Nintendo 3DS available February 26 in Japan, priced at 25,000 yen

by JC Fletcher on Sep 29th 2010 1:50AM

The Nintendo 3DS will be released in Japan on February 26, 2011 with a 25,000 yen ($299) price point. Nintendo officially unveiled the launch details at an event today in Tokyo. The final design differs noticeably from the E3 version only in the analog slider, which is now no longer color-matched to the hardware. Speaking of colors, the 3DS will launch in Japan in "Aqua Blue" and "Cosmo Black."

Several "AR Games" (Augmented Reality) will be pre-loaded on the hardware, as will a new Mii Plaza for Miis collected using the passive communication "Tag Mode." Other downloaded apps can be stored on 2GB of flash memory.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that a Western release would occur later. Probably before March 31, as per Reggie Fils-Aime's prediction.

Source: Andriasang

Tags: 3ds, ds, japan, nintendo, nintendo-conference-2010, q1-2011, release-date

Reader Comments (96)

$300? Ouch...

@King Johngie the Fourth

You said it yet I'm still going to have to order one right away... Please let Kid Icarus be a launch title

@Pinto

Haha I'm still on the fence, and the price really isn't helping. Getting MGS3 asap would though...

@King Johngie the Fourth

You wonder how much of the price is an offset after the rampant DS game piracy.

@Raffi256
Nintendo didn't get hurt from piracy.

Besides, the yen is going really strong so it is highly unlikely that it will come to the states at that price. It'll probably be $199, $250 max.

@King Johngie the Fourth Exactly what I thought when I saw that price. More expensive than a Wi and the same price as a 250g xbox 360.

@King Johngie the Fourth
It's just the shitty exchange rate right now. I'm more disappointed I have to wait all the way to the end of February.

@King Johngie the Fourth

Just as Justin said for the Kinect,

"$300??.....nope.....ummm..NO."

@CarlosPacheco

Agreed, yet people buy it. I was raised on Ninty, but I can't really see a $300 price point as anything besides knowing the moms out there will buy it.

That's kind of pricey for a Nintendo product...

Oh, who am I kidding, I'd give both my kidneys for this.

@ArchiGamer

Assuming your kidney were both properly surgically removed at the same time, you would not have very long at all to enjoy it. Maybe open the box up and enjoy it?...

@King Johngie the Fourth

Why you gotta kill a guy's dreams of gaming kidneyless?

@Bubbameister33

Because if people didn't go around planting ideas like gaming kidney-less, then maybe...maybe my brother wouldn't have died...

@King Johngie the Fourth

That's deep..

@Hayatoblaze91x

That's what she said

@King Johngie the Fourth

Oh shi--

Here, have one of my kidneys. It's the least I can do to help ease the loss of kidney boy... I mean your brother.

This is a obvious release date since they want to milk Pokemon White and Black for the Holidays with as mutch DSis as possible, then concentrate on 3DS sales on the beginning of the year.

Anyone know if it has a GBA/GB slot?

@Faenix

Why would they, they have VC for that now.

@Faenix

nope.

and it will either be 250 USD or 200 USD, I'm more incline with the 250, but I've been wrong before! Which was that the wii would get a price drop before all the systems.... I was really wrong on that one!

@Faenix

Absolutely not.

Damn, made the 3DS less intriguing for me. I was really hoping to get some GBA games.. Ah well.

@ArchiGamer

Its called a question, and I was hoping I would be able to purchase past games I missed.

Due to a comment in the other thread, about the GB/GBA VC - Downloading them doesnt seem likea good idea.

@Faenix
Yep. It has a slot at the bottom for ONLY the original gameboy black and white games.

Nintendo just ruined my Christmas :-(

@superdarrin

But made your Easter extra special!

lol really? I mean... Really? I could get a home console for this same price.

@ZexionArmando

Does any home console currently play Ocarina of Time- in 3D?!

No, so my purchase is justified at least.

@ItsameMatt03 No, but i can get 3 consoles that play OoT for $30, $60, and $199 respectively. Along with the better Majora's Mask. And in 3D? yawn

@ZexionArmando - Think of it this way: Nintendo is going to sell out of as many units as they can produce (unquestionably). Knowing that they'll sell out of their stock probably for a year or more (there will be shortages...oh man will there be shortages) there is no fiscal sense in trying to market the handheld as a kid centric, budget priced console like the DS turned out to be. Even if they did, and demand was colossal, they couldn't produce enough units to satisfy that demand anyway.

They've got a hit on their hands and they know it. Once everyone that just has to have one, has one, you'll be able to pick one up for $150-$200 just like the current DS models.

I predict Ebay auctions on this thing in the thousands of dollars. Better get your pre-orders in as soon as possible if you actually want one to play on in 2011.

