Did You Miss Out On The Super Mario Anniversary Pin Set? You're Not Alone

Nintendo and their "limited run" *****.

Almost, kept failing at the payment section. Now it’s saying my code is invalid

It took a thousand tries over the course of a few hours, but I got one. I had an alarm set for when they were supposed to go live, but I checked early and they were already available.

There's a limit of one per person (and you need to buy 3D All Stars) so I'm not too concerned about scalpers this time.

I kept trying and I'm happy I was able to get a set at around 3ish

Huge disappointment for me today - oh well - I'm not paying those ridiculous scalper prices

I didn’t even get credit for the Mario kart part despite doing it so I didn’t even get a chance

Oh the joys of being asleep or at work when this goes down... not sure what time it went live, but looks like I sure as heck was never going to be able to get one either way.

Ah well.

I probably would have made it if I had registered 3D All Stars sooner. It took waaaaay too long for it to recognize that I registered it and now they're all gone. They should really be better than this... I miss Club Nintendo.

The website says that people will get credit for racing in Mario Kart Tour on the 29th which hasn't passed yet. Is there something I'm missing?

@Mavarik The only mandatory one was buying 3D All Stars, you could get the other missions needed with the web ones like taking the quiz and listening to the music on the website. The Mario Kart Tour one was just an extra, and it also said that it won't actually give credit for that one until like the 29th.

I'm super sad! I completely forgot it was today. Though it looks like it wouldn't have mattered much had I remembered anyways. Seems like it was a nightmare trying to get through.

I had been checking on and off for a couple hours just in case they went up early and was fortunate enough to be one of the people in a half hour early. I think I was catching the beginnings of the site strain while making my order though. I had a pending charge for it, but when the site came back there wasn't a pending order, and I never got the email confirmation. It did let me use my code again and I successfully made a new order and got confirmation for that one. As long as I get one set I'll be happy. If by some miracle I get a second I'll have some easy Christmas presents.

Wasn't this the first wave? Anyway, I was fortunate to grab a code and purchase the pins after struggling with the server errors.

So I wasn’t able to get the “download image” to clear from my cellphone so I was banking on the Mario Kart Tour one but that doesn’t register until the 29th even though the event has been in for like 12 days at this point. Guess I’m out of luck

Do people really care that much about some stupid pins?

I didn't know this was a thing?! I would like one for my backpack but l can't.

I almost missed it but at the last hour I got it.

This fiasco does not give me hope about getting the Super Mario 35th merchandise

.....I don't even know where to go to get a code..... It said it would email me.... But never got anything.

Well that's great..... Good thing people don't go to work or anything...geez. WTF thanks for nothing.

Got mine ordered, couldn't do it from my phone, but no problems when I got home from work

This really upsets me. I can’t even log onto Mario Kart Tour without an error code... and even if I were awarded the credit for doing so, it’s not till the 28th... whoops, too late. I give Nintendo a lot of passes and defend them a lot, but putting out a pin set I never had a chance of getting is not fair to me and not fair to other loyal fans.

@DonSerrot well then I’m just an idiot who didn’t not read properly.

This is the news Nintendo likes. They love the FOMO around their brand. And there’s nothing that’ll change that for them: it’s bounced their business back when so many other tech companies have gone in decline!

What a poop show!

I happened to be home and in front of my computer so I was one of the folks who checked about 20 min before official “live” time and was able to get my code.

Once I got my code, however, it took me another 2.5 hours of fighting with the cart/check out process to pay for shipping and get an order number. The Nintendo Store completely popped the bed under the weight of all the traffic.

I kept telling myself, “don’t worry, since you got the code you are guaranteed to get the pin set once the website starts working again” but from the sound of everyone’s experiences, that was definitely not the case. The code did not guarantee you anything unless you fully finished the check out process.

Thankfully I had ordered from Nintendo Store before so my address and credit card payment were saved, which was one less hoop to jump through.

