The Nintendo Store: Difficult To Find Accessories & Collectibles
Many gamers out there don’t know that Nintendo of America has an online store to purchase both retail and refurbished items – some of which aren’t sold directly to stores. You won’t find stellar deals here, in fact most items retain their original MSRP. However, every now and then they do mark a few items down in price and you can sometimes come across normally hard to find products.
Two systems are currently featured on the Nintendo Store that are pretty much discontinued across the country. The first is the Wii U, which they currently have in stock for $175. This is the 32GB black model and is refurbished. Having personally bought refurbished items from Nintendo in the past, I can vouch that they are often like-new and even come with a 1-year warranty. This Deluxe Set still comes with Nintendo Land – just like it originally did back when it launched in 2012.
The Nintendo Store also has some of the smaller New Nintendo 3DS handhelds, which have completely disappeared from retailer shelves. These come in white with your choice of six different cover plates for maximum customization. They are refurbished and go for $125. You can choose the Mario Mustache, Purple/Yellow Stars, Red Mushroom, Super Mario 3D Land, Animal Crossing, or Style Boutique cover plate sets. The best value is the Animal Crossing one because you get two cover plates instead of just one. Like the Wii U, these handhelds come with a 1 year warranty. They even have replacement battery covers for the New 3DS XL, so you could even customize your system to have a different bottom from the top if you so choose.
When it comes to finding certain Nintendo toys and collectibles it can be difficult finding certain ones. I ran into this myself when I decided I’d pick up a Bowser plush for my niece for Christmas. Easier said than done! For some reason many stores don’t have anything Bowser – which surprised me because he’s such a central character in the Mario universe. As I dug deeper to find a Bowser plush I discovered that he was nowhere to be found unless I wanted to import from Japan or risk getting a knock-off from third party sellers on sites like Amazon or eBay. That’s when I stumbled across this hard-to-find item on the Nintendo Store. Sure, he’s a little pricey at $24.99, but the Bowser plush is really quite awesome in person and worth every penny. Other Bowser merchandise, such as the Spinning Fire Bar Display for amiibo and a black t-shirt are also available.
The Nintendo Store has other character shops as well. So if you’re looking for some collectibles or branded accessory cases and whatnot, be sure to check it out. Popular franchises like Kirby, Yoshi, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong, and Splatoon are represented. This isn’t the end-all be-all store for this type of stuff, but there might be something here that you can’t easily find elsewhere.
One example of that is in the accessory department. Not only can you still purchase Wii U Remotes and Wii U Game Pad AC Adapters, but you’ll also find things like the New 3DS XL charger cradle, which never released to retailers ever. Plus, there’s newer items like the Neon colored Joy-Con straps – a category that is becoming more rare at retailers.
Brick and mortar stores only have so much room for amiibo, so it’s nice to see that the Nintendo Store has a pretty broad selection. You probably won’t find super hard to find or out of print ones here, but there are quite a few to browse. As of this writing they had 68 to choose from, including previously rare ones like Rosalina, Mii Fighters 3 Pack, Ness, Lucas, and the Diddy Kong (Super Mario edition) amiibo. They are lacking in most of the Zelda ones at the moment, although they do have the four Champions.
As I mentioned earlier, they don’t have too many discounted items, but they do rotate some in every now and again. At this time they have games like Bravely Second brand new for $20, Chibi-Robo Zip Lash for $15, Yo-Kai Watch for $20, Star Fox Zero + Star Fox Guard for $30, and the Wii Fit U + Meter + Balance Board for $24.99 – a great deal if you or someone you know are looking for this package.
The Nintendo Store definitely isn’t a catch-all for everything, but there’s some good stuff to be found here. Some of it, like official replacement parts and accessories, are exclusive and the refurbished systems can be a great deal for those looking to get into a system that’s no longer being produced, like the Wii U. It’s a great place to check when you have difficulty finding a Nintendo item elsewhere. We hope this has been a helpful resource for some of you!
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
