Why is Nintendo not releasing Mario and Luigi in NA this year???

[Luke888]

Symbolic said:

Because for whatever reason, each regional branch handles things differently.

Instead of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, North America is receiving Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon this year. In Europe and Oceania, Pokémon isn't scheduled to release until 2016. Yo-Kai Watch is also releasing this year in North America but not until 2016 in Europe (though Europeans can import from Australia or New Zealand as those two countries are receiving it this year).

It would be nice to have closer release dates between the three major regions, or a removal of region-locking so consumers could have the option to import without needing to buy additional consoles, but that's unfortunately not the case at the moment.

^this plus it's pretty obvious that if even Game Freak had to save Pokémon Z for later on then Nintendo is really curious to see how well Yo-kai Watch will do in the USA