Exciting, exciting news if you live in Japan, like me: Nintendo’s WiiWare launch titles have finally been announced, priced, and dated. You can check them out yourself on Nintendo’s Japanese WiiWare page. They’re available starting March 25, which is surprisingly soon. The prices vary quite a bit, from a 500 point Ping Pong game, to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, at a solid but affordable 1500 points. Based on pictures and my terrible Japanese, other games include an R-Type-like shooter (800 points), a version of solitaire (500 points), and Dr. Mario and Pokemon Ranch (1,000 points each).

Personally, I’m quite excited that WiiWare is finally launching. As much as I enjoy reliving my childhood and downloading SNES games on the Virtual Console, I love the idea that smaller developers will have a chance to show us what they’re made of. With the exception of Final Fantasy, I’m not terribly excited about any of the Japanese WiiWare launch games, but I know that a smorgasbord of good games are in the pipeline. Nintendo is ever so slowly upgrading their online package for the Wii. Now if they could just do something about those pesky friend codes…