Nintendo is putting up the shutters on its loyalty rewards program for good, but before Club Nintendo closes shop in September, the Japanese video game company is making available one final set of digital and physical rewards that members can claim with their remaining coins.
Last month, Nintendo announced that Club Nintendo will no longer be available beginning Sept. 30 to make way for a new loyalty program. At the time, Nintendo said that it would add "dozens of downloadable games and a limited quantity of exclusive reward items," and it seems as if Nintendo is coming through with that promise by adding as many as 117 new games and a number of exclusive physical rewards that Club Nintendo members can claim.
Normally, Club Nintendo puts up as rewards eight or so random titles picked from its roster of games for the 3DS and Wii. For this final sale, however, Nintendo is including plenty of major titles for both consoles, including fairly recent, full-priced titles such as Super Mario 3D Land, which can be bought for 600 coins for the 3DS, and Kid Icarus: Uprising, also for the 3DS for 700 coins. For the Wii U, some of the most notable titles are The Wonderful 101 and Wii Fit, both of which can be bought for 600 coins.
Other interesting titles include classic games such as Pilotwings, Super Mario World and Super Punch Out, which are all available for the Wii U for 200 coins, and Paper Mario, Super Mario Kart, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which can be claimed for 250 points.
The rest include pretty much everything from modern and classic games, even including black-and-white old-school classics for the NES and Nintendo 64, which cost anywhere between 150 and 700 coins.
The digital downloads are obviously the star of the show, but Club Nintendo says it also offers more than the usual "random items with Nintendo branding." Members can also choose from a collection of physical rewards, including t-shirts, calendars, posters, greeting cards, toys and puzzles.
Some of the most notable items include a retro 8-bit Super Mario t-shirt for 700 coins, a Fierce Deity Link jigsaw puzzle for 800 coins, and a Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D messenger bag, also for 800 coins.
As a bonus, Nintendo is also making available Flipnote Studio 3D free for all members who sign up before Mar. 31. Flipnote is a software that is used for making 3D animations that can be shared with others.
While Club Nintendo is more popular in Japan than in the United States or Europe, gamers can still sign up for the loyalty program until Mar. 31, the last day for stocking up on virtual currency by registering their products, answering surveys and completing other activities. All coins will expire on Sept. 30.
Gamers can check out the Club Nintendo website for a full list of available rewards. As of midnight on Tuesday, however, Club Nintendo is currently unavailable "due to site maintenance," and Nintendo isn't giving any sign as to when the website will be back up.
