by developers including Capcom and Atlus.
Nintendo Australia distribute Nintendo's products to most of the Oceanic region. Distribution of Nintendo's products in New Zealand was handled by Monaco Corporation Ltd, then Softprint Interactive Ltd, until Softprint went into bankruptcy. There was a major delay of Nintendo Australia's products in New Zealand after Softprint's bankruptcy until Nintendo Australia took over marketing and distribution of their products in New Zealand in the middle of 2008. Nintendo Australia then heavily marketed the DS and Wii in New Zealand throughout September and October 2008.
Nintendo Australia also acts as the Australian office for The Pokémon Company
The Pokémon Company
is a corporation responsible for marketing and licensing the Pokémon franchise and is affiliated and owned by Nintendo. It began operating in 1998 and adopted the moniker "Pokémon Ltd." in 2000. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi Rokuchome, Minato, Tokyo...
and handles all licensing for the Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
products and also handles licensing of Nintendo's other IP's to Toy Companies like Takara Tomy
Takara Tomy
is a Japanese toy, children's merchandise and entertainment company created from the March 2006 merger of two companies: Tomy and long-time rival, Takara...
. Nintendo Australia handles all licensing of the Pokémon anime, and has given the Australian distribution rights to Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific is a leading independent film and home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand...
. Former distributors were Siren Entertainment and Shock.
Sales performance
Nintendo Australia has sold over 12 million video games, over 2.5 million Game BoysGame Boy line
The line is a line of battery-powered handheld game console sold by Nintendo. It is one of the world's best-selling game system lines with a combined 200+ million units sold worldwide....
and over 2 million consoles to date including over half a million Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
consoles and
162,936 GameCubes to the third quarter of 2006. The Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
has sold over 2 million as of November 2010 and the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
has sold over 3 million units to December 2010. The Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
video games have sold over 2 million copies.
Distribution deals with 3rd parties
- CapcomCapcomis a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
(Resident Evil, Megaman and Ace Attorney series, up to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Mega Man Xtreme 2Mega Man Xtreme 2Mega Man Xtreme 2, known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Color handheld game console. It is a spin-off title in the Mega Man X series and is a follow-up to Mega Man Xtreme, released the previous year. Mega Man Xtreme 2 takes place during the 22nd century, between...
and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney respectively) - AtlusAtlusis a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
- Rising Star GamesRising Star GamesRising Star Games is a video games publisher formed as a joint business venture between Scandinavian distributor Bergsala and Japanese video game publisher and content developer Intergrow....
(Harvest Moon main series only) - NatsumeNatsumecan refer to:* the Jujube fruit* A type of chaki used in Japanese tea ceremony* Natsume , a Japanese video game developer* Natsume Sōseki, a famous 19th century Japanese novelist* Masako Natsume, a Japanese actor...
(Harvest Moon and Legend of the River King series except Harvest Fishing) - NamcoNamcois a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
(Back catalogue up to 2007) - SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
(Back catalogue 2005-2006) - EnixEnixThe was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
(All Nintendo games by Enix were localised and published by Nintendo Australia until the Square EnixSquare Enixis a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
merger) - KemcoKEMCO, sometimes referred to as Kotobuki System Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as a subsidiary of Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd, located in: Seika, Japan....
- Koei
- The Tetris Company (Owns Australian rights to all Tetris games on Nintendo consoles)
Countries which Nintendo Australia distribute to
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
- Cook IslandsCook IslandsThe Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
- FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
- New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
(Distributes Nintendo Australia and French NOE releases) - Papua New GuineaPapua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
- SamoaSamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
- VanuatuVanuatuVanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
Marketing
Marketing of Nintendo's products in Australia has been very relaxed since its establishment in 1994, but marketing has picked up considerably since Rose Lappin was named Managing Director of Nintendo Australia.According to Ms Lappin, this is a result of the way the company is structured globally, meaning game releases are aligned to Europe rather than Japan where titles typically arrive first. She says the company is working towards a schedule that would reduce delays in titles for regions outside of Japan.
"Our fans are very passionate and want games straight away. We are working on that as a priority and trying to get [the release schedule] to be more global."