Man, I dunno. I love Nintendo but they sure do put that love to the test. I’m feeling very fortunate but many others must be feeling really chapped and burned right now.

@dBackLash that’s a really good point, I had that thought at hour two. Like, “What am I doing here? Why am I wasting my time on this nonsense that isn’t important?” Ironically, a few minutes later I was able to check out and order the pin set. But there’s definitely some good food for thought about what’s important and what isn’t.

@Ttimer5 yeah this was so poorly handled. I expected an email with my unique code also. But you had to be logged into your My Nintendo account and then on the Mario 35th Anniversary page and then if you registered all 5 missions you got a button for your unique code which you then took to the Nintendo Store page to enter to add the pin set to your cart which you then had to Check out and pay for shipping. It was a lot of hoops and a lot of technical difficulties with the site. But you wouldn’t have know any of that because Nintendo didn’t really explain any of how this would work.

This limited release crap has got to come to an end already, i been a very loyal fan to Nintendo since i was a child but the past 6 years has been nothing but one big disappointment after another...

@Chibi_Manny You must live in another world if those last 6 years were a disappointment after disappointment. Nintendo released tons of great games in that period.

Having been able to secure a pin set, I am feeling pretty grateful as a big Nintendo/Mario fan but also acknowledge the big picture that this is a piece of unnecessary nonsense that I will just display as a collectible in my office.

The bigger question to discuss is why? Why did Nintendo make this so limited and rare? Why anger and disappoint so many of your loyal die-hard fans? I mean these pins can’t cost that much to make so that’s not the issue.

If I were Nintendo and I was expecting to sell through (I’m making up arbitrary numbers here) 200,000 copies of Mario 3D All-Stars at launch. And I am promoting a collectible pin set for those who bought the game, why not make a healthy 100,000 pin sets just expecting that about 50% of the total launch sales will be from people who jump through the hoops of creating a My Nintendo account, doing the online missions, taking time to be online to redeem, etc etc.
So you satisfy your 100,000 die hard fans, they feel good about getting something fun and collectible for free (plus shipping) and you get some positive word of mouth on social media.

The alternative is what’s happening now.

They werent even available in my region. Very sad.

Preordered 3D All-Stars right after it was announced, was promised it would arrive on release day, didn't come in until Monday, registered the game as soon as I could, but it wasn't marked off as complete until five hours after the codes went up, so I never even had a chance to begin with even though I did everything "right".

There have been many pin sets. The prices will plummet after awhile as they are extremely overpriced by scalpers. There will always be some for sale and within a year you will find them for.less than 30 bucks.

It took me close to two hours to check out, but I got 'em. By God, I got 'em.

Now I'm not sure if I got it or not.
The order shows up on my order list, but I literally cannot get the order to load when I click "View Order."
I have no idea what this means.

Nintendo have always been very protective over their IP’s. It’s a genius move on Nintendo part as they create supply and demand. Nintendo sell a lot more Mario games as people want the badges and all the websites report on it giving Nintendo more coverage

Scalper scum on the other hand are a boil on the butt of society, yes Yes some morons will still Buy from the scalpers, but a lot of these morons are starting to smarten up. At least a lot of Scalpers will have been forced to buy 3d All Stars Only to miss out on the badges.

At least you got a chance in your region.
Seriously though I wish Nintendo would make these a timed exclusive or something, give people a month to order them then make them too order. And make them available to all regions!

Nintendo has been doing great this past few years. This year it feels like they are taking A LOT of steps back, and that they don’t even care about customers anymore. After a lot of thought I’m not getting 3D All Stars. I couldn’t even do the Mario Kart Tour mission because the game shows an error when I open it and have even contacted Nintendo about that.

Good grief, are people really getting this worked up over some badges?

@Shadow_Dancer You know that Nintendo is actively encouraging scalping with the way they've been releasing their collectables right?
I doubt scalpers are this big of an issue with any other company in the gaming industry.

