[quote name='CouRageouS']To those optimistic CAGs, I'll give you some credit and point out the US did get the Wii about a month before Japan did. I don't see US getting Smash first, but who knows.[/quote]
Did the Japanese release ever even have a concrete date like the US version did?
I assumed this was the first mention of a Japanese date, when word first broke last night...and figured it might not have any bearing on the already-announced US date. But then they changed the date to TBA on the page, so yeah, clearly they wouldn't have done that unless something is changing.
I don't think missing Christmas is actually all that significant of a deal for Nintendo. Sure, it'd be great if they made it, but the potential difference between a January release and a pre-Christmas release is probably not significant enough to make it worth releasing a game too early. Smash will move in huge numbers regardless of whether it makes Christmas or not, and additionally, Nintendo will have AAA software available for the Holiday season (SMG most notably, whose sales performance I'd assume could be bolstered even more by having the spotlight all to itself in Q4). Also, moving hardware certainly won't be a problem in Q4, so the system-seller status is negated there as well. So for them, I doubt it'll be as foolish as it appears on first glance.
Still, I'd obviously love if we get a Christmas miracle and miss out on an '08 push-back.