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This year's Club Nintendo elite rewards are all downloadable games
Marking a change from the calendars, posters and other Nintendoodads, the 2014 Club Nintendo elite rewards for North America are all downloadable games. While that'll disappoint some of you, as a European I have to note on our side of the ocean it's all physical - and personally, not the most appealing selection either. So if you want to swap places... well, we can't, but you get the drift. As before, qualifying Platinum members can have their pick of one Gold or one Platinum gift, while Gold members have to make do with the golden selection. If I were so lucky, I'd pick one of Game & Wario, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Dr. Luigi and Earthbound from the Platinum games. On the Gold side, I'm totally in the mood for some Zelda 2. Sigh.
Recall past stages, enemies with these Mario prints
If we tried to roll our Mario memories into a neatly-compacted ball, the result would look much more crude then artist Christopher Lee's efforts. Each 16x20" piece in Lee's Mario Madness set of prints recalls the environments and enemies from one game from the Mario Bros.' NES trilogy, Super Mario World or Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. The 190-piece sets were made using offset printing and come with an embossed, gold foil replica of Nintendo's Seal of Quality. Lee is also including his take on each game's box art with orders of the related pieces, but it's not just prints that are up for grabs here - Lee is including "a bunch of loose stickers and a single unopened pack" of Merlin brand stickers from 1989 in each order. He's also throwing vintage enamel pins into random orders, so make sure to practice whichever luck ritual you follow before clicking the order button. Both the stickers and pins are available while supplies last, so if you order late and don't recieve stickers, everyone else beat you to it. Grabbing your favorite piece from the Mario Madness series will cost $25, or you can cave and get one of each series for $100. Update: Lee has reached out to explain the relation of the Merlin brand to the stickers he's including in orders while supplies last. The post has been updated accordingly. [Image: Christopher Lee]
Downloadable Mario 3DS games go on sale leading up to New Super Mario Bros. 2
Nintendo is building to the first-of-its-kind downloadable launch of New Super Mario Bros. 2 by letting us download some older Mario games on the cheap. The "Month of Mario," as Nintendo calls it, puts one 3DS Virtual Console game on sale a week, from this Thursday through the August 19 launch of NSMB2.You'll be able to get Super Mario Bros. (NES) for $4 from July 26 to August 1. Starting August 2, Super Mario Land (Game Boy) will be $3. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy) will be on sale for $3 on August 9. Mario's Picross (Game Boy as well) will be $3 the next week, starting August 16. That's a dollar off the normal price of each.That's also a lot of Mario games to play before ... another Mario game!
NintendoWare Weekly: Super Mario Land 2, escapeVektor
You might have missed it yesterday, since it wasn't during the normal Nintendo downloadable game release day, but The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition is free to download right now on DSiWare (which is, of course, also accessible with the 3DS). If you've got friends to play with, it's a fun, bite-sized Zelda experience; if you don't, it's basically a really weird Zelda game where you don't get to keep your items. Another Nintendo classic is available on 3DS today: Super Mario Land 2, which introduces Wario for the first time -- long before he starts his software company. And on WiiWare, escapeVektor: Chapter 1 combines Qix-style outline completion with a storyline about being trapped in a computer. Nintendo also notes that new 3D trailers for Super Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Mario Kart 7, Luigi's Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, Paper Mario, and Mario Tennis will be available on 3DS "soon," so watch all those Blue Man Group videos now to make sure you have time for these.
The Last Story, Pandora's Tower due in Europe in 2012, more Euro releases dated
The Wii does have a lifespan beyond 2011 -- in Europe. Nintendo of Europe sent out a list (PDF) of upcoming titles today, including the two other games for which Operation Rainfall is campaigning: Mistwalker's The Last Story and Ganbarion's Pandora's Tower. Both are slated for 2012 in Europe now, and have yet to be announced in North America. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be released in Europe November 18 while Kirby's Adventure Wii is coming in December. The release list also provides November and December windows for Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 on 3DS, respectively. Super Pokemon Rumble will also be released in Europe this December. On DS, DQ Monsters Joker 2 is coming October 7, Kirby Mass Attack is due October 28, and Professor Layton will answer The Spectre's Call in November. Cave Story will finally come to DSiWare in Europe in Q4. A few standout downloads listed: in Q4, the 3DS Virtual Console will see releases of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Metroid II, and the Game Boy Bionic Commando game. Nintendo previously blocked the NES version from Virtual Console.
