Wii Fit Plus, new Mario hitting Japan in '09 - Report

E3 2009: Nikkei.net's English service says new version of fitness-game phenomenon will ship in fall across Pacific; Japanese version hints at new Mario game during second half of year.

No word on whether Wii Fit Plus will have a new balance board.

Nintendo's E3 Press Conference isn't until 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 2. However, like its rival Sony, the game giant appears to have had some of its surprises spoiled by the many-tentacled beast of the 24-hour Internet news cycle.

This morning, the respected subscription Japanese news service Nikkei.net issued two reports about Wii Fit Plus. As had been widely rumored, the game will reportedly be a new version of Nintendo's wildly popular fitness title, which ships with the Wii Balance Board peripheral.

According to Nikkei's English-language edition, Wii Fit Plus will arrive this fall in Japan, where Wii Fit went on sale five months ahead of its North American launch. The service reports that the game "will enable users to compete with each other over the Internet. It will also offer gentle exercises for the elderly, and will respond to player inputs more precisely than the current version." No mention is made of an exact date, price, or whether the reference to more precise sensors means that it will come with an improved balance board.

It's probably too soon to hope for Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Meanwhile, Nikkei's Japanese language service also has an article touting Wii Fit Plus. However, it makes mention of a "new" Mario game arriving in Japan by the end of the year. No details were included about which of the numerous Mario franchises the game belongs to, or when exactly it might arrive. However, the subsequent sentence says that Nintendo is hoping to "bolster" the Wii--sales of which are flatlining in Japan--which hints that the Mario game would be for the console, and not the DS or DSi handheld.

218 Comments

  • KingOfOldSkool

    Posted May 31, 2009 10:42 am PT

    Wii sales are "flatling" in Japan? Well.. anyways.. for as much as Microsoft pisses me off I can understand why more American gamers would rather support a system from their own country(something Japan is notorious for).. because no one wants to go back to the days of having to wait for the best games to come stateside many months after they have been released in Japan. If companies pull that crap now they risk their game falling to the wayside behind the multitude of other titles gamers would play instead.

  • thorsen-ink GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 31, 2009 10:46 am PT

    Supposed to be "flatlining" fixed.

  • zako94

    Posted May 31, 2009 10:54 am PT

    cool new mario i missed it

  • KingOfOldSkool

    Posted May 31, 2009 10:59 am PT

    Well.. like what was alluded to in the article.. it would indeed be rather naive to think this new Mario game would approach the relevancy of a "Super Mario galaxy 2" announcement.. so chances are that this will be a lame attempt to make up for the lack of proper 3rd party support with yet another watered down 1st party title.

  • themyth01

    Posted May 31, 2009 10:59 am PT

    I was hoping for a new Zelda.

  • Flint247

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:00 am PT

    Wow, another Wii Fit game...with online play?! That would be awesome.

    And YES, a possibly new mario game. I definitely hope it's like Super Mario Galaxy. The graphics and gameplay were amazing.

  • LithuanianGamer

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:04 am PT

    If the new mario game will be galaxy 2 I will get a wii

  • k0r3aN_pR1d3

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:06 am PT

    The reason why your console isn't selling, Nintendo, is that you've already saturated the market. And you've over hyped your console, and pretty much, lost the novelty for it.

  • hhap52

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:08 am PT

    i need to hurry up and buy super mario galaxy. the only thing keeping me back, despite the great reviews, is that my friends didn't seem to like it.

  • AlmightyMax

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:09 am PT

    Hopefully it's an actual Mario game and not Mario Party 9 or another retarded sports game...

  • lamprey263

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:10 am PT

    Hopefully it's not as bad as Super Paper Mario and more on par with Super Mario Galaxy.

  • buffdaddy69

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:17 am PT

    Just give me Mario 64 with a huge graphics update.

  • chocolate1325

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:18 am PT

    I hope its a big name Mario title like Paper Mario or better yet a new 3D platformer but it seems unlikely.

  • nini200

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:20 am PT

    Hopefully it'll be a side scroller completely with stages and as many levels as Super Mario World.

  • Blue_Namek

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:21 am PT

    hhap52 said - "i need to hurry up and buy super mario galaxy. the only thing keeping me back, despite the great reviews, is that my friends didn't seem to like it."

    I'm with your friends on this.I have not played Galaxy since the day i bought it.The game just wasn't as good as reviews said it was.I would rather play Yoshi's Island than Galaxy.

  • Hungry_bunny

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:22 am PT

    I'm getting more and more excited about these upcoming press conferences...

  • loonyspoony

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:23 am PT

    Wii Fit Plus, 'with more precise inputs', seems fairly likely its not going to be a new board its just going to make use of the 'motion plus' contoller, otherwise why call it Wii Fit Plus.

  • mightychir

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:24 am PT

    A new Mario? LAWL. Looks like they are overeacting a bit of them losing sales agaisnt SONY a while back>_> Wonder how SMG2 would be lik since I loved the first one or it could be a totally dieffrent platform game

  • musicman2059

    Posted May 31, 2009 11:26 am PT

    I don't want to sound pessimistic, but this post just told me not to get my hopes up for Nintendo's E3 press conference on Tuesday. They better prove me wrong.

    Although, a new Mario game is always welcome.

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