How in the world can digital copies cost retailers more than packaged copies?

The next wave of a completely digital Nintendo future has just started in the Land of the Rising Sun. The release of both New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Oni Training on the Nintendo 3DS have helped usher in this era but not without a few hiccups. When it comes to the price difference between the physical versions and the digital version, there is a disparity. Probably not in the way that you would assume, either.

I used to live in the United States, so I have a pretty good idea of how pricing on game software usually works there. Games are typically what the suggested retail price is and that’s that. In Japan, it’s a completely different ball game. For example, the list price for New Super Mario Bros. 2 is 4,800 yen ($61) and Oni Training is 3,800 yen ($48). If you purchase the titles directly from the eShop, you’re going to be paying the exact price no matter what. If you opt to get the packaged versions, you will typically be paying less money. At my favorite local electronic store in town, I can go out and buy NSMB2 for around 4,100 yen, 700 yen less than the list price! You would think that this would also apply to the digital download card that the store carries as well, right? WRONG! From my experience today, I can tell you that definitely is not the case. Of course, I can only report on the store that I went to, but from other articles I’ve read online, this is not just a local issue at my store, but an issue occurring all around the country.

Purchasing the packaged version has a few pluses over the digital version in Japan.

I opted to go with picking up a packaged version of New Super Mario Bros. 2 today. On top of getting the game for about 800 yen cheaper than the list price (a common practice in Japan), I was delighted to discover the game had a reversible cover with it as well! Check it out below and chime in on which one is the better option!

Pretty much what you would expect

Join our noble quest this Monday night.

Come take on a quest with the Nintendo World Report community this Monday, July 30, in Heroes of Ruin. The action begins at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (1 a.m. UTC for anyone overseas). Exchange friend codes in the Talkback below, or check out our official NWR 3DS Friend Code thread located in the Handheld Discussion section of the forums.

Do you like these weekly Wi-Fi meetups? Is there anything you'd like to see done differently? We do these events for you, the readers, so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

It's another card game, kids.

My first Nerds and Men column discussed a fun four-player card game, Gamers vs. Evil, and its expansion, Ruins of R’lyeh. I got another card game for Christmas around the same time—the aptly titled Resident Evil Deck Building Game. Because my cohorts were more familiar with Tycho and Gabe than they were Chris and Jill, we got our kicks with Penny Arcade for several weeks before I introduced them to the RE game. After playing several games, we liked them both about equally well, partly because the RE game is almost exactly like the PA game with some interesting tweaks (and more expansions).

Join the NWR community for a game of tennis this Monday.

Nintendo World Report is hosting a multiplayer event for Mario Tennis Open this Monday night, July 23. The action starts at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (1 a.m. UTC for international readers). Post your friend codes in the Talkback below, or go stock up in the official NWR 3DS Friend Code thread, located in the Handheld Discussion section of our forums.

We welcome feedback regarding these Wi-Fi events. If there's anything we can do to get you to join in more often, please let us know.

Kirby's Wii collection is in da house, yo. Check out some beauty shots of the fantastic packaging. 

While gamers outside of Japan are going to have to wait at least until September, Kirby fans in Japan can now go out and buy Hoshi no Kirby 20 Shūnen Special Collection. The 20th anniversary set is packed with all sorts of goodies, both on and off the Wii game disc. As many of you know, the whole package comes with the game, a 45-track memorial soundtrack, and a memorial fan book. The package design for everything here in Japan is extremely sharp even down to the control explanation inserts. I went ahead and snapped a few shots for your viewing pleasure. I apologize for the picture quality and the odd lighting in my "studio." Sit back and enjoy what should come soon to a region near you.

Is the online multiplayer in Heroes of Ruin functional and/or fun?

After spending some time with friends and randoms playing Heroes of Ruin online, my biggest takeaway is that, by golly, it works. n-Space crafted an extremely functional online multiplayer experience, complete with easy-to-use voice chat that works quite well.

The last part is kind of weird. I've never experienced good voice chat on a Nintendo system. This feels like a landmark achievement, as my experience with Wii Speak was one fraught with frustration, and outside of salivating over the cancelled Gauntlet DS game with voice chat, I never experienced it on DS (though I've heard it usually was okay).

Just like at E3 2012, the game is listed for holiday 2012, much like the Wii U itself.

UPDATE: Kit Ellis told GoNintendo that his comment was a mistake, further proving that there is no need to doubt New Super Mario Bros. U as a potential launch title.

Recently, a comment by Nintendo's Kit Ellis has sparked fear in Nintendo fans. "So that's a look at New Super Mario Bros U, coming out for Wii U not too long after launch," Ellis said to IGN during a Comic Con demo.

Pongashi may be the missing link between Candypop buds and Pikmins.

An urban legend says Shigeru Miyamoto thought of the idea of Pikmin gameplay when he saw ants in a garden working together, but as far as I can see, we have no such a legend about where the unique design of the Pikmin creatures came from. 

Here is my hypothesis. Have you ever seen this plastic bag? Probably not, unless you have lived in Japan. This is a bag of puffed rice, called pongashi. This may be one of the roots of the design of Pikmin. 

As you can see, this bag most closely resembles a Pikmin seed popped out of an Onion or Candypop Bud (the color-changing flowers). More importantly, it also looks like a Pikpik carrot. Actually, on the bag you can see the word にんじん (carrot). You may remember a　Pikpik carrot is a vegetable on Olimar's planet, and a red Pikmin he first meets looks like the carrot so much that he names the creature Pikmin.

Arceus is watching over me.

I don’t remember how old I was when I got my first IV. I know I was scared out of my mind, though. I actually hid behind the exam table in the hospital and instructed my mother to tell the doctor I stayed home. Eventually the ruse was discovered, and I was hoisted aloft. I looked to the left as my mom told me about the movie “Arachnophobia” while my doctor inserted a tube in my right arm. This was, as he called it, a “tune-up.” These things are occasionally necessary for CF patients like myself, and this would be the first of many. Because it was my first line, and my first time on whatever medication I was getting, I had to stay in the hospital for something like a week. Normally I would have hated every second, but back then they had a room in the pediatrics wing for kids that had toys, magazines (like Highlights and Ranger Rick), and a small TV hooked up to an NES. I played that system every day I was there.