McDonald's and Nintendo team up to make Mario Happy Meal toys in UK

From 19 March until 29 April, McDonald's will be offering Mario themed Happy Meal toys throughout the UK.

Apparently, they will be encouraging kids to stay fit (hmm, a video game and a fast food chain telling kids to get exercise... like that'll work!) and some of them will be interactive.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...oys-launch-in-mcdonalds-happy-meals-next-week

 

I'm sure these are the same ones we had in Japan last year. Over here it's so common to have popular TV show or games toys that it's just the norm now. I've lost count how many times there's been Pokemon toys. Last month it was the 3rd time to have Taiko no Tatsujin toys.

 

I remember in the mid-90s they had Mario toys at some fast food place, Burger King I think. They had Mario and Toad and Goombas. They were apparently pretty popular, as I saw them everywhere for a while.

 

More than likely, Yakumo!

Over here, you see them in those ball things all the time that you get a random one (like an oversized Kinder egg toy), but it's quite rare to have a video game character as a Happy Meal.

 

Fast food place "red rooster" had Nintendo toys to promote Donkey Kong 64 release. I still have the toys.

 

Nintendo never releases these types of cool freebies in the US. Even the Nintendo rewards (or whatever its called) pales in comparison to what they offer in Japan. I think the coolest Nintendo reward we got in the US was that Game and Watch Ball recreation.

 

Those were the shit in 1998-9 whichever year it was.

I was hoping this would lead to a sequel to the smash hit MC Kids

 

The funny thing about those is that they look EXACTLY like those ball things I was talking about, only you seem to have got them nicely packaged in a box.

I guess having a dispenser is more expensive than a box, though.

 

I still have my original poster and some of these packaged away in a box from my move, I agree 100% that these were awesome. I want to say it was 1999 when the first Pokemon movie came out in the United States because I remember them being advertised in the theater that we saw the movie in when I was little. Not only that, but I remember the controversy those toys had with parents since they were recalled (not the collectible "gold" cards but the actual toys)

I think it was McDonalds because we used to actually have the Goomba one in the set. It was advertised with Super Mario Bros 3 unless we are on two different pages.

The only reason they were packaged in a box that was moderately nice was because they were advertised as "24k gold plated" collectible cards. Whether the gold is authentic or not, it came with a certificate of authenticity "signed" by the chairman of NOA and some other things which I cannot remember for the life of me anymore. It was mainly advertised as a collectible item and the prices varied from store to store, but I remember the price on each one around here was around $7.

 

I 100% sure it's Burger king, I have the poster framed up in my room.

 

Oh I know the Pokemon ones were released by Burger King because we used to go there when I was little. We used to have a Burger King literally 2 small blocks away from where I used to live/where I currently live now because it's walking distance. Granted, that Burger King has since become an ice cream parlor/family restaurant but I remember going there on one of the first days that they advertised them since I was a big Pokemon fanatic and buying the poster plus the Mewtwo card.

 

They had Happy Meal toys in the US for SMB3. I still have the Mario and Luigi.

 

In the US, McDonalds ran Mario 3 back in the early 90's (as already posted). In 1997 Taco Bell ran a promo



And in 1999 Burger King promoted Pokemon the First Movie.

 

If I remember correctly, after the Super Size me movie and the lawsuits before hand, McDonalds now has some sort of self-regulation on how it advertises to children in the U.S.

 

My gf showed me a picture of these toys from the article. I guess these are the same ones, and they were released in Taiwan earlier than the article states. If anyone is curious, not bad looking for a McD toy.

 

I must be thinking of something else then, because I couldn't have been aware of that in 1990, when SMB3 was released in the US - unless I learned about it afterwards somehow. Possibly I saw them at a store or a garage sale? I definitely remember there being a Goomba one. I think I remember seeing commercials for it, which again doesn't make sense if it was in 1990.

Maybe it's as billcosbyman suggested, and I'm actually thinking of Burger King. Does anyone know when those toys were made?

 

Slightly confused: Didnt they had last year octobers nintendo happy meal toys in the uk ?!

http://www.ebay.de/itm/NEU-OVP-Mc-D...-6-Figuren-Nintendo-Super-Mario-/281268605077

they have been otherwise available all over europe.


edit: they also had nintendogs toys a few years ago: http://www.ebay.de/itm/2-Hunde-NINTENDOGS-von-McDonalds-Stofftier-Kuscheltier-/321347235452

 

Yeah, these look exactly the same. Maybe there's a few new additions and they are bringing them to some more areas this time around? No idea really.

 

These were available here (in Moscow).

P.S. I think a lot of people went to McDonald's for a first time just for these toys, toys quality maybe isn't really great, but it's ok, unlike food

 

I would of gotten very scared.