The Nintendo Switch video game console has gone on sale in China but with Super Smash Bros as the only official Nintendo game available.
The Nintendo Switch, a video game console that can be connected to a TV or used as a handheld device, was first released in March 2017 but it just officially launched in China with Super Smash Bros as its only first-party game.
This is because in China, computer games must be approved by the authorities before they can be sold to the public. This February, Chinese regulators stopped accepting new video game applications in order to process backlogs.
In order to market the Switch in the country, Nintendo formed a partnership with Chinese tech company Tencent. It is currently available at a price of  2,099 yuan.
Nintendo is hoping to launch its Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Odyssey video games soon but has yet to receive approval from regulators. It is targeting to launch between 10 and 20 first-party games for the Switch in China by the end of 2020.
The Nintendo Switch's arrival in China was highly discussed on the Chinese social network Weibo. Some of those who purchased the console complained that while there are several Nintendo games displayed on the menu, only one is actually playable.
Prior to 2014, game consoles have been banned in China for a decade but it has since approved Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4, as well as games for these platforms. However, regulators sometimes halt granting approvals for new games for months on end.
Piers Harding-Rolls, a games analyst at IHS Markit, pointed out that this created a large market for imported games. He said: "Although it launches with one official authorised game, users are aware they can play other games on their Switches."
"There's a big grey market for the Switch in China. They've been selling it since the Western launch," he added.