Goram it. I missed out I’m so annoyed because I did all the missions. This is not a good look for Nintendo. Ugh.

@super08mario you only need to do 5 of the 6 missions.

Man, I was hoping to get those. It would have been the my first official Nintendo product outside of games or consoles. Oh well.

I can’t get Mario kart to work since it’s last update. It goes to 12% and I get an error code that doesn’t let me proceed. Yes I deleted and reinstalled. Nintendo said it’s probably bad code in my my Nintendo account. They said they would have to fix that. After they asked for my permission to delete all Mario kart data from my my Nintendo account, they stopped responding. We cooresponded almost daily for a week now they are ghosting me. This dialog started before the 35th anniversary. So their garbage code screwed me out of the pins. I read a couple forums to self diagnose. I’m not alone here. There are several people in my boat. Frankly it vexes me.

I got mine, after about 2 hours of page refreshing and lots of frustration. Sadly, I expected this would happen.

check out etsy, plenty of mario pin badges around

Remember Club Nintendo? Good times..

I had a similar situation with invalid codes and huge waiting times just to get a Hanafuda postcard set a few months ago (for FREE - plus only £7 postage, for postcards!).

That website infrastructure is so outdated... Oh Nintendo.

After a few hours, I managed to get as far as getting it in the cart. Once I hit the checkout button, the website crashed again and then I went to bed. Now it signed me out of the store and won't let me sign back in. I assume I'm SOL at this point.

I was just waiting for the 29th for the site to acknowledge completing the Mario Kart Tour mission. Should never had gotten my hopes up. Just makes me miss the old Club Nintendo even more...

so are they doing another printing of the pins? site says wave 1 ends on December 22.

When I finally had an opportunity to order mine they were already gone. I knew it was going to happen, and yet I'm still disappointed.

I still have my Club Nintendo Mario pin set from years ago. I guess I'll just look at those for awhile. haha

Well that was worth it 🙄

I’m in the category of telling me too late. By the time I saw I had it, they were all gone. And we’re only talking a few hours I assume. I can’t sit at my computer all day refreshing Nintendo’s page. Hopefully they print more, cause this is ridiculous and very Nintendo.

@Ttimer5 yeah exactly, this was already done by the time I found out it was happening- kind of a disappointment as a huge pin collector who’s been playing Mario since NES

The fact that I had to enter the code to try and add the pin set to my cart multiple times and had to refresh several pages of the checkout process is a major problem. Nintendo really needs to not only make this dang pin set more available, but they need to upgrade the rotting potato they use as a server.

I forgot about them.

I did all the missions but didn’t know they were available. I tried this morning. Not sure why I expected it to work. Classic Nintendo.

@ChuJelly club Nintendo wasn’t much better. All the scalpers were there grabbing everything worth getting in site.

Remember the colored 3dsxl stands? Mostly went to scalpers

@Aurumonado same here... sucks because those are some great pins!

Sony execs: The PS5 pre-orders were a disaster. Online sales started 24 hours before we told our fans they would go on sale and now we're being torn apart by fans and critics for our incompetence. We'll be known as the worst gaming company this generation. What should we do?

Nintendo: Hold my beer.

I never even knew about this. This exclusivity trend is just becoming pure bulldung.

A very odd thing is I was on the site right after the presentation and there was nothing on there about these. I was actually looking at the Xenoblade stuff.

The real question is who actually successfully survived the website and managed to get the pins?

Y'know, I expected this kind of stuff with the PS5's release, but not for pins. Thought Nintendo would've just manufactured an absolute ton of them but I guess not.

