I didn't expect to actually hear back from Nintendo, as I probably just wrote something to the effect of: "I've beaten Zelda and Mario hundreds of times and can't wait for more awesome games from your company! Seriously, you guys are awesome! Please make more games and send them to me!" (...or, as translated for you younger, late 2000's computer kids: "Nintendo 4eva! Srsly, Mario pwns! lol, plz make moar gamez 4 me to play! Mario pwns Sonic sux0rz! ROFLMAO! Peas.")
Anyway, after a couple weeks went by, my mom told me I had mail. As any pre-teen kid who gets an unexpected package would, my excitement caused me to sprint the stairs to my room two at a time as I couldn't wait to tear open this package.
What I found was a letter from Nintendo thanking me for my interest in their product, some standard product brochures I remember seeing a million times at Sears next to the SNES kiosk, a single-sheet timeline depicting the history of the company ("they made playing cards?!!?" - I thought,) and finally, some booklet listing all of the carts available for each system at that time!
In retrospect - it wasn't really anything other than blatant pro-active advertising to their prime target audience. Which of course worked, because I'd look over the product book and list the games I wanted to go back and play!
But as a young, impressionable kid living amidst the Great Nintendo/Sega War, I saw it as something more than mere propaganda. It was my home team reaching out to me with a call-to-arms! It was a higher power acknowledging my existence. My letter struck a chord with them and they wanted to express gratitude for my undying devotion to their cause! I wasn't just a consumer; I was an important and highly-valued asset to them!
..Or it was just Nintendo saying "Hey kid! Thanks for getting your parents to spend their money on our shit! Please buy more!"
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I remember not long after my first correspondence with Nintendo, I decided to try again. They responded once before, why wouldn't they do so a second time? This time, I actually called the customer service line (1-800-255-3700) and requested two instruction manuals for a couple random NES games, (which, of course, I didn't actually own - I took care of my hallowed Nintendo collection. What's to lose by requesting some free manuals for games I don't have, I figured..) Well, they most certainly got back in touch with me, and within about a week of my phone call, I received my second package from the big N! (This time, Super Mario adorned the shipping label - no mistake who THIS was from!)
There was an order form depicting my "purchase", (my first order form - this is how it was before eBay, kids!)
And instead of the little black manuals I was expecting to fall out of the tall envelope, in their place were two stapled pamphlets looking no different from the two reports I had put together earlier that week for my 5th grade Science and English classes. All they did was run-off (remember that term?) a copy of the manuals I requested and sent the photocopies to me; free of charge, granted - but I was a young kid who expected them to just give me something for nothing, dammit! They were about as worthless to me as Pogs. I put everything back in the envelope and shoved it into the same green binder I saved all of my game clippings, letters, and posters!
Today, however, as an adult with more than a passing familiarity with copy-right laws and such, I realize what they did and why it's actually pretty cool what they did! If anybody else had just merely run off a copy of their manuals and sent or sold them to me, it would have been grossly negligent and illegal.
Looking over the "official" Nintendo photocopies, a service that, really, only Nintendo could provide legally, it makes me wonder if they are actually collectable and desirable to Nintendo fans. After all, everybody who owns the game had a copy of the manual, but these were only obtainable through special order! How rare is that??
...OK, now I'm starting to make myself laugh.
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Over the next couple years leading up into the dawn of the 64-bit of 1996, I received two more mailings from Nintendo. This time, though, they were sent without any prior correspondence, and they were advertisements for two upcoming epics being helmed, with help, by Nintendo - the Illusion of Gaia, a game showcasing world exploration and sharing more than a few passing similarities with Zelda, and about a year or so later: Super Mario RPG!
I find it interesting that both of these games, that Nintendo felt so compelled to send out promotional material to customers, were both joint ventures with (at the time) different 3rd party companies Enix and Square. Enix, or course, was known for it's Dragon Quest games, as well as Nintendo favorites Actraiser and Soul Blazer, (of which Gaia was a spiritual successor.) Square needed no introduction in the 90's, but still, it's interesting to note that Nintendo did projects with BOTH companies while they were in the heyday of their own 3rd party rivalry, (Enix's Dragon Quest series vs. Square's Final Fantasy juggernaut.) Nintendo probably saw dollar signs by enlisting both companies' programming help over the course of a couple years time, and figured it would be the perfect killing blow to Sega, who was severely lacking in the RPG/Action-Adventure genre at the time. So, Nintendo would go on to alert their loyal mailing list of the upcoming releases. A cute strategy. (Not that I actually felt the over-whelming need to have to play these games on day one or anything.....
)Semi-Random Question: Does anybody remember the T-SHIRT that Nintendo bundled with the Illusion of Gaia? There was no need to pre-order back then, and it was limited to the first brief pressing..
Not that I'm gloating or anything..
Interesting stuff you've got there - thanks for sharing it with us!