Nintendo Australia markets their games though mass media, magazines and the Internet, and has the Australian version of the monthly magazine, Official Nintendo Magazine.
Nintendo Australia plays its Australian TV spots in New Zealand, which is fine for general advertising, but often means that TV spots in New Zealand show the Australian release dates for games, which are generally a few days earlier than the actual NZ release. This can lead to some confusion when people see a release date in the TV spot, but are then told at stores that the game will not be out until a few days later.
Exclusive hardware and games
Over the years a few games have been released far earlier than in Europe, such as 1080° Snowboarding1080° Snowboarding
, often referred to as just 1080°, is a snowboard racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 and first released in Japan on February 28, 1998. It was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2008...
(which was released in March 1998 while Europe waited until December), Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing
The Animal Crossing games have garnered positive response. The first three games are among the best-selling for their respective consoles. Animal Crossing has sold 2.321 million copies; Wild World 10.79 million; and City Folk 3.38 million...
was also released nearly a year ahead of Europe (though it arrived in Australia over a year after North America). The Australian version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998...
contained a gold cartridge, though the European version did not.
The Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
had a custom shell featuring the Australian flag and the Game Boy Advance SP
Game Boy Advance SP
The , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
received a model that had branding by Rip Curl
Rip Curl
Rip Curl is a major Australian manufacturer and retailer of surfing sportswear The company was founded in 1969 by Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer in Torquay, Victoria, Australia and initially produced surfboards. In 1970, they decided to begin production of wetsuits, with emphasis on transforming...
. An All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
SP was also released and for a limited time only Toys R Us was selling a limited edition "Gold" coloured Game Boy Advance SP which was only available to Australia .
Games that were distributed in Australia but not in North America or Japan include Super International Cricket
Super International Cricket
Super International Cricket is a cricket game for the Super Nintendo that was released in Australia, Europe and Pakistan in 1994.-Summary:...
. Nintendo Australia have the Nintendo rights to some games from Capcom and has most of the rights to new games from Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
for the Wii and DS. Nintendo Australia has been publishing the Harvest Moon games on Nintendo consoles since the late 90's.
Community and charity
Nintendo Australia is an active and longstanding sponsor of the Starlight Children's Foundation, providing Nintendo consoles and games that can be wheeled to a child’s bedside while they are in hospital. Nintendo characters and games gurus also visit children’s hospitals nationally.Nintendo also donates product to various sporting, leisure, not-for-profit and youth organisations nationally.
Since the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
was released in 2005, Nintendo and Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
, which was then apart of the Australian Government (Now only hold a 49% stake), announced that they had become partners and that Telstra would put Wireless hotspots in every McDonald's restaurant in Australia (except food courts) and would have DS Game Demos available for download in every restaurant. This is still a continuing partnership as of 2009.
Events
During the publication of Nintendo Magazine SystemNintendo Magazine System (Australia)
Nintendo Magazine System was the official Nintendo magazine of Australia. In publication for seven years until 2000, the magazine was a branch of Official Nintendo Magazine, the UK's official Nintendo magazine, which was also called Nintendo Magazine System at the time...
(1993 til 2000), Nintendo ran party tours in conjunction with Toys "R" Us. These events were only promoted in Nintendo Magazine System and happened every two to three years.
Each year since 1999 Nintendo stages free national tours involving live character appearances, stage shows, Nintendo challenges, product giveaways and competitions. To date Nintendo’s Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
Tours have been the country's biggest free, shopping centre activities ever, including Pokémon Mew Tour in 1999, Pokémon Stadium
Pokémon Stadium
Pokémon Stadium, known as in Japan, is a strategy game developed by Nintendo EAD with the assistance of Creatures and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released on April 30, 1999 in Japan, February 29, 2000 in North America, and April 7, 2000...
2000 and Pokémon Celebi Tour in 2001. Nintendo Australia also hosted the world’s biggest Pokémon event in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 2000, including the global Pokémon Stadium Championship.
