The Wii Virtual Console import tax
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 9:16am by Jack
I’ve seen a few people post about this at blogs like 4cr and Aeropause, so I thought it would be worth a post here to see what you guy and gals think. The query is about first party imports on the VC and their “modest” price increase. Or, their import aficionado player’s tax, as I like to call it.
The two import games are 600 points for the Famicom title Super Mario Bros 2 and 1200 points for N64 title Sin & Punishment. The latter required no localization efforts, which is where I initially thought the extra two bucks was going to. Nope. Instead, it’s a tax on players who recognized that both of these titles are worthy imports and wish to download them. Less informed people, like mom and pop or whoever, probably saw Nintendo pimp the fact that these games were “never before released in the U.S.!” and felt inclined to buy something that, to them, felt really rare and special. Either way, it’s extra cash in Nintendo’s pocket.
My VC has been cool lately — thanks in no small part to my AA battery issue — but also because I’m just not in a VC mood right now, so I really hadn’t planned on hitting up either of these games just yet. That’s me though, what about you? Is the import VC tax worth it? How about if it means more import games in the future?
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:34 am
I have no problem with this. I would gladly pay even more for these particular games. I’ve never played them and been dying to. This is part of the promise of the Wii, getting all these great games on one console. Getting games that never came stateside is even better. If the alternative is to not get the game, I’m happy to pay these prices. Obviously though, cheaper is always nice.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 am
I think considering that the price is already a bit high for the VC games, a couple more bucks for no extra work on Nintendo’s part is a bit of a scam. If they do some translating on future games then of course my tune changes, but this price hike seems to be a “because we can” kinda deal.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
I’ve wanted to play Sin and Punishment since forever, so I’m really happy and don’t mind about the slight extra charge.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
Also recall the “We just made a Ninja Turtles movie” tax on Konami’s VC release of the 600 point NES game. I think this teaches us that VC prices are not a rigid body, which could be scary, but hey, I am downloading the Mario one right now.
On the ‘future imports’ side of things, I wouldn’t mind paying $12-15 for a localized Mother series game. But we might see efforts like that on the WiiWare channel, not on VC…who knows though, Nintendo has tampered with code for VC releases before.
It is so hard to tell what they’re gonna do, I would say they always zig when I think they should zag…but they don’t they do freakin’ barrell rolls!
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:10 am
Is still a bargain to me,
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 am
More than worth it. Two great games, and it’s much cheaper than importing and modding your N64.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
Justified or not, in this case, these prices were worth it. $6 for a never-before released NES classic and $12 for a never-before released N64 classic are good prices, by VC standards. Whether or not you agree with VC standard pricing is another issue altogether.
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I think it’s worth it. Everyone else has stated all the reasons to why, so I won’t say anything XDD.
Plus I wanted to get Sin and Punishment when I saw that EU got it. I’m lucky because I’ve had 200 Wii Points left over for FOREVER so now I just have to buy $10 to break even. HUZZUH!
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:28 pm
$12 for a N64 import? And played through the Wii’s visual output?
Absolutely worth it.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Ok, people have to remember two things:
a) VC prices have NEVER been set in stone. They always said “NES games START at 500 points, SNES games START at 800 points” and so on, so prices can, might and will go up in some cases.
b) Licenses for a certain property (TMNT) are negotiated for a certain amount of time or for a certain number of games. Since the license payed for TMNT so they could release the game for the NES could not have considered a release 15 years later on the VC, the extra $1 is for the new license fee that must be payed in order to use the TMNT property.
Even considering that, people are really complainig abouth an extra buck or two for games NEVER released in the Americas in their ORIGINAL form? What is minimum wage in the US… $6 an hour? Over here in Mexico minimum wage is $5 A DAY (or $0.62 an hour). Regular Wii games retail over here for $65-80. So when a great game is released for just $12 (and that it wuold have been priced at $80 in Mexico back in the day) there is NOTHING to complain about.
Go put in an extra hour of overtime if $1 or $2 really bothers you that much…
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
An extra $2 is a small price to pay for finally being able to play Sin & Punishment. I only tried it out for about 30 mins before work this morning, but it was well worth it. Everyone should buy this game, if for no other reason than to tell Nintendo that we WANT import games on the VC.
What a wacky game it is, too. Typical Treasure chaos. I don’t think the story could make less sense if the voicework was in Japanese, and the controls (on my Wavebird) are bizzarre. But, a chance to play something totally unique is worth the extra fee.
Baaaaahh!!!
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I bought Sin and Punishment back in the day for $80. I bought it again yesterday for $12 more. Games of this quality and challenge are rarely, if ever, made anymore. It was totally worth it both times. Having the menu translated was a nice touch, especially after deleting my save file several times on the cart.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Thank you EdEN for pointing out some important things most people forget about the VC. Many games have licensing issues that have long expired or excluded the release on other hardware. Thats where a lot of cost comes from. Its not like they just throw the ROM up for download. I imagine the games are retested on the VC before being put up. FCC hoops have to be jumped through. The games have to be rerated by the ESRB, etc ,etc. Some people expect these games for a dollar or two and that just unrealistic. Retail value has little to nothing to do with the fact that the game already exists.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Whoa whoa Eden, way to jump down my throat, I realize that the license must be renewed, I was just commenting on another game that received a similar price bump, all of them justifiably done so. If you would like to check my system memory you will find all three titles ready to be played (TMNT, S&P, and SMB2). I DID put in the extra time at work for these, I thought this was a forum-type system where we are allowed to talk about these kind of things, didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to add to a discussion. I also said the same thing that you did, that we are learning that the pricing is not a rigid body, but more of a flexible system. I also said that I was/am willing to pay for future imports. I support these games with my wallet in the hopes that more games will cross the Pacific (Mother series) you know.
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:31 am
On an unrelated by equally crappy note, why do I have to pay *sales tax* when buying wii points with my credit card, through the shopping channel? IIRC, online transactions are only taxable when the retailer has a brick and mortar entity in the state in which buyer lives. Last I checked, there was no Nintendo store in Indiana. Is there a distribution center or something?
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
@jrr,
I was wondering the same thing. Although, to be clear, they don’t need a “brick and mortar” entity, just any presence in the state. For instance, my company had a sales rep who worked out of their home in Illinois. We didn’t have a store there, or a warehouse or anything, but since we had an employee taxable in the state, we technically had a “presence” in Illinois, so on any shipments to IL, we had to charge sales tax. I don’t know if Nintendo has a presence in IN, but if they apparently have one in Nebraska as well. I wonder if any online merchants well Wii points cards. That might be a way to get wii points with no sales tax?
October 4th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Dude get over the 2 bucks Jack and buy Sin and Punishment. You’re doing a great disservice to yourself by not. People throw at least 2 bucks worth of change away a day it seems anyway, why not throw it away on a great game.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[...] The Wii Virtual Console import tax – Infendo | Nintendo news, podcast … Or, their import aficionado player’s tax, as I like to call it. … Is the import VC tax worth it? How about if it means more import games in the future? … [...]
December 18th, 2007 at 7:18 am
[...] I’ve seen a few people post about this at blogs like 4cr and Aeropause, so I thought it would be worth a post here to see what you guy and gals think. Click Here [...]
December 26th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
[...] Or, their import aficionado player’s tax, as I like to call it. … The Wii Virtual Console import tax – Infendo | Nintendo news says… Click Here… [...]