With Club Nintendo shutting down in the coming months, the Big N has decided to go all out with its final crop of Rewards offerings, boasting more than a dozen physical goodies and over 100 games for diehard fans to spend their virtual Coins on.
In case you missed the news, Nintendo recently announced that it would be discontinuing the current Club Nintendo Rewards program, with a new loyalty promotion to take its place sometime down the road. In the past, consumers could redeem codes acquired from purchased games and consoles or take part in brief surveys to earn Coins. These Coins could then be exchanged for physical and digital goods selected from a rotating crop of offerings.
In January, Nintendo announced that a bunch of new games would become available in February to give folks who have been stockpiling Coins something to redeem them for. Honestly, even with Nintendo promising “dozens of new games,” I didn’t really expect them to deliver on that promise. I expected “dozens” of games, sure, but the lackluster quality of most of the Club Nintendo Rewards on a regular basis didn’t have me holding my breath.
I’ll happily admit that I was wrong, and in a big way, now that Nintendo has officially launched its Club Nintendo finale. You’ve got until the end of June to cash in those Coins, which is a good thing since the service is utterly slammed at the moment. Unless you’re hoping to get your hands on what is certainly a limited supply of physical goods, I say sit back, relax, and wait a few days before claiming your rewards. The digital rewards aren’t going anywhere for a few months, so no need to feel like you have to get those downloads started ASAP.
There are loads of games to look through and spend your Coins on, but we’re going to cherry pick a few highlights here, just to give you an idea of what we’re talking about.
In the physical goods department, mainstays like Mario and Luigi and Nintendogs greeting cards are on offer, as well as a 2016 desktop calendar, a Legend of Zelda 3DS XL pouch, a couple of poster sets and a badass Majora’s Mask messenger bag and jigsaw puzzle.
The Wii has the shortest list of digital rewards, boasting about 25 games including The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Starfox 64, Mario 64, the original Super Smash Bros. and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
There are about 50 games available for the 3DS, including NES and GBA classics, a handful of DSiware titles and even a few retail games like Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Star Fox 64 3D and the big surprise, Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Finally, the Wii U has another 50 or so games up for grabs, including a nice mix of Nintendo classics like F-Zero, all three Mario Bros. games and Earthbound, as well as retail games The Wonderful 101, Wii Fit U and Game & Wario.
