Nintendo of Korea has been around since 2006. Most of the time they localize games developed by Nintendo of Japan into Korean. A big change compared to the past, but unlike other Nintendo subsidiaries they haven’t dabbled into local publishing until now.
Magic Hanja DS, based on an educational comic series of the same name, teaches how to write hanja, Korean characters. Set for release in April, Magic Hanja DS will be the first game published by Nintendo of Korea made specifically for South Korea. Magic Hanja DS won’t be heating up import lists, we know, but as a precedent this is notable. Licensing agreements were made and development outsourced just for South Korea. Perhaps, the release of Magic Hanja DS is Nintendo of Korea’s first step towards supporting other local titles. Softmax is working on two Nintendo DS games they have yet to announce and could use a publishing giant like Nintendo to help them locally and internationally.
