Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge spotted in Australian stores
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge was one of those games that frustrated many Wii U owners in Australia. Nintendo had the rights to publish it, but for some reason, never actually got around to doing so. For those who weren’t keeping track, we’ll do a quick recap of the events.
The game was released in North America on November 18th in 2012. Japan got the game in December that year, while fans in Europe were able to play it on January 11th, 2013. Despite the game being release in almost every region for the Wii U, the Australian version was yet to be seen or released in Australia. Rumours persisted as to why but none of them were ever given any legitimacy.
Around the same time that the game was released in Europe, the Australian Classification Board rated the game R18+, making it Australia’s first R18+ rated game (although the first game to release with such a classification was a Vita version from the same franchise, as Nintendo took their time releasing this).
A whole month later, Nintendo had still not released the game in Australia. During that time, it was announced that Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge would be making it’s way to other consoles and would not remain a Wii U exclusive. Despite this announcement, the game was still not released in Australia.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge then appeared on Playstation and Xbox a few months later throughout the rest of the world. Nintendo’s own published Wii U version was still yet to be released in Australia. The same month, the Wii U received a system update adding functionality for parental controls for the R18+ rating. This lead many to believe this was why the game was still not released in Australia, however for that entire month no announcements were made.
The next month, in May 2013, Nintendo Australia announced that the game would be released in Australia, but was only an eShop title. People were disappointed, but it seemed like the best and only way to get the game for people who really wanted it.
Until now. We’ve received word from keen shoppers in Australia that copies of the game have started appearing in EBGames stores around the country. One of our keen eyed readers has even purchased a copy. It’s interesting and worth noting that these seems to be European copies that have been imported and slapped with an R18+ rating sticker.
This makes us wonder if Nintendo Australia have published the title (after so long) or if EBGames have taken the release into their own hands. If anyone has heard or seen other retailers selling the game, we’d love to hear from you.
The game is available from EBGames stores (and maybe more) for the typical RRP of first party Wii U titles, at AU$79.95.
Will you be grabbing a copy?
I used to work at EB so I think I can answer this. I’ve also seen copies in stores in the last week.
If Nintendo Australia were distributing they’d have to publish it with the proper labelling. As you can see in the pic the label is a PEGI rating with OFLC sticker on top. This means it has been imported. If it had been produced locally it would have the proper labels. This means either Nintendo or EB imported. EB Games does properly label them in-house, usually it happens when pre-owned games from overseas are traded in and need to be re-labelled so they can be sold locally but occasionally it happens with new stock as well, as is the case here.
If you take a look at the back of the box I’m sure it will have Nintendo UK information on it and not the details for NAU.
I agree with arrjayjee on this, as I’m willing to bet that under the sticker, is the UK’s own ratings printed on the cover. This is probably to get prepared for all the Wii U games releasing very soon.
I’d have bought it too, if I hadn’t already imported it at half their asking price (including postage).
This is still listed as eShop exclusive on Nintendo Australia’s website,so it definitely wasn’t published by them.
http://www.nintendo.com.au/catalogue/ninja-gaiden-3-razors-edge
It’s such a shame, I’ve already got it on Wii U and I’m sure all those interested probably already have imported it, also: AU$79.95 for a game that came out in NA in November 2012?! What the?
Better late than never I suppose…
EB have been doing this for years. Back in PS2 era they would often import some UK version games, same also for Gamecube titles too. For all intents and purposes, the games were new. Never used, just stock they had acquired from the UK, shipped over here and then sold as second hand.
I remember a delightful shipment came in one day which had Skies of Arcadia Legends, Tales of Symphonia, Killer 7, Viewtiful Joe and something else I forget for GC, and the PS2 games included stuff like Phantom Brave, Disgaea, Atelier something and a couple of other Atlus games.
Can completely agree. I purchased this off of Beat the Bomb for 22.99 and it just had a slapped on R18+ (was not even the australian rating system!).