In celebration of the 35th anniversary of Super Mario, My Nintendo is offering a bounty of physical rewards to be redeemed with Platinum Points. Mario's big day arrived early last month, and Nintendo went all-out, introducing a veritable flurry of new titles with the iconic plumber front and center. The new offerings included a new Game & Watch system, a 2D platformer battle royale, a remaster of Super Mario 3D World, and, bizarrely enough, an Augmented Reality Mario Kart game with remote controlled go-karts.
But the biggest reveal at the event, hands down, was Super Mario 3D All-Stars. The title combines three of Mario's most iconic 3D outings: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. Players were thrilled by the reveal, and then baffled when it was announced that the game would see a limited release, and that Nintendo intends to stop selling it after March 31st next year. This transparently profit-motivated decision disappointed a lot of fans. When the games released, those fans were also let down by how little effort was put into the collection. While the games run fine, the interface leaves much to be desired, and fans have lampooned the lazy menu design.
But despite the negative press, Nintendo is proud of what it's created. So proud, in fact, that it's now offering physical rewards to celebrate the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars. These rewards can be found on the My Nintendo website. Players can trade in 800 platinum points to get a small zipper case with Mario's face on it, good for holding earbuds or Switch cartridges. Those same 800 points can also be traded in for a set of three posters, one representing each game in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. While shipping fees do apply, the products are otherwise completely free as long as one has the required platinum points.
Physical rewards like this are a niche benefit, but definitely a tempting one for collectors. Nintendo has been pushing a lot of physical goods like this ever since Super Mario 3D All-Stars was first announced; My Nintendo offered a free set of pins shortly after the stream, which fans could earn by buying the new game and taking part in a few other missions. By releasing more physical rewards relating to the title, it's possible that Nintendo is trying to make the anthology seem like a big deal, and further justify its timed release.
Nintendo has done some sketchy things with Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but while the game definitely isn't everything it could have been, it's still a good, convenient way to revisit some Mario classics. And if some diehard Nintendo fans happen to have a lot of platinum points gathered up, there are certainly worse ways to spend them than getting some free Super Mario merchandise. Hopefully, in the future, the generosity Nintendo is displaying with its posters and zipper cases will apply to the games as well.
Source: My Nintendo