DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign

If, like me, you’re a tad obsessive when it comes to character goods and love the kitschy cross-promotions that often infiltrate Japanese convenience stores, here’s something that’ll perk you up: beverage company DyDo Drinco recently announced its “Super Mario Bros. Dot Figure Collection” campaign, to commemorate the anniversary of both its canned coffee drink and Nintendo’s worldwide phenomenon of a game.

Read up on the collaboration’s details after the jump and bear with me while I get a little sentimental. Also, thanks to excited YouTuber and goods enthusiast Satoshi Machida, you’ll get a close-up look at the pixelated (but not pixilated) cuties!

For the 40th anniversary of its “DyDo Blend – Blend Coffee” beverage, the company teamed up with another beloved icon that’s celebrating its 30th this year: Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan on September 13, 1985, and at over 40 million copies sold, it’s still the best-selling game of all time if console-and-game bundles aren’t included in the numbers (if included, it’s actually Wii Sports that tops the list).

Starting on Feb. 17 and continuing until supplies last, two types of DyDo canned coffee drinks come with a pixel-art figure inside a special cap which when turned upside-down becomes a display stand that, yup, looks like a warp pipe!

▼ There are eight varieties in total: Mario, Luigi, Bowser/Daimaō Koopa, Princess Peach, Goomba/Kuribō, Koopa Troopa/Nokonoko, Toad/Kinopio, and Lakitu/Jugem.

DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign

The figures will be attached to cans of DyDo Blend – Blend Coffee, a light roast coffee that uses beans from five countries, and DyDo Blend – Demitasse Coffee, another long-selling hit with a richer coffee flavor (this type includes milk). The latter is brewed with premium coffee beans that are selected from five different Central and South American countries, and it uses 1.5 times more beans per drink than the industry standard. Both drinks retail for 115 yen (US$0.96).

Luckily for us, YouTuber Satoshi Machida, who goes by the name SaitamaNoSennin (Hermit in Saitama), provides us with a spirited review of the retro trinkets!

▼ A close-up of the cap…

DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign Toad Kinopio cap close-up

▼ And once it’s removed…

DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign Toad Kinopio cap close-up

▼ There’s the familiar leaflet, if you’re a fan of collecting Japanese capsule machine toys and the like.

DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign open leaflet, pamphlet, insert, paper

▼ He scored a Toad along with King Koopa, which seems to be his favorite. The quality is pretty great for a freebie that comes with a 96-cent can of coffee!

DyDo blend canned coffee drink and Nintendo Super Mario Bros Dot Figure Collection collaboration campaign

So if you’re a Mario fan who’s lucky enough to be in Japan, try a speedrun through all of your local convenience stores—if you see what looks like cans of green spray paint in the beverage section, you’ll know you hit the jackpot! (Or if you’re truly obsessed, you could always try a proxy shopping service.)

Marketing gimmicks aside, it might be nice to pick up a can, or eight, and share a drink with someone while swapping memories of Mario. I’ll never forget the music or the clinking coin sounds that permeated the living room and mingled with the bright California sun back in the late eighties, when my brother, his friends and I used to play. Neither can my mom, for that matter; even she has nostalgic flashbacks whenever she hears the intro’s “ta-ta ta ta-da ta! boop”.

Where were you when you first met the Mario Brothers?

▼ Around 2:20, Machida starts talking about how he wasn’t even one year old when Super Mario Bros. came out (man, I feel old), but that he remembers playing Super Mario Bros. 3 repeatedly; when the game wouldn’t load, he would not only blow on the cartridge but also go too far and lick it, getting yelled at by his older sister in the process.

Sources: DyDo via Famitsu, Wikipedia 1, 2
Images: DyDo, YouTube
Video:  YouTube