Club Nintendo Gold and Platinum Prizes Announced [NoA]

I was expecting something that wasn't so great but not like this ... guess I'll be getting Earthbound though!

Hey, I won't complain about a game. I'll most likely get DKC Returns.

I'd prefer something really nice as a collectible, but considering how crappy the prizes have been the past couple years, I'll take it.

They must have scrapped the bottom of DK's barrel...

No physical prizes? I prefer to have something that I couldn't buy and is exclusive. :(

Now that I think about it, this is awful. These are mostly games they've been offering as coin prizes, minus some of the Platinum games.

They couldn't even have given us like a 30-40 dollar credit so we can buy games of our choice? Offering an Amiibo would have been perfect. Create awareness of the product and get people to buy more. The odds of people buying more Amiibos after getting one for free would have been very, very likely. Even it was a limited choice of Mario and Luigi, that would have been swell.

Wow, this sucks. Guess i'll pick up game and wario...

Wow, that game selection is beyond underwhelming. Is there not even a calendar this year?

I guess i'll go with DK Returns since I never played the Wii version.

Seriously? Where are the real prizes? This has to be a joke. An awful joke at that.

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for me. The shake controls on Wii were annoying. I'm surprised there are no physical rewards.

I'm surprised that a couple of full retail games are on there. DKCR 3D is a steal, though I already own it on Wii and don't want it on 3DS....

I got Game and Wario. It's the perfect game to get for free. All of those games are worth having, actually. If you've never played Zelda 2 and were afraid you might not like it, get it. It's awesome once you realize that it is its own game and you shouldn't try to play it like other Zelda games. Fluidity is pretty great, too.

Would have loved to grab Earthbound but I didn't reach platinum...so I guess i'll have Zelda II

Wait wait...Earthbound is purchasable, right? You don't need platinum status to get it, do you?

That would be a dick move...

Nice! I'm close to gold I think! I'd take a free game over a collectible any day!! I love free games!

Yup, you can buy it in the eShop.

@YearoftheSnake5:

Good! Almost had a heart attack =P

@Star0: earthbound has been in the eshop for like a year.

Very disappointed in not exclusive physical prizes. I don't like stuff I can already buy. Guess I will get DK 3d though.

looks like its fluidity spin cycle for me :/

Earthbound just got a discount in Europe... If it gets one in NA tomorrow I might go and buy it since I'm not platinum.

Hm. I own pretty much all of those.

So with $15, I can go buy nearly all of the games with nasty DRM. That's what the platinum's worth, huh?

This is the first year where I personally do not give a s*** about the rewards. This is a goddam middle finger to those who didn't get platinum last year and missed out on the pins or Majora's Mask OST.

This is the thread where I say that I wish we had prizes in South America.

I am very happy to get dk 3d for free. Hopefully next year we will see a return of the mario hat or maybe even a luigi hat, figurine, a t-shirt.

Either going to get DKCR 3D or Earthbound.

Can't complain about the prizes since they're absolutely free. Seriously, we get coins to buy stuff for the surveys, the elite awards are just free stuff for us. Sure I would have loved some physical items, but I'm not an entitled asshole who complains about free stuff. :P

In that case, I don't suppose you would part with a Dr. Luigi code :P

@darkspineslayer: nope, earthbound. Lol

unrelated, but SMT Devil Summoner games. you recommend those, right?

@darkspineslayer: I liked Devil Survivor Overclocked on 3ds. It's like Fire Emblem and SMT combined (lol no wonder why they got together for FExSMT). I never played the other ones or it's sequel.

Did you download it yet? None of the games really call out to me, but I remember playing a Fluidity demo on the Wii, and enjoying it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Just when I think Nintendo can't get worse they do this

God, they hate their customers

I've gotten like seven free games from Nintendo this year. They must really hate me.

No, you spent money up front for those, you paid their ridiculously outdated prices for games and got credit in their store.

Also there is no defense for this. Do you want to do the math for how much money someone need to spend for these points or shall I?

@haziqagha:

I won't lie. I was unimpressed at the games they offered. I won't qualify until next year because I just bought a 3DS, Wii U and some games. But I thought they'd have better titles for download to be honest.

If you want to be a mouthpiece for people who whine about free stuff, go right ahead. Maybe if they see that Jaysonguy is on their side, they'll think through it a little bit more.

I got a free game for buying stuff I would've bought anyway. How in the world could I justify complaining about that?

@Jaysonguy: No company hates their customers. If any business functions that way, they'll be out of business very quickly.

This is the worst set of prizes yet :s

I suppose if you are a diehard Nintendo enthusiast and have bought all of these, you're out of luck?

@Pikminmaniac: Pretty much. A better selection of games would have made a world of a difference, but I'd rather have games than a plush toy.

But at least some physical merchandise like a plush or statue (as in the past) becomes an exclusive collector's item. That made them more valuable than something everybody has access to.

Have to admit I'm disappointed. I wanted a Pikmin plushie, or a statue figurine.

@Pikminmaniac: That's true. However, personally speaking, I'd rather have a game to be honest. The rest of the stuff is of little value to me and ends up just being clutter :P.

Anyone can get these games, I can get them all if they were actually worth playing

The collectable I can't buy. That's something unique.

It's like when Miyamoto was at the Nintendo store and I got the Mario shirt that was only handed out by him that time only. That's a special thing. If they just had copies of whatever Mario game there it would mean nothing.

Yeah but that stuff is useless unless you're a nerd. I'm going to get a plush toy and stare at it then put it away.

I'll get a game and play it and probably enjoy it.

