Starting today, November 24, Japanese Wii U owners in need of a new GamePad are be able to purchase one as a standalone unit.

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The news comes via the official Nintendo website (translated by Kotaku ). According to the site, the solus GamePad costs 12,800 yen, which roughly converts to around $104 or £70. Nintendo had announced its intentions to sell the GamePad as a standalone even before the Wii U shipped in 2012. It also confirmed back then that two GamePads could be synced to the console , but no software or applications have ever been created or announced to take advantage of that possibility.Should the West follow suit, and pricing remains in a similar fashion, this can actually be a cheaper alternative than getting a broken Wii U GamePad repaired (caveat: Depending on how badly it’s damaged) or purchasing a new one through Nintendo's Service Center, which costs $140 in the US.We reached out to Nintendo UK to see if there’s any chance of us seeing the option to buy GamePads separately in the West, and were told nothing has been announced for Europe at this point in time. There is no indication on the Japanese website that the standalone sale is meant to support future dual GamePad software. Instead, the website confirms that the Wii U is designed to work with a single GamePad, reaffirming that it is sold as a replacement.Please note that GamePads are region-locked, so you cannot sync a Japanese GamePad to a US Wii U.In other money-saving news, Nintendo of America recently opened an eBay store . In it you’ll find "new and factory-refurbished systems, games, and accessories,” including a 2DS Mario Kart 7 bundle for $100, and a 32GB Wii U Mario Kart 8 bundle for $300. Who doesn’t love saving money, right?

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer who writes terrible bios. For more obvious statements and Fallout chat, you should probably follow him on Twitter