If you wanted to grab digital code for a copy of Earthbound with your expiring Club Nintendo points, for a while, you were. For whatever reason, the game was “sold out.”
UPDATE (11:45 pm): It’s back! The code fairy apparently visited Nintendo.
Over at Club Nintendo, the company has outlined what you can use your coins for, and that includes tons and tons of games to download across the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS. It’s pretty cool! Who doesn’t like free games, right?
Earthbound is still listed as an option, but when you click over to the page...
How is it possible for a digital game to be “sold out”? Isn’t that the magic of modern gaming, that we’ve transcended the limitations of physical objects?
If you want F-Zero, for example, there are no problems. No “sold out” sign to be found. Huh.
As far as I can tell, Earthbound is the only game that is currently “sold out.” It’s possible Nintendo simply needs to dump more codes into the system, and it’ll become available again.
Still, it’s weird.
Club Nintendo closes on July 1, but Nintendo’s promised a replacement for later this year.
You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.