My Retro Gaming Merch #3: Nintendo Monopoly Collector's Edition

Welcome all to chapter three of my retro gaming merchandise blog posts! So with this post I'm combining the giants of gaming, Nintendo, to one of the big boys of board games, Monopoly. I'm going to assume that you've all played at least one version of Monopoly before as it's probably the most famous board games to hit the shelves. If you've haven't, I strongly recommend you do so as it's a very enjoyable one...and quite long too, so be prepared to sink hours into this thing if you want to play it the proper way. Each version of Monoploy is essentially only a re-skin anyway. There aren't any new rules added to each version (as far as I'm aware), so pick your favourite franchise, because odds are there will be a Monopoly board game of it, grab some friends and start playing!

I'm not really here to talk about the rules of the board game, but rather explain the details which can be found in this particular Nintendo edition. So first of all lets take a look at the unique collectable tokens which come with this particular version. They are all made of metal, as you would expect from any Monopoly game, and you can see the tokens are very finely detailed and are of good quality; they don't feel cheaply made and do have a 'collectable' type feel to them. Of course the tokens also come from a few of Nintendo's popular franchises. So the playing tokens are:

• Super Mushroom (Super Mario franchise)
• Starman (Super Mario Franchise)
• The Master Sword (Legend of Zelda franchise)
• Samus' Helmet (Metroid franchise)
• Captain Olimar's Ship (Pikmin franchise)
• Gyroid (Animal Crossing franchise)

Talking about franchises, most of Nintendo's most popular franchises are present and correct here as you don't explore the board buying properties but rather characters from the Nintendo universe. For example Mario is the most expensive and is the Mayfair or Broadwalk (if you're from the States) of the game; the cheapest being Waluigi. But don't worry, as I said the game features multiple Nintendo characters and not just ones from the Super Mario universe. So you'll find the likes of Link, Samus, Tom Nook, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and more all up for purchase. Chance and Community Chest cards also take the form of question mark blocks and brick blocks from the Mario franchise once again. Most Chance and Community Chest cards contain the same sort of rewards and punishments (depending how lucky you get) as the rest of the Monopoly games. However, they try and tailor them to gamers to make it feel that little bit more authentic. For example, instead of winning second prise in a beauty contest and winning money you win second place in a gaming contest instead. Each card has a retro, almost steamboat Willie style picture of Mario on the card too adding to the charm. The game board itself is what you'd expect from a Monopoly game and feels quality and is laid out in the style as the original.

If there were any negatives to say about the game I would say that some Nintendo franchises go missing. I understand they can't include every character on here but some key characters are missed. The main two which stand out for me are Pokemon and Star Fox. The reason Nintendo probably missed out these franchises was down to Pokemon having its own Monopoly game and Star Fox not being that popular enough at the time the game was released. However, the Zelda franchise has its own Monopoly board and some of the characters still feature on here (which I'm very thankful for by the way.) I just feel there are a bit too many Mario characters featured on here, and some of them could of made way for other lovable Nintendo franchises. Again the reason probably behind the over-inclusion of Mario is probably down to his popularity and enticing people who aren't all that popular with Nintendo's other franchises to purchase it. Apart from this small gripe though the game is great. If you're a fan of Monopoly and Nintendo then I strongly urge you to go out and purchase it! Even if you're just a casual gamer you'll probably enjoy the ride as the rules haven't changed since the original and the game is still is as fun to play today as it was all those years ago, except this time you're buying famous characters you know and love rather than random streets you either haven't heard of or have no connection to.