'Tis the season for the acquisition of cool stuff, at least, it was last week. My bad, this article is a little late. Anyway, during the holidays and my subsequent birthday, I managed to get my hands on some cool Mario-related goodies that were released earlier in the year. Check it out!

Being a proud owner of a new Japanese-region 3DS, there's one app I simply had to try: Isshou ni Photo (Photo Together). This is a cool little AR photo game that comes downloadable with selected prepaid eShop cards in Japan centering around various Nintendo series. The first series was Super Mario, which came in two sets of three cards each. Set one included Goomba, Mario, and Peach, while the second set had Koopa Troopa, Luigi, and Bowser. Thanks to NWR's Danny in Japan, I was able to obtain five of the six cards. I'm still looking for the Koopa Troopa. 

The cards come in three different yen denominations.

Almost the complete set! The latest series features Animal Crossing characters.

Once you've scratched off the latex PIN coating on the back of the cards and redeemed the eShop funds, you can then keep the card as a souvenir. The "scratchie" latex is attached via a plastic label that can be peeled off afterwards so you don't get the silver ink everywhere when storing the cards. The cardboard housing the cards come in features a QR code that takes you to the eShop to download the photo app. It's free to download and a small file, so it doesn't take long.

Hello, Mario! Welcome to my desk!

Peach and Toad pose for the camera.

Once you launch the app it's much like any of the other AR viewers on the 3DS, but there's a little more interactivity than first apparent. Placing any of the cards within the camera's line of sight will produce that character, who will then kind of stand around on your desk waiting for something to happen. You can talk to them with the 3DS microphone to get their attention, and moving the camera up close will make them pose or wave. Each character will perform idle animations as well.

For example: Luigi is pestered by Boos, Mario eventually falls asleep, and Peach plays with her parasol.

Come on guys, the counter top is no place to fight.

From there, moving the Circle Pad toggles between a few lighting settings to best match the type of photo you're taking, while the D-pad produces a few little photo effects like snow or bubbles to spruce up your pictures. You can snap a photo with R, or press L to "lock" the character on the screen allowing you to remove the unsightly AR card or line up the characters in other shots. The face buttons give you different length countdown timers which play cute Mario music, which differs depending on the character you're looking at, and makes everyone on the screen pull a little pose. The Goomba will even sing and dance to the New Super Mario Bros. tune during his own unique countdown!

Bah! Bah! Admit it, this is adorable.

Mario is lost in a winter wonderland.

Perhaps the coolest feature is that the cards will also interact with each other. Mario, Luigi, and Peach will greet each other and wave, while Bowser will perpetually launch fireballs at either of the two plumbers. Adversely, the Koopa king will stare peacefully at Peach, much to her discomfort. The standard ? Block AR card is also compatible with this set and will make a green Warp Pipe appear. If placed near a good guy, Toad will pop out, while Bowser or his minions will create a Piranha Plant. I've also seen a Bullet Bill on rare occasion, but I still haven't figured out how to make it appear more often.

A brotherly reunion.

Isshou ni Photo is kind of limited in terms of content but as a creative little photo decoration studio it's adorable and fun. Considering it comes as a free bonus with the purchase of eShop credit, there's no reason not to love it. I hope these cards eventually release in other regions.

The Koopalings have their moment in the spotlight.

I always wondered what Wario was doing during this game.

Next up is this awesome New Super Mario Bros. 2 3DS storage wallet created by PDP and first showcased at their E3 booth earlier in the year. Whether you loved or hated the game featured on the design (I personally loved it, but that's another story), there's no denying the visual charm of this case. The exterior features Mario and Luigi amidst a glittering, golden, coin-frenzied landscape, chasing down the Koopalings in Bowser's Clown Car. The wallet sadly doesn't feature any kind of sling or strap, or even a handle that would let you use it as a carry-bag, but it's intended to simply keep all your 3DS paraphernalia in one place, and at that it excels.

The game's logo adorns the wallet's spine.

Inside there's a smaller, removable pouch for the 3DS which has a foam insert that snugly fits the standard model, or can be taken out to house the XL design quite comfortably. There's a slot to carry one spare stylus, a bagged section to hold the charger cable, a AR card folder, and slots to house a whopping 29 came cards. The game pockets are made of an elastic cloth that makes it easy to insert and remove the cards, but the only drawback is that you can't see which game is which as most of the labels are covered.

Everything in one handy place.

Holds 29 games all up! That's quite a gaming marathon.

The removable pouch can hold the regular or XL 3DS.

A neat little detail on the zipper.

I'd worry that the smooth surface of the case will easily scratch or scuff when thrown into a backpack amongst schoolbooks or stationery, but the sheer amount of stuff you can fit in there makes this case a really attractive option for keeping your handheld and games together in one place. The yellow and black design is pleasant on the eyes and the wallet even stacks well on the shelf amongst your DVD and game cases.

Bwahahaha! Outta my way, suckers!

Last, but not least, is the Bowser Mini Radio Control Kart manufactured by Australia's own Goldie Marketing. This gift came as a surprise as I only ever knew about the Mario and Yoshi karts in this series through Goldie's advertising material. It seems the company recently released Luigi, Peach, Toad, and DK in the series as well, but we all know Bowser is the coolest character anyway. I haven't taken this bad boy out for a spin yet, but I may update in a future Mariobilia with a full product review.

That's all for now, but I hope you all have a great 2014! Did you get any cool video game merchandise during the holidays? I'd love to hear about it in the Talkback thread below!

Special thanks to Martyna and Sonia for being awesome friends with impeccable gift taste, and Danny Bivens for sourcing the AR cards for me.