In a press release this week, Nintendo announced that the Red Wii-Bundle commemorating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. will arrive in North America on November 7th. However, don’t expect this new bundle to stick around for very long. This bundle will be the most cost effective and most fully featured Wii console pack yet released. Priced at $199.99, the bundle includes a red Wii console, a red Nunchuk controller, the new and red Wii Remote Plus controller, a copy of Wii Sports, and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, as well. The normal Wii package currently on shelves only includes a fourth of this content.
Speaking of Wii packages lacking in content, the Red Wii-Bundles for both Europe and Japan differ from the North American release considerably, with each territory’s bundle missing something the other releases contain. While the Japanese bundle doesn’t come with the two pack-in games North Americans get, the bundle does come preloaded with an altered version of Super Mario Bros. that features item blocks emblazoned with the number twenty-five in honor of the game’s 25th anniversary instead of the traditional question mark blocks. The European bundle, on the other hand, will contain everything in the North American package, plus a preloaded copy of the original Donkey Kong, which will most likely be the NES version. However, the Europeans will not get the altered Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo hasn’t stated a reason as to why none of the bundles are the same, and they don’t have any reason to explain, either. Casual gamers probably won’t even notice or care about the differences. Meanwhile, collectors, importers, and hardcore gamers will most likely purchase whichever version they want most, if not all three.
