Happy Meal
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A Happy Meal is a kids' meal sold at the American fast food chain McDonald's. The Happy Meals usually have a tie-in promotion of a franchise with a toy relating to the promotion. The Happy Meal box is also designed after the thing it is promoting and sometimes includes activities on it. The Mario franchise has had tie-in releases as early as Super Mario Bros. 3.
Promotions
Game-specific
Super Mario Bros. 3 (August 1990)
The Super Mario Bros. 3 promotion took place in August 1990, and it was the Nintendo's first tie-in with a fast food restaurant.[1] One of four possible toys were included in a Happy Meal, each being specifically named and numbered:
- Mario - A figurine based on Raccoon Mario which bounces up if pushed down.
- Luigi - A figurine where Luigi sitting on a cloud and holding up a Starman. By pulling it back, user can move the toy around.
- Little Goomba - A Goomba figurine that hops when it is pressed down. It could be a Microgoomba toy due to the word "little" in its title and because ordinary Goombas cannot jump.
- Koopa Paratroopa - A toy of Paratroopa which is also capable of hopping.
There is a fifth toy of a Raccoon Mario, which was specifically designed for children younger than three. They were not packaged inside Happy Meals, and one could only be provided if it was specifically requested for a child who was younger than three. Unlike the other toys, the Raccoon Mario toy is not numbered and is erroneously named "Super Mario" on the included paper slip.
Mario Kart 8 (July 2014)
From July 4-31, 2014[2], eight toys based on Mario Kart 8 were included in Happy Meals. Seven of them are racing figurines and one is a plastic Mario Cap with the Mario Kart 8 logo on it. The figurines include sticker sheets for adding character logos and other details to the karts. The racing figurines include:
- Mario in the Standard Kart in anti-gravity mode
- Luigi in the Mach 8 in anti-gravity mode
- Bowser in the Mach 8
- Toad in the Standard Kart
- Princess Peach on the Standard Bike in anti-gravity mode
- Donkey Kong in the Standard Kart in anti-gravity mode
- Yoshi on the Standard Bike
Mario franchise
Take the Mario Challenge (September 2006)
From September 1st through September 21st, 2006,[3] there was a Mario-themed promotion for Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals titled Take the Mario Challenge. The promotion encouraged kids to be active and play outdoors with their included toy, which included a paper slip with a "challenge" for them to complete. Six toys were released for the promotion, and two of them are each based on a certain Mario spinoff title.
The Take the Mario Challenge was promoted on the official Happy Meal website and on a television commercial. As a part of the promotion, the Happy Meal website hosted a contest where 100 random participants would win a Nintendo DS Lite included with two Mario games.[3]
- "Donkey Kong Banana Chaser" – A figurine of Donkey Kong capable of launching two circular objects
- "Yoshi Tag and Run Meter" – A figurine of Yoshi that plays an A-major version of "Alpina Blue" from Yoshi's Story if it comes in contact with another object, or if the saddle is pressed
- "Yoshi Pop and Catch" – A figurine of Yoshi that includes a miniature baseball intended to be caught in its mouth
- "Mario Throw and Catch" – A toy based on Mario Pinball Land that shows Mario winking in his pinball form
- "Mario Swing and Hit" – A toy modeled after Mario's Iron Hammer move from Mario Power Tennis
- "Donkey Kong Throw and Go Spinner" – A green frisbee with artwork of Donkey Kong centered on the spinning yellow plastic part
April-May 2017
A wave of eight Super Mario-branded toys were included in McDonald's Happy Meals in April through May 2017.
- A basic Mario figurine
- Yoshi (able to extend and retract his tongue by pressing a button on his saddle)
- Bowser (plastic fire can be inserted into his mouth and ejected by pressing a button on his back)
- Peach with a background (Peach spins around as the toy moves)
- A Red Shell (can be moved similarly to a toy car)
- Luigi with a yellow Warp Pipe (Luigi can be inserted and ejected from the pipe)
- Invincible Mario (flicking the switch on the toy's base lights the toy up in a number of colors)
- A 1-Up Mushroom (makes the 1-Up sound from Super Mario 3D Land when a switch is flicked)
July-August 2018
Nintendo released another wave of Super Mario-branded toys starting from July 30, 2018 through August 20, 2018.[4] One of eight toys were included in the Happy Meal:
- A Yoshi (roulette toy)
- A New Super Mario Bros. U-themed maze toy (has two sides)
- Mario (toy slot machine)
- Rubix cube (with miniature cards, one is to rearrange the blocks to match up with the design, which includes a; brick block, a musical note block, a ? block, an empty block, and a purple, green, red, and blue block that features on each of their sides an icon based on Mario characters; purple having a Goomba, a Blooper, a Boo, a Bullet Bill, and Bowser; Blue having a POW Block; Red having Mario, a Toad, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Peach; and Green having a Mushroom, a Fire Flower, a Yoshi's Egg, a Super Star, and a Koopa Shell)
- Fire Luigi (comes with a cutout Goomba and Koopa Troopa, where the left arm acts as the firing mechanism to launch a disc representing the fireball)
- Running Yoshi (Yoshi can be inserted into a launcher and ejected, with a pik representing an egg and fruit acting as stoppers)
- Super Mario Bros.-themed pointer game (flicking the switch on the toy's base will have a Koopa shell being launched and fall into any of the designated points, with the leftmost bit awarding 10 points, the middle being 50, and the rightmost bit awarding 100 points)
- A Mario and Cappy target game (twist Mario around to have him "throw" Cappy onto a target icon depicting Goombas and coins)
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Happy Meal.
External links
- A Super Mario Bros. 3 Happy Meal commercial
- A second Super Mario Bros. 3 Happy Meal commercial
- A third Super Mario Bros. 3 Happy Meal commercial
- Commercial of the "Take the Mario Challenge" (2006)
References
- ^ Super Mario Bros. 3 Original McDonald’s Happy Meal Artwork - Nintendo Player
- ^ Look what's parked in your Happy Meal: Mario Kart 8 toys! - Nintendo.ca (Wayback Machine)
- ^ a b New Mario Toys at McDonald's - Nintendo World Report
- ^ Get a Super Mario Happy Meal toy with your McDonald's Happy Meal - Nintendo.com