Wii U Japan Launch Prices Confirmed

Everyone has been waiting on their heels for the launch prices for Nintendo’s Wii U. Today, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata confirms that the Wii U will be launching in Japan in 2 different SKUs at 2 different price points.

The first of which would be a “Premium” model of the Wii U. The Premium Wii U will come 32GB of internal flash storage memory, painted in glossy piano black and includes additional accessories such as a Wii U GamePad charging stand and a set of console stands. The Premium Wii U will cost — ¥31,500 ($405 USD).

There will also be a cheaper more “barebones” version of the Wii U, which is simply called the “Regular” model. The Regular Wii U will only come with a paltry 8GB of internal flash storage memory, has no extra accessories, comes painted in white and will cost — ¥22,000 ($335 USD).

Both the Premium and Regular models will come with all included cables, including a HDMI cable. So no more “hey I thought this is supposed to be HD” scenarios for anyone. Both SKUs will come with a GamePad and its AC adapter as well.

Nintendo has also announced the prices for the Wii U GamePad and Wii U Pro Controller, both of which will cost ¥13,500 ($170 USD) and ¥5000 ($65) respectively.

Finally, a new Nintendo Network Premium online service platform has also been announced. The service will serve as a part of incentive for owners of the Premium Wii U model to have access to %10 discount on downloadable games and softwares for up to 2 years.  No indications on whether the service can be purchased by Regular Wii U owners or not however.

The prices announced today are only for the Japanese market. Later today, Nintendo will be announcing prices for the North America region, but for now take the prices as an indicative prediction of how many piggy banks you need to smack open.