Might be late to the party, but if the games behind the figures are good then it will be entirely worthwhile.
That said, I'm very curious what the related games will look like. Pokemon was the obvious fit for NFC collectible figures. The "collect them all" tagline is perfect, as is the way individual Pokemon have unique characteristics, are leveled up over time, and are trained to have specific moves available.
Going with characters from the Mario universe is a less natural fit, and makes me wonder what kind of stats/info will be attached to the figures - especially when they are talking about using the figures across multiple games. Maybe the info contained on figures will be more generic, including stuff like your Mii and user profile and save data for various games, making the figures a sort of "gaming passport" that can be taken to your friend's house?