Nintendo Connection Tour '06

A more detailed version from my POV is in my other post, with different photos.

The second connection tour is currently being held around Australia, to commemorate the (Australian) 20th anniversary of Mario. The Official site is here. Yesterday I went to the one at Indooroopilly, and I took alot of pictures this time around. They had a Super Mario competition where you could win many limited edition prizes. The Grand Prize included a Nintendo DS lite, Mario belt, Mario soccer shirt, a New SMB Mug, a Mario bean bag, a keychain, a limited edition Japanese Mario figurine, and official art for Super Mario World. They also held a speedrun competition for SMB on the NES.

If you had signed up to recive SMS messages from Nintendo, you could also show yours to recieve a nice Mario strap. You could also grab a Brain Training clicky pen, in red, green, or blue. Here's a shot of all the swag I collected.



Some closeups:

I had arrived at 9:30 am, but didn't take a picture of the line because I didn't want to lose my place. But this is a picture of the line at 10:45.
The place itself featured many things. A corner of the area was full of all old Nintendo consoles, including the NES, SNES, N64, GCN, all iterations of the Gameboy, including the Super Gameboy, Gameboy pocket, GBA, and GBA SP. No Virtual Boy, though.
The Super Mario Competition consisted of matches of New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS. Two people would first go against each other in New SMB, where the winner would be entered in a place in MKDS. Eight winners then raced, and the winner would be entered into the Semi-Finals. The Semi-Final was two MKDS races, with 16 people. the people in 1st and 2nd place would then go up against each other in New SMB, and those winners would go again in New SMB. This gives a maximum capacity of 256 entrants. I made it to the Semi-Finals, but then ended up in Last Place.


There were many things available on DS Download play, including a Jack Russel for Nintendogs, and items for Animal Crossing. Many of the latest DS games were also available for play, but I think the thing of most notability is the ability to play a demo of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team.


At around midday, Mario appeared to cut a cake for his 20th anniversary.

Yummy chocolate. I didn't feel different after eating it, though.


Two Nintendo Employees went onstage to answer questions, and ask trivia for prizes, such as a belt or mug. They said that a Wii tour is quite possible but nothing is in the works at the time. If that happens, I'll be sure to be there!



Edits: Added a little more detail and pics, and hi to my fellow Kotakuites!
More Edits: Added better shot of my swag.