As soon as I saw what the rewards were the first person I thought of was Jasonguy! LOL, I know how he feels about physical exclusive prizes. This year we did not get any of that which is a surprise. I got the game I really wanted and was surprised it was available for free. I am just wondering what Nintendo will do with their club reward prizes cause it's gettin a lil stale and I don't want to see any of it go away. But yeah I agree with the one guy who said it will suck for the people who already purchased all of these games. So Nintendo should have had some sort of exclusive prizes to mail to us elite members.

I joked about this last month and it actually came true....

Got DKC Returns 3D for the 3DS, I actually am glad they offered it and hoped they would offer a least one 3DS game as a reward and they did. Everything else I own and I don't have a Wii U. I think next year they should offer two 3DS games or maybe four 3DS games to choose from. The Wii U gets a bunch of NES/SNES games and the 3DS gets a bunch of GB games.

So, when a Nintendo fan buys three full-price Wii U games, and two 3DS games -- something I'd hope they were buying anyway -- they get 250 coins, which amounts to a free game on Club Nintendo (of which the selection this month is Paper Mario). Now, considering Nintendo has no obligation to do this (what do you get when you buy five PlayStation games or five Xbox games, other than just the games?), how exactly is this a bad thing? I'm not sure anybody buys Nintendo games specifically to get Club Nintendo benefits, nor do I think it would impact their sales if they disbanded the program altogether.

So, simply for buying their product, of which you'd hope people only do if they want said product, Nintendo gives out *more* stuff to its loyal customers.

I'm very curious Jaysonguy. Why do you think you just deserve to have things for free, and only get exactly what you want for free and nothing less? I would like to see your thought process about why you should be able to complain about getting something extra with your purchases that a company has no obligation to give you. If everyone complained this much about free stuff, I'm sure Nintendo would just disband the program.

Aaaaand that's where you're wrong.

Club Nintendo is part of the game you're buying. Nintendo feels that the ability to have those coins adds value to the game you buy therefore allowing Nintendo to sell it at a higher price.

The idea of "well you're complaining about free things" is a crap argument made by apologists with no backbone.

The other two console makers give rewards. The majority of the PC game sellers give out rewards. The idea that Nintendo is the only one doing this is past wrong.

Then it brings us to the quality of the reward. Before it was exclusive rewards that couldn't be had anywhere else. Now it's devolved down to whatever awful games they feel like giving out. Warioware? That complete failure? That's considered a reward?

Earthbound, a 10 dollar game. So let's do the math...

Platinum reward is 900 coins. Let's say you get 50 coins per game and because you're a savvy shopper you get every game for 30 bucks. So in order to get that 10 dollar game you need to spend roughly 540 dollars.

In the past some would say it was worth it for the Super Mario or Luigi statue or other great thing. Now? Not at all.

The bottom line is that this is not a free gift.

No, in order to get that 10 dollar game plus (roughly) eleven other $50 games, you need to spend $540. Those games you spent money on originally don't just disappear. You paid what they were worth to you, not what they were worth plus the Club Nintendo coin value.

No one buys games for the Club Nintendo coins, and no, Nintendo doesn't think that the only way they can sell their games for $60 is to add coins. That's ridiculous, and that's not how pricing works anyway (that's why digital games are still the same price as packaged ones).

The coins are incentives for us to fill out marketing surveys, nothing more. We get something in return because there would be no reason to spend time on surveys otherwise. That's the only argument for these rewards not being "free." We spend time with surveys. We get free games and merchandise throughout the year (if we claim it), then at the end, Nintendo offers one more reward for their biggest customers. No one is spending $500 for a $10 game in that system.

You are right to a certain point. Nothing is free and that is something people (Nintendo fans included) need to understand. All of the purchases through out the year contributed to these "gifts" in some fashion or another but for the love of god, give the people something worthwhile. I think the digital download promotion is much more enticing than Club Nintendo. Does Nintendo hate its customers? Hate might be too harsh. I think this shows a lack of respect to their clients more than anything. Club Nintendo should be about obtaining things you can't get else where. The hat and statue from years past were something unique. The soundtrack from last year wasn't a disappointment either. Maybe, just maybe if Club Nintendo had worthwhile items that could be redeemed for coins, this nonsense would be easier to swallow. Of course these things are just baubles but that doesn't mean they have to be crap and/or an insult to the intelligence of people supporting this company.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think as many people consider Club Nintendo when purchasing a Nintendo title as you think they do. Most people I know who play Nintendo games only know Club Nintendo as those little pamphlets with codes in the boxes, and nothing more. I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who would stop buying Nintendo games because they disbanded Club Nintendo.

And I've said this many times over. I completely understand that many gamers like their trinkets, their statuettes, and what have you. I just have no desire for things like that. That stuff ends up in my closet after a month or two, maybe looking at it three times. A game -- of which Game & Wario was described by most reviewers as something that's fun to play, but not worth spending money on -- is something that will, and already has, see a lot of use. In the two days since I downloaded it, Game & Wario has already seen over two hours of play. To me, that's more valuable than a statuette that I'll spend a total of three and a half minutes staring at.

And breaking down the coins needed based on a dollar amount is skewing the argument heavily, as you're approaching this like people only buy Nintendo games to accrue Club Nintendo coins. You don't spend 500$ for a ten dollar game. You spend 500$ on games that you want to play, and if you just so happen to have purchased enough games that you already wanted, you have the option of an additional downloaded game. If a Platinum reward requires 900 coins, and you're sitting at 880, an intelligent shopper isn't going to go out and buy something just to get to 900 for the promise of an unknown entity. *That* is what people with no backbone do.