According to an online converter.
$299 will be £180 for UK.

Which isn't that much tbh.

@BananaBoat
You've also got the keep in mind that the 3ds is using a lot more modern tech than the DS so it costs more to make, but like any system it will be a lot cheaper to make in 1-2 years.

@ZexionArmando
what do you mean by respectively??
You didn't list the consoles...

Just wait for the 3DSXL

I'd tap that.

@Alexisonfire
Damn my hastiness. That was suppose to be "I'd STILL tap that."

@Alexisonfire

I think you can go both ways.

Can't wait to purchase this when it comes to the U.S.

Seriously, I'd pay more than I've ever paid for any home console for the 3DS. It's that amazing of a system already.

Yeah it's pricey I won't lie, but Sh** for what it could do Im willing to crack some piggy banks for this! *sold*

You got me Nintendo Congrats!

Guys, you can't just do the conversion math to arrive at the US price, that never works. Wait and see for an official release.

Only thing that surprised me was that Japan wasn't getting it in November as rumored. But so far I'm still pretty on the nose about a spring USA release. The price is more than I thought, thinking Nintendo may low ball the price just under $200 for America. The handheld virtual store is a wild ball, great that it's coming but should have been out when the DSi first released.

@JohnDM
Yeah well they didn't. Better late than never. Cuz if they would've kept it out, people would still be complaining. It's there now so if you wanna take advantage, do so. Otherwise...it's there now, so what diff does it make?

Think of this: the DSi XL launched in Japan for 20,000 yen(about $240), but it released here in the States at $189. I'd bet the U.S. price will be $250.

@ItsameMatt03

This.

Japan is no stranger to paying out the nose for its own products. Anime DVDs tend to be more expensive and have even less of a runtime than what they are when they get to America.

@ItsameMatt03 I was expecting the 3DS to hit $190 myself. But really, compared to other handhelds in the same price range this seems to be a better deal.

I'm looking at you PSP Go.

@ItsameMatt03
Still too much for a handheld gaming device. Will it sell out? Yes, initially. But no way is it going to garner the same market as the NDS at that price point.

It isn't worth more than a PS3.

25,000 yen was the launch price for the wii in Japan back in '06, so this price isn't so bad for them.

in my case, the US dollar is now SIGNIFICANTLY weaker. in '06, 25,000 yen was $215, now it's closer to $300. they will probably charge roughly $270, $100 more than what the DSi launched for.

@speeddemon92

Same thing I was going to say.

Though the exchange rates have changed, they're probably still going to adjust the price to better reflect the hardware. $300 is ridiculous, but if people think it's worth $300 (and Nintendo only charges $250-$270) they might think of it as a steal and rush to buy them.

Besides, the markup on this is probably more than enough to cover the extra $30-50 lost per unit, at least until they go "lite".

@sonicspike41

They have already said that they are not going to sell the unit at a loss so i would guess this price will cover all costs, unless that 30-50$ was about something else and i'm getting confused !

@Milky1985

I mean $30-$50 lost compared to selling it for $300 (assuming they sell it for $250 or $270).

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Nintendo 3DS available February 26 in Japan, priced at 25,000 yen

Reader Comments (96)

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:52AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:54AM Pinto said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:57AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:04AM Raffi256 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 3:57AM Mmmmz said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 9:09AM CarlosPacheco said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 12:13PM Railgun said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 7:06PM Matt606 said

Posted: Oct 4th 2010 11:01AM honkyjesusownsu said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:53AM ArchiGamer said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:56AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:05AM Bubbameister33 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:12AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:22AM Hayatoblaze91x said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:34AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:42AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:54AM SilverPR said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:55AM Faenix said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:56AM ArchiGamer said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:59AM SpiderPrime said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:05AM Raffi256 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:27AM Faenix said

Posted: Sep 30th 2010 12:23AM Brodo said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:57AM superdarrin said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 9:23AM NaeemTHM said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:59AM ZexionArmando said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:08AM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:16AM ZexionArmando said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:35AM BananaBoat said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 6:38AM Bravo9zero said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:28PM KaBob799 said

Posted: Sep 30th 2010 12:48AM Brodo said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 1:59AM FrozenPlasma said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:00AM Alexisonfire said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:02AM Alexisonfire said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:51AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:03AM Bubbameister33 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:04AM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:04AM Hayatoblaze91x said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:06AM Hoops said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:13AM JohnDM said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 4:05AM C1ph3rDivyne said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:13AM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 3:44AM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 5:07AM JohnDM said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 12:51PM fohf said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:14AM speeddemon92 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 2:50AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 4:22AM Milky1985 said

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 5:00AM sonicspike41 said

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