With the extensive amount of pre-order bonuses being offered by Gamestop in North America, Nintendo is trying to promote the release in the UK by allowing players to download the original Metroid on the Virtual Console for free. The catch is that you have to be amongst the first 5000 people to register the game on Club Nintendo.

If you're in the UK and your Metroid Prime Trilogy purchase will be the second time you've bought one of the Prime games, Nintendo has an enticing offer for you. Be one of the first 5,000 to purchase the Wii collection and register it on Club Nintendo, and, provided you've registered Metroid Prime 1, 2, or 3 in the past, you'll get a free Virtual Console download of the NES Metroid game.

Sure, if you're a big enough Metroid fan to be buying Trilogy despite already owning the game, it's likely you already have Metroid, either on the NES, the Virtual Console, or as a connection bonus on the GameCube Metroid Prime disc. But it's still wonderful precedent to have Nintendo giving away a Virtual Console game to promote a new release.

But why limit it only to the suckers buying one of the games twice? And why only 5,000? A Virtual Console download costs Nintendo nothing.

McClubbin via nintendo.joystiq.com »