In January 2006, Nintendo held the Nintendo DS Connection Tour '06 and visited 4 states; New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
and Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. Another Connection Tour was held during June/July 2006 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nintendo's mascot and most famous character, "Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
". During this tour, they visited four states including Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
In September/October 2006, Nintendo hosted the Pokémon 10th Anniversary - Journey Across Oz tour. This tour was held in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. A number of Toys R Us stores also held events, in the states mentioned before, and South Australia.
In November 2006, Nintendo Australia hosted a National Play Wii Event allowing potential Wii customers and non gamers to try Nintendo's newest console (Nintendo Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
) just over a month before it was released across Australia on 7 December. Games playable included Wii Sports
Wii Sports
is a sports game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii video game console , and part of the Touch! Generations. The game was first released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month...
, Wii Play
Wii Play
Wii Play, released as in Japan, is a party video game for the Wii console. It is a counterpart to the games Wii Sports, Wii Music and Wii Fit. It features minigames that use characters from the Mii Channel. Several of the games featured are from E3 2006 demos such as the Duck Hunt-styled shooting...
, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii video game consoles. It is the thirteenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series...
, Excite Truck
Excite Truck
is a video game published by Nintendo and developed by Monster Games for the Wii video game system. It features malleable environments and tilt-based controls. The game was one of the Wii launch titles in North America. It is a spiritual successor to the Excitebike series...
and many more. However, some states were limited to Wii Play, Wii Sports, Twilight Princess and WarioWare: Smooth Moves
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
WarioWare: Smooth Moves, known in Japan as , is a party video game developed by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems. The game was published by Nintendo for its Wii video game system in Japan in December 2006, and in Europe, North America, and Australia in January 2007...
.
In June/July 2007, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo DS Connection Tour '07. The main focus was on the newest Pokémon games: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
are role-playing games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. With the enhanced remake Pokémon Platinum, the games comprise the fifth installment and fourth generation of the Pokémon series of RPGs...
. The tour visited five states: Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia.
In September/October 2007, Nintendo Australia held a Nintendo Wii tour called Big Games for Big Brains. The tour was to promote Big Brain Academy Wii. The tour went to five states: South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales.
In January 2008, Nintendo Australia announced that they would sponsor the 2008 Australian Open
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 through 27 January 2008.After twenty years of playing on...
as the official gaming console. Because of that sponsorship, Nintendo Australia held a Nintendo Wii competition called Wii Championships. The winner got to play Mark Philippoussis
Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis is an Australian tennis player. He turned professional in 1994. His father is Greek, while his mother is of Italian ancestry....
. There was also a lounge to relax and play Sight Training
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day is a Touch! Generations puzzle video game developed by Namco Bandai and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console...
.
Nintendo Australia announced in mid-2008 that it would open an Australian Nintendo World Centre in Melbourne in the near future and opening stores in Sydney and Brisbane is a possibility.
In November 2008, Nintendo Australia and EB Games Australia
EB Games Australia
EB Games Australia is an Australian video game and entertainment software retailer. Headquartered in Pinkenba, Queensland . The company operates over 380 stores across Australia's seven states and territories and 30 more stores in New Zealand. EB Games Australia is part of the GameStop Corporation...
announced "The Nintendo Experience", which is essentially a demonstration of what Nintendo has to offer. It was held at EB Games' Swanston Street store, and EB Games has hinted that it is looking at doing the same thing in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and certain stores on Queensland's East Coast since EB Games Australia's headquarters are in Brisbane. Nintendo Australia ran a competition for 15 VIP's to attend on its opening night. Rose Lappin announced that Club Nintendo Australia would launch at Christmas or Q1 2009.
In October 2009, Nintendo Australia officially opened "The Nintendo Connection" at Myer in Sydney. This is the first Australian Nintendo centre to be located outside Victoria. This will be the place to hold Nintendo events at Sydney.
In June/July 2010, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo Connection Tour 2010. The main focus was on the Mario series games, in particular Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Galaxy 2
is a platforming video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was first announced at E3 2009 and is the sequel to Super Mario Galaxy. It was released in North America on May 23, 2010, in Japan on May 27, 2010, in Europe on June 11, 2010, and in Australia on July 1,...
where players could play the game before it was released (in Queensland only, the rest of Australia was done after the release date). The tour visited five states: Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia. Also, New Zealand was part of the tour.
