Fortunately Nintendo had an answer for those that have been loyal to them, at least.

If you haven’t heard about Club Nintendo, then you should know that it’s Nintendo’s new loyalty rewards program.  You register your purchased games like you did back in the days, you take a survey, and you get coins. You can then use those coins to get stuff; The big one coming in at 800 coins (which is about 14 eligible DS and Wii games) is Game & Watch Gallery for the DS.  At 600 coins you can get a Club Nintendo-branded case for your DS games.  Fortunately, since all the DS and Wii games you registered for Club Nintendo count towards your eligible count. (i.e. If you registered a game before Club Nintendo launched you can still claim coins for them.)  This came out to nearly 700 coins for me to start with.

Now, I’ve always been really stubborn when it comes to carrying games around; I’ve always carried my games around in their original cases simply to keep them dust-free, and despite it being a hassle to carry around 10 cases whenever I head over to a friend’s, I still did it.  However, because I am planning on attending PAX this year and will also likely bring my DS along, something to hold my games in would be suited… So why not use all those extra Club Nintendo coins to purchase the card case? It’s free after all.

So today, the package arrives in the mail, and I take out this nice-looking blue case with the Club Nintendo logo on it.  Although it feels a bit on the inexpensive side (which is to be expected) it’s actually quite sturdy, and it holds together pretty well.  A silver “Club Nintendo” logo is imprinted on the case’s front side and the classic Nintendo “racetrack” logo on the back.  The only beef I have about this so far is that it doesn’t latch, which means if not put in a snug place in your backpack, it could swing open. (Though that shouldn’t be a problem, since the case seems to hold each game card and stylus pretty snug.)

Opening it reveals empty compartments for nine DS cards on the left, and for seven DS Lite stylii on the right. As an added bonus, Nintendo even provides you with a stylus for each color of the rainbow! (I think I have enough stylii now to last me the rest of my life.)  Although both sides are basically pieces of styrofoam glued onto the pastic casing, it’s quite sturdy and doesn’t look like coming apart… Unless you’re me and are rough on things.  The DS cards go in quite easy and stay snug, so if the case is bouncing around in your backpack they won’t come loose. (I’ve already tested this with a bit of violent shaking.)

And with that, you are now able to carry around ten games (assuming you keep one in your DS as well) without having to carry around ten cases, along with a bunch of extra stylii if you’re one of those types of people that misplaces their stylus often.  My travel collection right now looks a lot like this:

• The World Ends With You (in my DS)
• Mariokart DS
• New Super Mario Bros.
• Final Fantasy 4
• Elite Beat Agents
• Megaman Starforce (Leo)
• Chrono Trigger
• Pokemon Diamond
• Megaman Starforce 2 (Zerker x Ninja)
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

There’s a couple of other neat gimmicks for Club Nintendo rewards as well, such as Wii remote holders (something else that might be of use) and even novelty items like whatever those cards are called… You know… the ones they made over a hundred years before they started with video games?

If you don’t have a solution to traveling light with your DS games and have a bunch of DS and Wii games registered with coins to spare, I would suggest giving this a go if you’re willing.