@Yoshi oh shoot, I hadn’t even considered the angle that you mention. My order also got delayed from launch day Friday until Monday. When I tracked it, it showed it was sitting in California, I assumed delayed due to fires. So Friday morning I jumped on Best Buy and was able to buy a copy for in-store pickup that day. I hadn’t even considered that if your copy didn’t arrive until Monday of course it wasn’t enough time to get a code. More fails. 🤦‍♂️

the way I did all those missions for nothing . . . man screw y'all (nintendo)

The worst part, the reward site still advertises it like it's still available. I just tried to get my code and was rudely surprised that that were gone

@Shadow_Dancer I dunno. I totally hear what you’re saying. But I have to think the artificial supply and demand causes a lot of upset, frustrated, annoyed, angry fans who are very vocal on social media about it. You have to figure the fans who got burned are majority the die-hard Nintendo fans who were jumping through the hoops to qualify for the pin set, not the casual public who just bought the game but wouldn’t care about pins to begin with. Add to that the poor communication on how the process will work and then website technical issues that pooped the bed. I have to wonder if it’s intentional then is it all worth it for Nintendo? Seems silly for some short term buzz.

@NathanTheAsian I managed to order a pin set after a good two hours of being bombarded with errors.

Thankfully, as others have pointed out earlier, you should still be able to order the pins if you got a code and that there’s a strict limit of 1 pin set per code.

@Dr_Corndog same and same. This was my exact experience. Took about 2-2.5 hours but it finally happened. Oy. But if I had had to be at work there would be no way I could have managed it.

@delt75 no clue, that’s part of why people are so chapped, the communication has been really lacking about these things. Certainly just by the name it implies there could be a second wave of pin sets, but who knows.

@delt75 yaaaaaas!!! Me too!!! Haha. Ahhh those were the good old days. Sigh. 😊

#clubnintendo

@NathanTheAsian 🙋🏼‍♂️

I survived. But I’m kinda embarrassed now as I see just how many fellow fans are annoyed and frustrated by being left out in the cold.

I didn't even get a code. Where would it be if I had one?

Would it be too much to ask Nintendo to just manufacture half as many pin sets as they did copies of SM3DAS?

I wish the website was a bit more clear on how to actually get the pins. Or whether it counted if I had bought the game or not? It said it took up to 72 hours to register the purchase of 3D All-Stars... so this is not very fair.

I don’t think these reports are accurate. The pin set should only be available to those who have completed all the My Nintendo missions, which is impossible before 9/29

@ALinkttPresent People seem to be confused about the amount that was actually required to qualify for the pin set. The page clearly says...

“Five missions, including the “Purchase Super Mario 3D All-Stars” mission, must be completed before being eligible to receive the pins.”

That means 5 missions need to be completed AND that one of those five completed missions needs to be the purchase requirement mission. I do agree with people saying that Nintendo could’ve worded it better to make it more obvious though.

O MY GISHHHH. EVEN THO ITS THE NEXT DAY I TRIED AGAIN WITH MY CODE AND MY ORDER WENT THROUGH NO LAGG. IM GETTING THE PINS!! IF YOU GUYS GOT THE CODE TRY ORDERING NOWW.
Here is the Canadian website:
https://store.nintendo.ca/super-mario-bros-35-anniversary-pin-set-1.html

Typical Nintendo clusterf*ck. After some trouble yesterday, I was able to order the pin set. My credit card was charged and I even had an order for it in my order history. This morning, my order is gone but of course the pending charge is still on my card.

@Bodhicat Did you click the order number in your confirmation email and, if you did, end up on the shop’s front page? If you did then that seems to be normal. You either have to click the red “Order Status” button in the same email or you have to click the “Orders & Lists” option on the main page, select the “My Orders” option, and punch in your info to see if it still active.

Failing that, there’s always customer support.

No one thing Nintendo does is super bad. Like, it's just a pin set. But when you take it all into account...everytime I hear about something like this, I really hate them more and more as a company. The Mario 3D collection, limited run (digital too) was really the straw that broke the camel's back with me, that broke the fan in me. They are a cheap, greedy, consumer hostile company now. There's been plenty of shady stuff in yesteryears, but never as constant as it's been in the last 4 or so. Just do one thing right by your fanbase, by your customers. It's not that they are incompetent or incapable, they are just plain out "unwilling". I didn't even try to get a pin set, as when they announced it, I remembered the shenanigans I went thru to get my SNES controllers.

