A few weeks ago we reported on the rumour that the launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Japan tomorrow would be marred by low shipments of the title, leaving many excited gamers scrambling unsuccessfully to bag themselves a copy of the game. Now word from Japanese retailers seems to have confirmed this fact. While the news is not likely to affect the North American and European launches (at least not by the same degree we hope), it does show the strain Nintendo has been under between perfecting the beat-em-up and the desire to deliver it to eager fans of the franchise.

A number of companies and retailers have spoken out about their concern over shipment numbers for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, with the New York-based National Console Support writing “Our Japanese and Hong Kong suppliers have notified us that Nintendo will only ship 25% of the game this week due to a production shortage. This means that those who ordered 100 copies of the game, for example, will only receive 25 discs.

Online retailer Play-Asia has also spoken out, worrying that it will not only be able to satisfy demand on launch, but also in light of the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays:

“Nintendo has badly cut pre-orders placed by all distributors and is only shipping very limited quantities into the market this week.”

[Source: Wired]

All of this explains the five week delay to Super Smash Bros. Brawl in North America. It is claimed that Nintendo will have had time to produce just enough units to announce the game’s arrival in Japan (far from satisfying all pre-orders, mind you), and is using the extra time and resources to make sure the same doesn’t happen when the Wii title arrives in North America on March 09.

Nintendo’s original explanation for the delay to Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the US was that it needed more development time, although with the evidence gathered above, we’re not sure that is 100 per cent true. Sneaky.