...But where is the American version? That would be a curious oversight.
This Wii package certainly looks impressive, with the red colors, Wii Remote Plus, Super Mario 5 as the pack-in...and is that the actual, arcade Donkey Kong? I would certainly hope so. I wouldn't be surprised if this was only the NES version. Nintendo certainly is cheap enough.
Speaking of which, the 25Th Anniversary Super Mario All-Stars (Super Mario Collection in Japan) is another brilliant-looking package, with soundtrack CD and large booket, but it's really just the 1993 Super NES cartridge. Couldn't Nintendo have bothered to remake this collection using the Super Mario 5 engine? That would be a worthy celebration of their most successful videogame. Sadly, no.
This only reinforces the cynical impression that Nintendo's superstar producers run the show, and to hell with the president and the company strategy. To hell with that Expanded Audience who bought the Wii, for that matter. 2D Mario is Nintendo's most insanely successful cash cow this side of Pokemon. 3D Mario is nowhere near as successful (Mario 5 outsold Galaxy 2 by a 4:1 margin). But Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't want to make side-scrolling Super Mario. He wants to do what he wants, what makes him feel good. And if he and his fellow producers like Yoshio Sakamoto (Metroid: Other M) and Eiji Aounuma (Zelda) collapse the Wii's momentum by refusing to make games the market demands, then so be it.
Oh, well, the least Nintendo of America could do is release this cool red Mario Wii box. Perhaps this will spike sales enough for the executives to the hint.