@ZebZed Yeah, I called customer support and was told it looks like my order was cancelled because they probably oversold with all the store problems yesterday. Just makes me miss those old Club Nintendo days...

@Nadhorion if any of y'all got the code try right now. I tried again like half an hour ago and my order went through

Good ol' Nintendo...always biting the hands that feed them. I don't care that much about some pins that will sit in a drawer but these kinds of shady practices are getting out of hand. Nintendo makes great games, but their business sense comes off as manipulative and greedy sometimes. And here I thought they were one of the good ones. :shrug:

I got mine. I was waiting for the code to be distributed and got it in the first minute.

Here's hoping those who qualified but missed it will get another chance with a second wave!

@Northwind wow. I didn't know about only needing 5. I feel dumb now. Thank you. I guess I missed it too then.

Never got my confirmation code through email but completed all the Missions. Still getting the "We're Sorry" message when I click the "Claim Reward" button.

I'm still angrily awaiting my copy of the game from Amazon so I'm going to assume that there will be no chance I get a pin set even though I wasted time doing the missions already.

**I just checked the website, it says you don't get credit for the Mario Kart Tour until 9/24 so how is everyone getting their pins already? I apologize in advance if I'm missing something.

I couldn't get it to accept a payment method last night, but I kept my promo code and it worked just now.

@dkxcalibur You didn't have to complete the tour, just complete 4/5 missions and then buy the game and redeem the coins.

Seriously, I’ve been on the phone with them since yesterday afternoon. They didn’t send me the code until 7pm and never received an email. As soon as I clicked the code link, all I received was a message stating I was too late

Well, my order hasn't been cancelled.

...Yet.

Glad I did what I did. I did all the missions and got the game on launch. Checked back after getting the game and it told me to check back at 12pm PT. Had a alarm set and everything. I checked a half hour early and they were live. Looks like they sold out by 1pm. Glad I got mine sorry for those who didn't quite.

I actually got the pins but it took me about 3 hours of continuously refreshing the store pages and getting partially though the checkout process multiple times.

@Nadhorion

If you got a code and if you got to the payment section, you should still be able to get your pins. Try logging out and back in. Hopefully your pins show back up in your cart like they did to both myself and a friend of mine.

I really wish scalpers didn't exist. This is illegal and yet the police doesn't even do a damn thing about them!

I went on at 3 had a ton of trouble getting the pin set into my cart. I gave up thinking they were gone then around 530 eastern time i figured I would give it one last try and everything worked perfectly and I was able to get the pin set ordered. I guess im lucky.

@KingBowser As much as I hate scalpers reselling consumer products isn’t going to be illegal anytime soon, it’s small potatoes compared to other sketchy business practices out there.

That said, I do wish businesses and/or governments would do something to combat script bots at the consumer level.

So frustrating.
1) Complete all but the final set (registering the game) ahead of time
2) Buy the game and register it the morning it comes out
3) Wait almost two days for it to appear in their system as registered...

...and be told the pins are sold out.

The damn pins should of been in the box with the game. If it is truly a limited run for the physical game, then they should of been in the box. Just so half-assed.

I never got mine because I forgot and was lazy! So you know what? I'm gonna call Customer Support, and persuade them to give me an alternative reward, like eShop Currency! Otherwise, I'm gonna give all my money to SEGA next year, with Sonic the Hedgehog's 30th Anniversary AND Sonic Adventure 2's 20th Anniversary coming up! I want the Encyclo-Speed-ia, and a Sonic Adventure Collection for the Switch, and a plush of Shadow the Hedgehog, and whatever else SEGA has planned for the Blue Blur next year. At least SEGA doesn't do Limited things, because they're still making Genesis Minis. SEGA is like a scalper's worst enemy.

