What is it with Nintendo and doing things in secret recently? First they give you all of a few hours warning of a Nintendo direct broadcast, then they release the new 3DS ambassador edition without so much as a press release, and now they've gone and updated their the stars catalogue of their soon-to-be-deceased loyalty program, giving Nintendo fans something worth spending their hard earned stars on. Next they'll be announcing they've been working on a brand new console in secret or something.
A rewards program that proved popular with fans, Nintendo's Stars Catalogue gave you a number of stars for each and every 3DS or Wii U game you bought, whether as a cartridge or a download. All you had to do was go to the site, and fill in a survey, and you'd be given 250 stars per full price game, or sometimes 50-100 stars for a smaller download. Once you collected enough, these stars could then be exchanged for physical goodies, from Mario t-shirts to statues of Link - a really nice way of giving something back to fans who bought plenty of Nintendo games.
Sadly, the stars catalogue will soon be coming to an end, with the 31st March being the last day you can redeem add your stars points to your account - so best get digging through your 3DS and Wii U boxes. The store itself will finally shutter its doors on 30th September, to be replaced by an all new loyalty and accounts system that Nintendo are apparently working on with Japanese mobile studio DeNA.
Still, it seems there was time for one last stars catalogue hurrah, as the last catalogue update is a big one. Eschewing the tradition for physical prizes in favour of a huge selection of downloadable games, there are 60 titles up for grabs - if you have the right number of stars to get them with. From the Zelda expansion for Mario Kart 8, to retro classics like Mario's Piccross, and full games like NES Remix 2 and block-shifting puzzler Pullblox World, there's something for everyone on this list - and here's the range in full:
- 3D Classics Xevious (3DS) - 3400 stars
- Alleyway (3DS) - 800 stars
- Art Style: INTERSECT (3DS) - 2800 stars
- Art Style: PiCOPiCT (3DS) - 2800 stars
- Aura-Aura Climber (3DS) - 600 stars
- Chibi-Robo! Let's Go, Photo! (3DS) - 7300 stars
- Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger (3DS) - 5600 stars
- Donkey Kong (3DS) - 1100 stars
- Hana Samurai Art of the Sword (3DS) - 3900 stars
- Mario Tennis (3DS) - 2800 stars
- Mario's Picross (3DS) - 2300 stars
- Metal Torrent (3DS) - 2800 stars
- Metroid II: Return of Samus (3DS) - 1100 stars
- Paper Plane (3DS) - 600 stars
- Pikmin Short Movies 3D (3DS) - 1300 stars
- Pinball: Revenge of the Gator (3DS) - 1700 stars
- Pullblox (3DS) - 3400 stars
- Punch-Out!! (3DS) - 1300 stars
- SpeedThru: Potzol's Puzzle (3DS) - 3400 stars
- Splash or Crash (3DS) - 1700 stars
- Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (3DS) - 1300 stars
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (3DS) - 1300 stars
- Super Mario Land (3DS) - 1100 stars
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (3DS) - 1600 stars
- The Mysterious Murasame Castle (3DS) - 1300 stars
- Tokyo Crash Mobs (3DS) - 3400 stars
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS) - 1100 stars
- Advance Wars (Wii U) - 3900 stars
- Art Academy: SketchPad (Wii U) - 1100 stars
- Duck Hunt (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Wii U) - 3900 stars
- F-ZERO (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (Wii U) - 1800 stars
- Golden Sun (Wii U) - 3900 stars
- Hydroventure: Spin Cycle (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Ice Hockey (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Wii U) - 1800 stars
- Mario Golf: Advance Tour (Wii U) - 3900 stars
- Mario Kart 8: Add-on Content Pack 1: The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- Mario's Super Picross (Wii U) - 4500 stars
- Metroid Fusion (Wii U) - 1800 stars
- NES Remix (Wii U) - 2300 stars
- NES Remix 2 (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Pikmin Short Movies HD (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- Pilotwings (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- Pullblox World (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- Super Mario Kart (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- Super Mario World (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- Super Metroid (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- Super Punch-Out!! (Wii U) - 2100 stars
- The Legend of Zelda (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Wii U) - 1300 stars
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Wii U) - 3900 stars
- WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania (Wii U) - 1800 stars
- Wii Sports Club 2-in-1 Single-Sport Pass: Boxing and Baseball (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Wii Sports Club Single-Sport Pass: Bowling (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Wii Sports Club Single-Sport Pass: Golf (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Wii Sports Club Single-Sport Pass: Tennis (Wii U) - 5600 stars
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Wii U) - 1300 stars
So, what are you waiting for? If you have any codes left to spend, or if you still have any left to add, head on over to the Stars Catalogue, and get spending! Let us know what you buy!
