Think you've played every Mario game out there? There may be just one that's off your radar and you may have missed, but now you can take a look at it in detail. New Super Mario Bros. Wii Coin World was a special arcade collaboration between Nintendo and Capcom from back in 2011. With a name like New Super Mario Bros. Wii Coin World, which is quite a mouthful, you'd expect the game to play similar to the 2009 Wii title, and you'd be about half right.
The game is for up to 4 players and you can choose to be Mario, Luigi or one of the two Toads who must, as usual, rescue Princess peach from Bowser. The similarities end there, because rather than running and jumping through courses, you play slot machines and random mini-games! The machine also doesn't take real money either. You have to trade your cash for tokens (called "medals" in Japanese) and use them instead. Actually it's a better deal for you because 100 yen (about $1 or 75p) will give you 10 plays as opposed to the usual one play most coin-op machines give.
The game works by placing bets and spinning the slot machine. You will lose more often than not, but if you get certain combinations, like 3 of the same icons in a row, or Yoshi eggs, you'll gain more medals, which gives you more chances to play. Other icons - like question mark blocks - will also appear and, if they do, you get to play a mini-game for a chance at even more medals, or to raise your power meters, or get keys. Get enough keys and a high enough power meter, and you'll fight Bowser and maybe save the princess. It will take a lot of medals to get there though.
If you win a large amount of medals through playing the game, you can play for a long time on little money. You can also cash out and take your medals to another slot or medal type games, but that's about all you can do. Gambling is illegal in Japan, and so you can't take your medals and trade them back for cash or even prizes, at least not legally.
To see the game in action, check the video below. It's an interesting adaptation on the classic Mario formula. It also wasn't the last time Capcom and Nintendo teamed up as well. There have been several Mario Party Arcade releases in Japan over the last decade, and 2015 saw the release of Luigi's Mansion Arcade in Japan, which did see an official English version released earlier this year.
If you liked this video be sure to check out Gaijillionaire's Club for more things retro, Nintendo and Japan.
Comments 25
Gambling is illegal in japan. Mmm that Konami.
@BLPs Actually, that is not quite true. Only money as a prize for gambling is forbidden, with the exception of public lottery and other public things.
That's a waste of money.
@Chandlero yeah I knew that. Hence Konami. I just like comparing triple a...whatever that term means...developers to the scum of the earth. I hold none of them in high regard XD
Even Crane machine is also money waster...
Crane machine in Japan sometime has nice stuff like handheld consoles and figurines.
@MarinoKadame That are superglued to the bottom.
@Chandlero
Sounds like the US
Looks great. But . .
Pachinko parlours have ways of skirting around gambling laws. You cash in for a bunch of marbles, play Pachinko for more marbles, then you exchange the marbles for prizes which can be sold for cash at a nearby location.
It would be like modern arcades in the US with ticket redemption machines. There's no law stating you can't resell your "prizes" for money, except that the prizes they give away are worthless dollar store quality material that aren't worth anything.
cash -> tokens -> tickets -> prizes -> cash
In Japan, many prizes are fairly unique and of higher quality, some created with the explicit purpose of resale to vendors outside the parlour for cash. I'm not suggesting that kid friendly arcades in Japan practice these tactics, but adult-oriented parlours and arcades definitely do.
Even casino gaming in the US use ie chips or vouchers in exchange for currency.
I was more focused on how cool that arcade looks to be honest, lol
It looks awesome!
@Findonovan95 it does look awesome, but in terms of tokens it it sounds a bit spendy to play. More like Mario Party with slots.
@StarDust4Ever 'Spendy' are you kidding me?? $1 gives you 10 plays that's a lot more than over here were you have to pay 1€ (it used to be 50c..) for 1 PLAY :S Money disappears in a heart beat..
@mechamen8 Look how long a "credit" will last on a traditional arcade machine versus a slot simulator. I typically get 5-10 minutes out of a single credit when playing pinball or video arcade, sometimes longer.
I also don't play ticket redemption machines as those are basically a scam just like gaming devices.
@StarDust4Ever you're right! My roommate won an oven once playing pachinko. He kept it.
@Findonovan95 it's a mix of kids games and more serious arcade games like this one in the video. They also had Mario Kart, Transformers, Midnight Club, prize machines and photo booths. It's far from where tourists go though
@Gaijillionaire That's pretty cool, lol I wish there were arcades like that around where I live. XD
@Findonovan95 Unfortunately Dave And Busters seems to be the only type of place to stock serious arcade machines, and the nearest one is 200 miles away. I would personally love to try out the new Luigi's Mansion game.
Most of the arcades in my area are all about ticket redemption machines and not traditional video games. There's the occasional cockpit style racing sim and a Pacman/Galaga cab, but video arcade games are sparce.
Over half of the pinball machines I find at pubs and laundermats either have weak flippers or major elements of the table are broken and mostly the video cabs are bass fishing, buck hunting, or golf sim. Yuk.
Funny enough, at my place Surabaya (Indonesia) there is a local game arcade that have a lot of Crane machines filled by plushie dolls, from small until Jumbo size. Still so many people spend a lot of their credits (Timezone, use a card credit) just only hoping those dolls become theirs. Also, another Crane machine filled by candies and chocolate bars.
@BLPs @Chandlero That is also not quite true. Normal gambling payout are indeed illegal in Japan. Exceptions to this rule are the lottery as you said, but also betting on horse races, boat races and bicycle/motor cycle races are completely legal. I'm not sure about sumo though... There's no sumo in Hiroshima, only Tokyo.
Now what pachinko & slot parlors do, is they go through a loop hole. This is how Konami, Sega, Namco, etc, make a ton of there money. One must buy "balls" and tokens from the parlor (just like you would at any normal arcade venue) and you just play. Now if you've managed to accumulate a ton more "balls"/tokens, you will leave the "establishment" by entering the building next door (that is usually literally connected to the parlor) and you sell them your "ball"/token and get your money. The building next door is effectively a "pawn shop" that ONLY takes "balls" and tokens.
BUT the prime minister of Japan, wants to have a real casino up and running before the Tokyo Olympic games. I for one hope it happens, Casinos are beautiful, exciting and a fun place to go. Pachinko parlor may be ridiculously loud and have lots of pretty shiny lights, but the people in there kind of look bored and depressed..
I would love to see this kind of stuff at a casino
@TsukiDeity Just like how the Pokemon games were set up until PEGI intervened.
I didn't have Chuck E. Cheese around me as a kid, just the imitation Circus Pizza. I remember I'd consider it a lucky day if I got like 40 tickets there.
I remember one of the last "big" prizes they had (before the place shut down in the American arcade apocalypse of the late '90s) was a N64 for 36,000 tickets.
It wouldn't take much math skill to see just buying the system at a regular store would've been a lot cheaper.
Nintendo could follow this up by hiring some people to dress up like Mario & Luigi and work the metro-station hotspots by offering "interested clients" a 3-card game of "wheres the queen?" for 50.000 yen a pop.
Why am I getting flashbacks of this?
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