For a modest fee Nintendo will send select gamers a little bundle of joy on Christmas morning. No, it hasn't entered the illegal baby selling trade, Mario (along with some friends) is coming to Wii via Virtual Console!

Unfortunately, you'll only be able to get it if you happen to be Japanese or 'Mercan. SPOnG decided to pick up the phone to check the facts. A Nintendo rep told us the releases won't actually be available in Europe until early January.

Why Nintendo has made the decision to not release the titles simultaneously in all territories is a bit beyond us. Clearly distribution isn't an issue. We can only assume that the version Nintendo's making available is NTSC code and not PAL compatible. That would make it necessary for Nintendo to either re-code the version they've got or upload the PAL version separately.

Super Mario Bros will hit the Wii along with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior from the SNES, Super Castlevania IV similarly from the SNES, Toe Jam & Earl from the Sega Mega Drive and R-TYPE from the Turbo Graphix. They'll all be 800 Wii points (£8), with the exception of Mario which will be 500 points (£5). They will all also be late getting to Europe.

Anyway, Merry Christmas America and Japan!