@orshorelinepnw I have a feeling that the size of the pins and logistical issues (just look at how many copies of SM3DAS are still available at bog box stores in the US) may have been deciding factors in Nintendo’s reason to not pursue that option.

I had no idea the codes were even obtainable. and now gone.

Why did i waste my time with the mobile MarioKart if that wasn't even needed??

Grumble grumble back in my day grumble grumble

@super08mario
You don't have to do the race to get the pins. They just snuck it in there to presumably get people to buy mario kart.

Oh wow, I am pretty sure I used to have the Yoshi one, a long, long time ago. No idea where it is now though...

@ChuJelly we all do, buddy. We all do.

I was logged in early and was able to get a pin set before the site had any crashes, but it really sucks Nintendo didn't make more.
If you're in Europe, the Mario 35 Splatoon keychains are already out. No sign of them in North America yet. https://my.nintendo.com/rewards/3b53e0f5bc3defc7

How are they collectible pins if all there ever was is a limited amount of full sets?

Yeah I got there an hour too late. One hour! I would expect that if I was a day or few late then sure I would miss out, but an hour past and the codes are no longer available. I don't know which is more to blame: the scalpers (and their bots), the large number of fans who wanted these pins as well, or Nintendo's limited stock.

It's frustrating and I know I'm not alone in saying that the limited quality of such things leaves a bad taste in consumers mouths, which for me greatly diminishes the artificial value of the items due to their scarcity.

What a drag. I was just waiting on the mario kart tour check mark then I got the error they were out.

@Mavarik you needed 5/6. Didnt need mario kart.

If they charge money then it's not free, I had to pay almost six dollars so NOT FREE, just goes back to what I've heard some people say in my lifetime and that's nothing in this world is free, not even the mario pin set

I also thought I needed to wait for credit for the Mario Kart Tour mission. What a bummer.

I did everything, bought the game on day one, played the stupid Mario Kart on my phone for a month, and never got an email or notification. Too hear that even if I did I wouldn't be guaranteed the pin set STILL is absurd.

I want to hate Nintendo sooo bad for garbage consumer rewards schemes like this one, but those games man. Those games...

Yo so let me vent this heaping pile of steam off of me. I don't have a way to earn money so i couldn't buy 3d all stars to collect the pin set , but i do have mario kart tour, but guess what ? Even if you participate on day one, the other achievement towards the pin set being participating in the mario kart tour stuff is only avaible after the 29TH! What kind of idea is that? Like i could have got it but nintendo had to be this way.

For some reason I got to order it a day early

I purchased the game, but I haven't opened it yet. I was waiting for credit from the Mario Tour thing. With the pins off the table, I'm returning my copy of the game. It's such a bummer, but at least I can still return the game. I'll just pull out the 64 when I want to play Mario 64/GameCube for the other two.

@Mavarik you don't get credit for the Mario Kart one until September 29 next week

@Pip_Pipston the Mario Kart mission doesn't count, so you could have gotten your code if you bought 3D all stars already

@AM7519 I only got my preordered physical copy on Tuesday (forgot to mention that), so I still would've been too late. The Mario Kart mission was just the one I was most annoyed with

@Nadhorion Did you check your orders in the shop? Because I think you might have successfully purchased the pins. My code came back as not valid, but that's because the purchase went through on one of my attempts, so the code had "already been used".

Check there and see if you bought them without knowing it.

It's not just the pins either. I'd love to get my hands on an SNES controller for the Switch but they're sold out. I was super lucky to find a Switch at my local WalMart after months of checking. The only thing you can find are the actual games. I'm not too upset about the pins but it would be nice if they'd make more and send out codes to people who should have legitimately had a chance at getting them. The game's just been out a few days...

Apparently my copy is coming on September 30th.
Don’t live in the country. It sucks ass.

It was very VERY short-lived.