Why hasn’t WW Twisted been released in Europe?

Just a Wario Fan

Just a Wario Fan

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I have been wondering this for ages, but never got a satisfying answer to it. I have read that it was because the movement detector contained Mercury and as such was banned in the EU, but this seems a bit strange to me, as the use of mercury in electronics was still allowed at the time, and even is to this very day for some applications. And besides, as far as I know, the game wasn’t released in Europe at all, even in countries that aren’t in the European Union.

If anyone knows more, please let me know. I’m very curious as to why it never was released. I’m European and I do have the game though, something that I’m quite proud of despite that it wasn’t too hard to get.
 
TV Tropes claim Twisted's gyro doesn'T actually use mercury-

Twisted! never reached European shores. The reason for this was never explained, but it certainly wasn't to do with the illegality of mercury tilt switches in the EU — Twisted! uses a piezoelectric gyroscope instead.
Click to expand...

-but there's a lot of bullshit on that site and I have no idea how I could verify this myself.

Anyway my answer would be the obvious one, and the same reason Mother 3 and Rhythm Heaven didn't come over: GBA game sales were in the dump after the DS was released, and the original WW didn't seem to do particularly well in Europe so there was even less incentive to localize the sequel to a "niche" game and have it canibalize the sale of the more recent entry on the actually viable platform.
 
It definitely has something to do with its late release, as the Nintendo DS was already on the market for quite some time in America when Twisted was released there, a bit similar to how the first Shantae for Gameboy Color failed because the Gameboy Advance, the GBC's successor was already launched. This isn't the first time that such a thing happened either.
 
also the rumble motor and gyro probably made Twisted a lot more expensive to manufacture than the average GBA game
 
A release sheet of GBA/DS/Wii software was leaked as part of a staggered release of the Nintendo gigaleak, and it includes a comment on Twisted's euro release. It does seem the game was held up due to EU safety standards, though not mercury as everyone claims.



It's possible that got resolved and they opted not to release it anyway because they figured it was not worth it, but now we have (part of, at least) the answer.
 
As a European who was lucky enough to have picked up a copy of the USA version of the game from a UK eBay seller back in 2008 for a reasonable price, I had a big feeling it was because of the EU having safety standards but I didn't buy that whole mercury thing. It sucks that it never came out our way but I guess they dodged a bullet as far as this kind of thing goes.
 
I've also bought WarioWare Twisted from Ebay, but the gyro is showing signs of wear. Even if I hold the GBA perfectly still, in-game objects will still slowly tilt to the left. Might also have gotten unlucky with my copy, though.
 
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