Nintendo Expands Its Vending Service

TOKYO - Last weekend, Lawson and Nintendo announced that they will start vending services for Game Boy games. Lawson, one of Japan's largest convenience-store franchises, is currently offering vending services known as Nintendo Power for Super Famicom games.

The service works like this: Customers go to a Lawson store, buy a Super Famicom Memory Cartridge, insert it into a slot on the vending machine and then select from a number of games listed on the screen. The kiosk prints out a receipt, which is then taken to shop clerk, who in turn copies the selected game onto the Memory Cartridge. Currently there are more than 150 Super Famicom games available for the Nintendo Power service.

The service works the same way for Game Boy games. Customers can copy their favorite Game Boy game onto the Game Boy Memory Cartridge. The cartridge itself uses 8Mbs of flash memory, and can hold up to seven games, depending on their size.

Currently, there are 21 Game Boy titles available for Nintendo Power. According to Nintendo, more games, including third party titles, will be added throughout the coming months. The service, which starts on November 1, costs US$7 - $9 for older games, and $9 - $18 Yen for new titles. The price of the GB Memory Cartridge is $22.

Super Mario Bros. DX, which isn't available in Japan yet, will be the first title released for this service.