A wonderful program exists outside of North America for people who purchase Nintendo products - Club Nintendo. Club Nintendo is a special program to reward people who purchase games for Nintendo systems.
In regions that have Club Nintendo programs set up (Japan, Europe, South Africa and Australia), games for Nintendo systems come with either a small slip of paper or a card with a numerical code on there. If you register that code with the program, you receive points known as stars. You can then trade those in for items.
Sadly, this program is not offered in North America and there are no plans to start a program like it here. To make matters worse, you can’t redeem points from import games. So if you’ve imported DS games and have a stack of slips (ahem) collected, you can’t redeem them. Only people who live in that region can participate in that Club Nintendo program.
Since the Club Nintendo premiums are often incredibly cool and collectible, it is still nice to dream about them. Besides, if you look sharp on eBay, or visit online stores, you may still be able to purchase some of the Club Nintendo items.
Club Nintendo Japan
Japan’s Club Nintendo program is usually the one most talked about. As the first and primary program, it tends to receive the best reward items. To get points, people purchase Japanese games for the Nintendo DS or Wii. They then register the points at the Club Nintendo Japan site.
Club Nintendo Japan has the best prizes. There are video game soundtracks, wiimotes which can also act as a television remote, Famicom style Wii Classic Controllers, statues, ringtones, cute pouches, clothing, toys and DS games. There are also computer wallpapers for a few stars, in case you have a small number of leftover points. Most items cost between 100 and 500 stars.
The DS titles tend to get the most attention, and go the quickest. So far Tingle’s Balloon Fight, Exclamation Warriors Sakeburein, Game & Watch Collection and Game & Watch Collection 2 have been released, each usually costing around 500 stars. Luckily, Play-Asia will occasionally sell used copies of these games, so collectors can check that site to try and find these rare DS games.
Club Nintendo Europe
Club Nintendo Europe was the second program launched, and as such is the second biggest program. It doesn’t have special edition games, like the Japanese program, but it still has many special items - some that can also be found in the Club Nintendo Japan catalogue, and some that are exclusive to European members. It was originally called Nintendo VIP 24:7, but Nintendo decided to change the name to the more familiar “Club Nintendo” after the Wii launched.
It functions in the exact same way as Club Nintendo Japan. Registering systems and games earns you points, which can be spent on items. Club Nintendo Europe has no games, but Wii points, clothing, toys, statues, bags, key rings, stationary items, system accessories and computer wallpapers are all available items. They’re a bit more expensive, star-wise, than Japanese items. Items can cost upwards of 1000 points.
Club Nintendo in other regions
So far, two other Club Nintendo programs have been opened. There are Club Nintendo Australia and Club Nintendo South Africa programs. Neither one is especially prolific yet. You can register purchased games, or spend stars on wallpapers for your computers, but that’s it.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables listed some places to see in Akihabara.
Site [Club Nintendo Japan] Site [Club Nintendo Europe] Site [Club Nintendo Australia] Site [Club Nintendo South Africa] Site [Play-Asia]
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