Nintendo enlists celebrity aid in marketing Mario Kart Wii to Japan

by David Hinkle { Apr 22nd 2008 at 10:35PM }

Aside from advertising in the United States, another region important to sales of Mario Kart Wii is Japan, Nintendo's native country. As such, the gaming giant has enlisted the aid of Japanese celebrities to help hock their wares onto the gaming populace. Above, you can see model Aki Hoshino and comedian Medaka Ikeno having the time of their life with their Wii Wheels.

Cruise on past the break to check out a plethora of Japanese ads for the game.

Gallery: Mario Kart Wii

Tags: advert, advertisement, celebrities, japan, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sonic_13 @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:43PM

I can't wait for Mario Kat and the Wii Wheel!

SoshiKitai @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:48PM

Hmmm... Mario Kat... you mean Mario made his own Catz game? Interesting.

:D :P

Sonic_13 @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:05PM

lol. My "R" hasn't been working well recently, unless I press it firmly.

Meow...I mean, vrroooom!!

SoshiKitai @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:50PM

I have not been into Japanese Pop Culture in SOO long...
I hardly recognize that girl, heck, I may not even know her.

But I remember the old man. :P Not into his kind of humor, but I respect his popularity.

TheWarlock @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:51PM

Japanese Ads are... awesome! Wow, they're reall good at that. A couple more minutes of that video and I would've boughten 5 copys of MK.

Ai shiteru Shigeru!

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083) @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:33PM

Please for the love of god expel the word 'boughten' from your vocabulary as it is not a real word. You will thank me one day.

Philip @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:04PM

like all celebrity ads (ex. unplugged systems or wired controller not plugged in) I bet theres no wiimotes in those wheels.

SlothMaster @ Apr 23rd 2008 2:52AM

actually there are wiimotes in those Wii wheels , you can clearly see the straps on their hands... btw the game is nice, except i hate what they did to battle mode and the AI is horribly infuriating

Dante @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:12PM

I am big fan of Mario Kart for the DS. I can't wait for the game to come out for the Wii. I predict it will be a big hit. I am going to buy the game the same day it comes out.
http://wii-fanatic.blogspot.com