Club Nintendo is the name of several publications and a more well-known customer loyalty program provided by
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
. The loyalty program is free to join and is committed to providing rewards in exchange for consumer feedback and loyalty to purchasing official Nintendo products. Members of Club Nintendo may earn credits or "coins" by submitting codes found on Nintendo products and systems, which may be traded in for special edition items only available on Club Nintendo. Rewards include objects such as playing cards, tote bags, downloadables, and warranty extensions on select Nintendo products.
Mexico and Latin America
Club Nintendo is the name of the official Nintendo
magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
The magazine was founded in December 1990 by José "Pepe" Sierra and Gustavo "Gus" Rodríguez. It was the first magazine in Mexico about Nintendo made by fans of video games, and quickly became the leading game magazine in México and Latin America.
Europe
In
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
,
Club Nintendo was the name of three magazines which started publishing in 1989. The European version was published in several languages, and there were separate publications for The Netherlands,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
,
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
,
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. All were later discontinued and eventually replaced. The last German issue was published in August 2002.
Australia
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Club Nintendo was a magazine that started in 1991 & was released by Catalyst Publishing in Melbourne. A thin magazine that was roughly 31 pages it featured very few screenshots of games. Australia eventually received their own version of
Nintendo Magazine SystemNintendo Magazine System was the official Nintendo magazine of Australia. In publication for seven years until 2000, the magazine was a branch of Official Nintendo Magazine, the UK's official Nintendo magazine, which was also called Nintendo Magazine System at the time...
by which time this magazine had ceased. Catalyst Publishing later took over Nintendo Magazine System in 1996 from the previous publisher.
Loyalty program
The Club Nintendo
loyalty programLoyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially beneficial to the firm....
offers rewards to members who collect points (sometimes referred to as "Stars" or "Star Points", the program is also commonly known as the
Stars Catalogue; the North American Club uses "Coins") which are gained primarily by purchasing and registering certain first-party hardware and software titles by Nintendo. Points are also awarded for the purchase of select third-party titles, and can also be obtained by participating in surveys, inviting others to become a Club Nintendo member or even simply visiting a web site.
Rewards range from digital content such as
computer wallpaperWallpaper is an image used as a background of a graphical user interface on a computer screen or mobile communications device. On a computer it is usually for the desktop, while for a mobile phone it is usually the background for the 'home' or 'idle' screen...
, music and mobile phone ringtones, to physical items such as keyrings, calendars, t-shirts and other clothing items, to premium items such as soundtrack albums and game controllers. Some of the premium rewards are even Club Nintendo exclusive video games. These video games can be either digital content (
WiiWareWiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
, DSiWare) or a physical item (
WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
,
DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
) depending on how, on a game by game basis, they are offered. Many reward items are exclusive to particular Club Nintendo territories, and physical items are sometimes only available in limited quantities.
Japan
Club Nintendo (Japanese: クラブニンテンドー) is an official Nintendo club for
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese fans. It launched on October 31, 2003 and was the second Nintendo reward program to be set (Coming after the European Nintendo VIP 24:7 program) but was the first to be called
Club Nintendo.
The Japanese Club Nintendo offers rewards such as
Wii RemoteThe , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
s with television remote control functionality, exclusive and unreleased games such as
Tingle's Balloon Fight DS and
Exclamation Warriors Sakeburein, game soundtrack
CDsThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and exclusive accessories such as a
Super FamicomThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
style
Classic ControllerThe is a video game controller produced by Nintendo. It is used to play games on the Nintendo Wii video game console.-Classic Controller:The Classic Controller is plugged into the Wii Remote in order to be used. It features two analog sticks, a D-pad, face buttons labeled "a", "b", "x" and "y",...
for the Wii.
Europe
Club Nintendo in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
was launched as
Nintendo VIP 24:7 on May 3, 2002, to coincide with the European launch of the
Nintendo GameCubeThe , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. It promised exclusive news, reviews, previews and forums to members. However, because released titles are often delayed in European countries (usually due to localization), the exclusive features could be often found elsewhere on the internet. To coincide with the release of the
WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, VIP 24:7 was renamed to Club Nintendo and adopted the Japanese Club Nintendo logo.
The Club Nintendo of Europe features a Star Points system where members can exchange stars earned by registering games and consoles for items in the Stars Catalogue, and for
Wii PointsNintendo Points are a currency that Nintendo uses for its Wii and Nintendo DSi systems through the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop respectively...
to use in the
Wii Shop ChannelThe Wii Shop Channel is an online shop for the Wii video game console that allows users to download Virtual Console and WiiWare games, and new channels. Downloading may require redeeming Wii Points. The channel launched with Wii on November 19, 2006...
, which are available only in sets of 100, 300, 500 and 1000 Points. Originally, a maximum of two Wii Points Cards per day per account was available for purchase; this later changed to one a day. Since September 2008, stars can also be used to buy singles and albums at the music online store emusu.com. At the time of writing, June 2010, music download vouchers no longer appear in the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue, and the actual download site www.emusu.com/backstage is unavailable
Members enter PIN codes found on inserts included with certain games and hardware to earn stars. These can range from 100 to 1000 stars in value. Upon registering as a member on Nintendo of Europe's website, one is rewarded with 250 stars. Encouraging other people to register with Nintendo of Europe earns members 250 stars per sign-up. After registering, members can choose to receive special emails from Nintendo, which can include surveys which also reward members with stars. Daily visits to the website also once earned members 5 stars per day, but this was later removed.
