Club Nintendo has cool stuff for Super Mario's 25th Anniversary, but it isn't cheap

Started in the US a couple years back, Club Nintendo copies the Japanese originator and allows fans to register their Nintendo published games in exchange for Coins, the site’s virtual points system. Then those Coins can be used to get free Nintendo collectibles like playing cards, posters and even a couple of exclusive games. Today Nintendo added to that list a set of pins to commemorate Super Mario Bros turning 25. They all looked pretty cool, until we scanned the price and got a major case of sticker shock.

So those are 450 Coins per pin, and to give you an idea how ludicrous that is, you get 30 Coins for registering a DS game and 50Coins for a Wii game. Now you can get small amounts of extra points here and there, like when you fill out surveys, but essentially you need to register nine Wii games or 15 DS titles to get just one fancy Mario pin. What the hell?!

Above: Also for Mario’s 25th you can buy a screensaver for only 10 Coins. We included a picture of Mario and Yoshi in hopes of easing the shock of paying for a screensaver

Perhaps these kinds of prices aren’t that crazy, as something like the Game & Watch Collection for DS will run you 800 Coins, but this is too much. Here’s hoping Nintendo comes to their senses on this pricing. Also, as long as we’re griping about Club Nintendo, what’s the deal with Japan get so much cooler stuff than we do? Look at this:

Tote bags and t-shirts for Mario’s 25th Anniversary, plus soundtracks and a freaking Kirby Frisbee?!?! This badass swag can’t be that hard to import, can it Nintendo?

Oct 20, 2010