The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition Hitting Japan

TOKYO-- Nintendo announced today that they will be releasing The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition in Japan. The GameCube title will be available as one of the exchangeable prizes in their Club Nintendo membership program. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition was originally released in America and Europe in November. This will be the first time that it will become available in Japan.

The Japanese The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition is essentially the same as the American and European release. The GameCube disc comes with ports of the classic Famicom Disc System (known as the NES stateside) and Nintendo 64 titles The Legend of Zelda (FDS), Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (FDS), The Legend of Zelda: The Okarina of Time (N64), and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64). The disc will also contain a trailer and a 20-minute playable demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and a movie featuring highlight scenes from the Zelda series.

The only way to acquire the disc so far in Japan is to join the Club Nintendo frequent buyer's program, where points can be accumulated by purchasing games, and exchanged for prizes later on. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition will be redeemable with 500 points from the Club Nintendo program. The purchase of an average game earns 30 points, and the points double if the game is bought near its release date. Therefore, it will take at least nine game purchases to acquire enough points to get the Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition. However, Nintendo will start a promotion lowering the required points to 150 for purchasers of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus.

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition disc will be available on March 18, which is also the release date to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus. The point reduction campaign will run from the same date, and end on April 30.