In September 2011, Nintendo Australia held the Nintendo Connection Tour 2011, similar to the 2011 event, the main focus was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
is an action-adventure game for the Wii console and the sixteenth entry in the Legend of Zelda series. Developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, it was released in Europe on November 18, 2011 in North America on November 20, 2011, in Japan on November 23, 2011, and on November...
, with a demo version available, along with demo versions of other upcoming games and already released games. The tour went around to each state at selected Westfield stores.
Controversy
Australia, and the PAL region in general, are known to have later release dates than other regions for many Nintendo games. This has caused an uproar by some of Nintendo Australia's customers. One example of this was Super Paper MarioSuper Paper Mario
is a platform style console role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. Originally developed for the Nintendo GameCube, it was released for the Wii in 2007. The style of gameplay is a combination of the previous Paper Mario titles and Super Mario Bros. titles...
, which was released almost 6 months after North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Despite the uproar with the delayed PAL release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
, Nintendo Australia had moved the release date sooner to 26 June 2008.
In September 2007 Aaron Rex Davies published a detailed report on game delays in Australia. It covered most justifications for the delays, and explained why they were unacceptable. This report was subsequently received by Nintendo Australia, who were then questioned about it during October 2007. Nintendo Australia gave a "No comment
No comment
No comment is a phrase used as a response to journalistic inquiries which the respondent does not wish to answer. Public figures may decline to comment on issues they are questioned or have nothing to say about the issue at the time...
" response, which incensed some fans. The backlash was sufficient enough for Nintendo Australia to address the issue after being contacted by Kotaku Australia, blaming the delays on PAL conversion and localisation issues, even though these two justifications were directly addressed in Davies' report.
In December 2007, Rose Lappin was interviewed by The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
. During the interview, she was questioned about the release dates of Wii games to which she responded:
This was seen as a possible sign that Nintendo Australia were attempting to actively reduce delays. Soon after the article was published, Vooks contacted Nintendo Australia. They were told that she has been misquoted, and that Nintendo Australia "are currently making efforts to minimise the time needed for localisations, as we understand that the difference in worldwide release dates is frustrating to fans.”.
Nintendo Australia has also been criticised for the expensive cost of their games, but this is the same with all video game distributors and subsidiaries in Australia, and Rose Lappin has said that the Australian and New Zealand dollar are weak on the exchange conversion rate, and they must raise the prices in order to keep running and to make a profit for their parent companies. This is despite multiple and recent occasions where the Australian dollar is reaching parity with the US.
Localisations
Only on rare occasions has Nintendo ever attempted localisations for video games for the Australian market nowadays after Seiji Tsukasa's reign over NAL. Before 2001, all NatsumeNatsume
can refer to:* the Jujube fruit* A type of chaki used in Japanese tea ceremony* Natsume , a Japanese video game developer* Natsume Sōseki, a famous 19th century Japanese novelist* Masako Natsume, a Japanese actor...
, Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
, Kemco
KEMCO
, sometimes referred to as Kotobuki System Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as a subsidiary of Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd, located in: Seika, Japan....
and Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
developed for Nintendo's consoles had Australian localisations, most of the time choosing to be in line with North American releases instead of PAL Region releases for the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. Before 2001, Nintendo Australia localised some of its first party releases e.g. the Game Boy Gallery, Mario's Picross
Mario's Picross
is the first in a series of Mario themed Picross titles released in the 1990s. It is a collection of nonogram logic puzzles involving a grid with numbers for every row and column, which refer to the amount of marked squares within the grid. The game features Mario as an archaeologist who chisels...
and Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64
is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...
.
Most Nintendo DS games published by Nintendo Australia use localisations that originate from the USA, in comparison to other third parties which source localisations from both North America and Europe. All Wii games use European localisations in Australia due to being allocated as part of Nintendo's PAL Region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
, despite not being a subsidiary of Nintendo of Europe.