This Hat, Yours For The Price of 7 MEELION Nintendo Games

So Nintendo has this program that was recently started in America called Club Nintendo. I say “recently” only because Japan has had this program for about the last 100 years or so, but who am I to complain? Basically what it is is a program that rewards people for purchasing their games with kitschy crap that really only hold value to those who would want them to begin with. Enter: this swank ass hat. Let me clarify that sentence: “this swank-ass hat,” not to be confused with a “swank ass-hat” – that’s a totally different thing.

Americans have complained for quite a few years about not having Club Nintendo over here. We purchase the most Nintendo stuff in the world yet we don’t get the fun rewards program. Now that we do, there are a few pretty cool things you can get. Every game that you register gives you points towards the trade of some item; earlier this year I got some “free” Animal Crossing playing cards for registering some games. They also have a set of Hanafuda cards, as well, that are neat. When Nintendo was created in 1889, they produced Hanafuda cards, which were used to play various card games in Japan. During the middle of the 20th century, they turned to toys, then later, obviously, to video games.

Now, about this hat. If you register X amount of games (trust me you don’t want to know how many…ok it’s about 12; 7 meelion may be some hyperbole, but still that’s roughly $600), you get to the “Elite” status. And outside of getting a truly non-useful ego boost, Nintendo sends you a super special prize for being super awesome and becoming elite. This year it was a choice between some demo for a game (dumb) or a REAL LIFE MARIO HAT (AWESOME).

So here you go, Super Mario Hat Time: