Club Nintendo used to be the coolest thing ever. The system was simple: you would buy a game, redeem the points from said game, collect the points up, and then have an exclusive Nintendo reward sent straight to your house. Shipping was free (I remember this because I didn’t have a credit card), and in about two weeks, you had a cool new item. It was great, and it taught kids to budget their points to save up for the prize they really wanted. The prizes were based off of Mario, Kirby, Nintendogs (please, Nintendo, bring that to the Switch), and, of course, the Zelda series! Some of these Zelda items were definitely cooler than others, but nevertheless, they are all fun collectables for any collection.
One fun Zelda-themed item was the 3DS card case, which held 18 games. This case was neat because it came with reversible sides that featured different characters from different games. Of course, I always kept mine on the Zelda side. This item cost 250 points.
In 2011, the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack became available only to those who registered the game within two days of release, and in 2013, the Majora’s Mask soundtrack became available to platinum members. I couldn’t find the exact number of points needed for these two prizes.
The Zelda poster sets from 2010 and 2011 were also fun items. Each poster set went for 400 points and included three pieces with official artwork. The 2010 set featured a Twilight Princess poster, a Phantom Hourglass poster, and one with every version of Link up to Toon Link. The posters from 2011 were made in commemoration of Zelda’s 25th anniversary. Two of the posters featured artwork from Skyward Sword, and the other one was a neat collage of all the Links throughout the years (a similar concept to the 2010 one).
Club Nintendo featured other Zelda posters as well. In 2013, a three-piece poster set for A Link Between Worlds could be bought for 500 points, as well as a set for The Wind Waker HD (which I’m assuming also went for 500 points).
Other miscellaneous items included a Toon Link badge for 250 points, a Triforce case exclusive to Europe for 4,000 points, and a couple of shirts. The Twilight Princess beach towel released in 2009 for 350 points was also an exceptional prize (it sells for hundreds of dollars on Ebay today).
Posters, game cases, and soundtracks are nice, but we haven’t even talked about the coolest prizes yet! The original Skyward Sword came with a special golden Wii remote if you preordered the game from GameStop. Club Nintendo followed this up with the release of a complementary golden Wii nunchuk for a hearty 900 points!
In 2015, a Majora’s Mask lamp could be acquired for 6,000 points, about 20 games’ worth of points.
But in my opinion, the coolest (and rarest) item is definitely the golden statue of Link and Epona. This statue was released in 2008 (I think, I can’t find anything that says otherwise) and was worth a whopping 15,000 Star Points! If you redeemed your points and never selected any prizes, it would probably take a little over 50 games for this prize (much like the lamp mentioned previously). This golden statue was exclusive to Europe, which is why you might not remember it if you live elsewhere. This statue appears on Ebay auctions here and there, but be prepared to pay a lot of money for it. The cheapest one I could find was listed for around €600 (approximately $609), and the most expensive one is priced at $4,000!
There were also Japanese-exclusive items released by Club Nintendo. The majority of those items were Mario-themed, but there are some neat Zelda ones too. The first one was a black Triforce polo shirt. I’m not sure if this shirt is unisex, but regardless, I think it would look great on anybody! In 2007, Tingle’s Balloon Fight for the DS became available exclusively in Japan. I’m not sure how many points this prize was, but based off similar items, it was probably between 500 and 800. As far as I can tell, Tingle’s Balloon Fight was only available via Club Nintendo, making it a somewhat rare Zelda game at the time; however, you could easily find it in Ebay/Yahoo auctions now.
While Club Nintendo has changed, you could still find physical prizes through the My Nintendo Program. The My Nintendo program is similar to Club Nintendo, but there are less prizes, the shipping is no longer free, and points can be redeemed via Nintendo app games like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Mario Kart. The points redeemed through physical games are ranked higher than points from apps.
The prizes from My Nintendo are just as exciting to redeem as prizes from Club Nintendo. I have an Age of Calamity notebook, a mini Skyward Sword HD poster and an Ocarina of Time keychain. Less items from the Zelda series are available, but it’s always fun when they do show up. I only snagged myself two Zelda items and I can’t wait to get more in the future!
Overall, Club Nintendo was a program that was incredibly important to a bunch of kids, myself included. I’m not a kid anymore, but I still have my rewards that I can look at and be reminded of a simpler time. That is, a time where I could redeem my own points and order something off the internet without my parents’ assistance/money. It was exciting. Ordering Zelda prizes from Club Nintendo helped me, and probably a lot of other kids, to establish a foundation for my ever-growing Zelda collection. I’m still growing my Zelda collection, and my items from Club Nintendo are a great reminder of what I was able to buy for myself on my own. It’s a memory that I think a lot of Nintendo kids have, and I hope that the newer generation feels the same way about My Nintendo.
