• Nintendo South Africa is hosting several promotions for the week of Mario Day.
• Discounts of up to 50 percent can be found.
• A competition for a Nintendo Switch hamper worth R10 000 is also live.

In a couple of days 10th March will roll around which is Mario Day or, as its sometimes written, MAR10 DAY. To mark the occasion the Nintendo Distributor South Africa, Core, is running several promotions to get people excited – and buying – for the day dedicated to the moustachioed plumber.

The first of this is a relatively straightforward sale on many Mario-themed items on the Nintendo Store with links you can find below –

• Nintendo Switch consoles | Discounts between 14 and 16 percent
• Super Mario Bros. games | Discounts between 9 and 55 percent
• Super Mario Bros. accessories | Discounts between 13 and 50 percent
• Super Mario Bros. clothing | Discounts between 22 and 50 percent

The entire sale can also be browsed from this one page.

For discounts as high as 50 percent you may think that it’s lesser desired items that have been slashed, but that doesn’t seem to the the case. For example one of the heaviest discounts at 55 percent off is a physical copy of WarioWare: Get It Together! Priced at R1 099, it is now selling for R499 for Mario Day. In our review of the game from its launch late last year we spoke about the great time we had with the title, so this is a good chance to pick up a physical copy for less.

Another good deal is on the Hori replacement controller for the left Joy-Con, which gives you a proper D-pad for a better time in platformers and fighting games. This is discounted by 50 percent bringing down the R699 price to R349. The solid red and red / white options are both discounted in this way.

On top of picking up discounted items every single order done over the next week will have “free surprises” added to them. No information is provided about these free items but then we suppose they wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Along with a sale and the free items, there is also a competition going on.

“Swing by our store at Sandton City this weekend for an epic Mario extravaganza! Immerse yourself in a world of Mario-themed activities and if you find Mario in the mall, you could win a Nintendo Switch hamper worth over R10 000! Visit the store for more information on how you can enter.”, reads an announcement.

While it does instruct you to visit the store for these instructions, they are also provided online:

• Snap a pic with Mario and share using #MAR1ODay_SA, remember to tag @NintendoSADistributor and @SandtonCityMall
• Race as Mario in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at the Nintendo Branded Store.
• Sign up for our newsletter for a bonus entry!

For those who haven’t had a chance to visit the Nintendo Store in Sandton, we highly recommend it. We were on the ground at the grand re-opening of the store when it transitioned from a popup store to a permanent tenant in Sandton City. This competition is a good reason to go and visit if you happen to be in Joburg or its surrounds.

The Mario Day celebrations are being held between 9th and 17th March. The competition for the Nintendo Switch bundle, however, is only valid for two days between 9th and 10th March which is this weekend.