3DS Club Nintendo 3DS Game Card Case (Zelda & Animal Crossing)

[KnightOfTruth]

Okay, thanks for the recommendation guys and the honest assessment Iwatasan! I can't see this thing being sold for more than $25 or so on Ebay when people start posting it more, especially since its not actually a zelda case, its just a case that has a paper print-out of Zelda-related stuff (among a few others) included with it. I had gotten all the way to the last "order now" button, but I'm just not going to have enough money this year to boost my coins back up if they do release something that'll cost more than $25. I think I'll take my chance that they release something a little better... particularly with the potential release of a new Zelda in 2014 and spend the $20 or so in cash after the fact. <so much pressure eeeeeeek>

There's no rush to spend these though right? Do they expire or something? I saw that they released that crazy limited Zelda thing way back when and it was like 10,000 coins/stars or whatever -- so you must be able to save 'em up across years right?

Thanks again for posting this on here though! These kind of updates here are super great, especially if we post them before they hit the Kotaku/Joystiq/IGN rounds as those Nintendo collectibles seem to fly away pretty fast once word gets out.

Edit: Also, does it cost coins to redeem for the Platinum prize? Or do you just pick one after you've reached 600 (even if you've spent them all already?)

[Matt16]

Originally Posted by KnightOfTruth

There's no rush to spend these though right? Do they expire or something? I saw that they released that crazy limited Zelda thing way back when and it was like 10,000 coins/stars or whatever -- so you must be able to save 'em up across years right?

Assuming the US site is like ours, the points expire after a year. At least I think its a year but they definitely do expire

[Twisted]

it maybe a little longer than a year, but YES USA points expire as well.

[Iwatasan]

I just checked on eBay, and at least for the Japanese version of these, prices are a little under $25. I just got an e-mail from Nintendo that mine had been shipped today, so we should see the North American version popping up on eBay soon too. I did see one already for $28. Wait another week or so until eBay gets flooded with these and the price might go down to $20 or less.

That crazy limited Zelda thing you're talking about is the fully gold painted (and, I think, pretty damn ugly to be honest) Twilight Princess statue. That was CN of Europe exclusive, for 15,000 stars. There is a difference in exchange value, if you will, between stars and coins. You generally get 40 to 60 coins per game here whereas you generally get 250 stars per game in Europe. Still, that would have been something like at least 3,000 coins if it had ever been featured in the North American catalog. A couple ideas for you to earn coins faster: register for a family account, which allows you to register more than one copy of the same game if you have multiples; and buy points directly from eBay for cheap.

The Platinum Elite Status is achieved by earning a cumulative total of 600 coins in one CN year, even if you spend some or all of them over the course of that year. So for example, if you earn 200 coins, spend 150, earn 300 more, spend 250, earn 100 more, and spend 200 in the course of a CN year, you end up with zero coins in your account come July, and at no point did you ever actually have a full 600 coins in your account, but you will have earned Platinum Status by achieving a cumulative total of 600 coins year-to-date. And you don't spend any coins on the reward you get for that, just go and pick which one you want and it's free. They ship the following December.

[Matt16]

Originally Posted by Iwatasan

That crazy limited Zelda thing you're talking about is the fully gold painted (and, I think, pretty damn ugly to be honest) Twilight Princess statue.

I like my Zelda statue

Each to their own though

[Iwatasan]

Haha, sorry. I kinda figured somebody would say that. It probably looks better in person. And no question it's very rare and valuable, a true collector's piece. I just think they should have colored it. Too much gold for my taste.

[KnightOfTruth]

Originally Posted by Iwatasan

Haha, sorry. I kinda figured somebody would say that. It probably looks better in person. And no question it's very rare and valuable, a true collector's piece. I just think they should have colored it. Too much gold for my taste.

Awesome, thanks! That answered all my questions! And yeah, since I just signed up for CN I missed the soundtrack too, but Ebay is flooded with them, so I'll pick one up in the next month or so.

Also, I didn't mean the gold statue (which I'm not a fan of either unless someone was gonna sell it to me cheap) but I think it was Zelda:MM or ST or one of those extremely limited editions that they released only through CN (or so I recall).

I love that there are so many Zelda collectors/experts on here though! You all rock!

[Iwatasan]

Originally Posted by KnightOfTruth

Awesome, thanks! That answered all my questions! And yeah, since I just signed up for CN I missed the soundtrack too, but Ebay is flooded with them, so I'll pick one up in the next month or so.

Also, I didn't mean the gold statue (which I'm not a fan of either unless someone was gonna sell it to me cheap) but I think it was Zelda:MM or ST or one of those extremely limited editions that they released only through CN (or so I recall).

I love that there are so many Zelda collectors/experts on here though! You all rock!

I just bought myself a couple of the MM OST's last week, one for $28 and one for $30. One arrived yesterday. When I get the second one, I'll keep the mintier one sealed and open the other. So if you care more about the music than the CD itself and you want to save your money...or if you care about both but want to keep your copy sealed and don't want to buy two copies like I did...let me know and I'll get you a nice clean rip (unless I'm breaking forum rules here, in which case forget I said anything!).

Now, what in the world are you referring to if not the gold statue? As far as I know, the only games they've had in the catalog, at least in North America, are the rotating selection of regular Wii/3DS eShop titles you can buy with coins, and a few Game & Watch Collection games. Oh yeah, and "Grill-off with Ultra Hand". But no "extremely limited editions" of anything as far as I know, definitely not of Zelda. Oh wait, there was a special edition of Punch Out they made specially for Wii as a Platinum Reward back in 2009 I think it was. If anyone has a soft-modded Wii and wants the .WAD for that let me know (again, unless I'm breaking forum rules, in which case forget I said anything!). So please do share what you know, because if I missed something Zelda from Club Nintendo I definitely want to know about it!

[KnightOfTruth]

Thanks for the offer, but I'll be looking for my own original copy w/Club Nintendo card for the collection

I'll have to look back to find out which Zelda thing it was, but it wasn't on the US site anyway -- I think it was only on the UK site. I could be totally mis-remembering here as I've been doing a lot of Zelda research lately-- but I recall someone saying somewhere that they got one of those super rare limited Big-Box edition Zelda games from Nintendo for a kajillion stars or something. Maybe it was the Ages/Seasons one? I'll see if I can find that info again.

[Cosmic_Link]

He's referring to the Minish Cap Big Box set which was given away on CN in Europe back when Minish Cap and the GBA SP came out. It was 15,000 star value and you also had to pay 100GBP cash if memory serves.