Criticism
Some criticism comes from the fact that the Nintendo of Europe Stars Catalogue is only available to members in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
,
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
,
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and later
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. In addition, Nintendo of Europe's website is notorious for becoming easily overwhelmed by traffic when quantities of the more valuable items are added, which often causes difficulty for customers who are attempting to make purchases. There was also some consternation that very few items were added to the site for an extended period of time, with the frequency of larger batches of non-digital items being added becoming quite rare.
In March 2007 during a test of the new Wii Points purchasing system, 1000 Wii Points accidentally appeared in the stars catalogue for a price of 789 stars. Nintendo of Europe offered anyone who purchased these either 1000 Wii Points or a refund of their stars. In addition, upon the official launch of the Wii Points Cards offer, the website was swamped with traffic, meaning very few people could login and take advantage of the Wii Points trade on offer. The system has also been criticised because the Wii Points Card codes are only available in limited stock, and so it can be hard to get hold of them at times.
At the beginning of June 2007, Nintendo of Europe revealed that starting July 1, 2007, they will make drastic changes to their
privacy policyPrivacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client's data...
. Any stars that members have earned before then will vanish from their accounts on July 1, 2008, and any stars earned
after that date will disappear two years after earning them. Members who choose not to accept the new privacy policy will lose all their stars instantly and have their account locked. Members who registered after the
WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
's European launch date, December 8, 2006, are not affected.
Another highly controversial subject is the quality of the rewards, which tend to be far higher in Japan than the other regions.
Australia/New Zealand
Club Nintendo in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
was launched on April 24, 2008 to coincide with the release of
Mario Kart Wiiis a racing video game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It is the sixth installment in the Mario Kart series and the second Mario Kart title to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game was released worldwide...
, with the website, catalogue and product registration going live on March 11, 2009 using the same system offered by Nintendo of Europe.
Nintendo AustraliaNintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. established in 1994, located in Victoria is Australia's local head office, sales, licensing and distribution centre for products and other Intellectual Properties created by Nintendo Co., Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan. Prior distribution...
has asserted that the Australian Club Nintendo reward catalogue will be unique from that of Club Nintendo Europe and Club Nintendo Japan, and was developed in conjunction with Nintendo of America. However, unlike its North American counterpart, the Australian service uses Stars instead of Coins - the same as its European counterpart.
All games either distributed or published by Nintendo Australia after
Mario Kart Wii will contain a card that allows buyers to register their games for Club Nintendo points.
Club Nintendo Australia is for both and New Zealanders, as there is no Nintendo of New Zealand.
North America
Club Nintendo for
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
was announced on October 2, 2008, and launched on December 15, 2008, retiring the My Nintendo registration program. The site experienced high traffic at its initial launch, resulting in login problems and slow load times for users. It was taken offline on December 24, 2008, reopening almost a week later on December 30 with noticeable infrastructure improvements. The North American catalogue was developed in conjunction with Nintendo Australia, and the Club uses Coins instead of Stars for points.
The program's rewards feature a combination of Nintendo character-themed items like Japanese sensu fans and hand towels, exclusive Club Nintendo branded accessories, and games that celebrate the company's history. The first such game to be made available for the North American Club Nintendo was the
Game & Watch Collection for the Nintendo DS, and
Game & Watch Collection 2 is also available. The original
WiiWareWiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
title
Grill Off! with Ultra HandThe Ultra Hand was a toy manufactured by Nintendo in the late 1960s. It was created in 1966 by employee Gunpei Yokoi.The Ultra Hand consists of several criss-cross-connected latticework of plastic elements...
, which pays homage to the
Ultra HandThe Ultra Hand was a toy manufactured by Nintendo in the late 1960s. It was created in 1966 by employee Gunpei Yokoi.The Ultra Hand consists of several criss-cross-connected latticework of plastic elements...
, one of the company's most successful pre-video game products, was made available to program participants on March 31, 2010.
Program participants who meet 300-Coin "Gold" or 600-Coin "Platinum" benchmarks within the Club Nintendo year also receive exclusive items. In 2009, a special standalone WiiWare version of
Punch-Out!!Punch-Out!! is a boxing video game for the Wii. It is the latest game in the Punch-Out!! series. It was developed by Canadian developer Next Level Games. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto served as the game's producer. It was first revealed at Nintendo's conference on October 2, 2008...
, called
Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, was made available as one of two possible rewards for Platinum members, along with a red plush "Mario" hat. In 2010, Platinum members were given a plastic statuette featuring characters from the
Mariois a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
games. In 2011, Platinum members were given a selection of 25 Mario themed collector buttons. Between 2009 and 2011, Gold members were sent a calendar featuring characters from a variety of Nintendo games.
Previously, questions were raised over Club Nintendo's conspicuous absence in the region. In 2007, then-vice president of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America Inc.
Perrin KaplanPerrin Kaplan is the former vice president of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America Inc. In 2009, Kaplan joined former Nintendo colleagues Beth Llewelyn and Kelli Koenig Horner to form Zebra Partners, a Marketing and PR firm, based in Seattle....
stated that the inclusion area of the US is much larger than all the other Club Nintendo countries, and that the program was considered prohibitively expensive to set up. Kaplan also said that the company considered the pre-order bonuses and game registration promos it offered were an alternative to Club Nintendo. Nintendo of America ultimately relented due to customer demand.
External links