Taking a look at other sources (ie. ebay), it seems almost every Japanese DS title has a code to enter for Club Nintendo. Since I’m not so confident with my Japanese skill, I’m trying to find a low cost new game that contains a code. That way, if I can’t enjoy the game due to current language barrier (somewhat unlikely), at least I didn’t spend much.

The story behind:
Normally I wouldn’t care about such a thing (considering my low level skill in Japanese), however I scored a new-looking DSi XL recently for cheap.

I used to use Rakuhiki Jiten (DS “game”; a nice dictionary) on my DS Lite, but that went missing.. Hence my new purchase. However when I recieved said DSi XL, I realized it was actually a DSi LL (Japanese version of the XL).

The problem:
“Sweet, access to the quirky other Japan-only DSi titles. Now I’ll just change the system language…” …While changing the language was there on a DS Lite, DSi doesn’t give the option (though US DS titles run fine). When I opened the Shop channel on the DSi I was prompted for a UserID/Pass, or to proceed without one (no option to register new account). Keep in mind everything is in Japanese and I can’t read kanji. But enough experience with online accounts and computers made things somewhat easier to understand.

Somehow or another, I found out that a valid Club Nintendo Japan account was required for purchasing DSiWare titles. How else would they track your shop points? Sure, I suppose they could do it by console serial, but still… I won’t be able to purchase the non-free titles unless I can get my account going.

Bottom line, I love this DSi LL. I can navigate and set most everything up myself, it still plays English games (DS titles are region free), and soon I’ll probably be able to check out some of these quirky Japan-only titles. Just gotta figure this Club Nintendo stuff out first. :p

If I stumble across anything, i’ll let you know, and please do the same ;)

And actually, since I just got a new paycheck in, I decided to throw $20 down in an effort to solve at least part of the mystery. I decided to go with this game from Play Asia:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-3hab.html

Cheapest worthwhile import I’ve found that still happens to be a first party title. Usually US first party games come with those Club Nintendo codes, so this way I’ll be playing it safe (hopefully). If not, apparently this game is hilarious (or at the very least entertaining), so at least it won’t be a complete waste ;).

I’ll give an update when I receive the game (which may take a while, due to economy shipping). Godspeed, Tingle!