Get free games for your Wii or Nintendo 3DS, for real. It's not a scam: all you need to do is register games you've already purchased and cash in the resulting points.

If you've never bothered to register your Nintendo games, you can't be blamed. Until recently the prizes were mostly either useless or way too expensive, at least in North America. "Grill Off With Ultra Hand" is an amusing arcade game, but who needs screensavers or note pads?

This all changed last month, when Nintendo announced it planned to give away two different games to Club Nintendo members every month. The first two games, Super Mario Kart (SNES) and Fluidity, suggest Nintendo is planning on giving away some pretty nice titles.

Step One: Find Your Pin Numbers

First things first: you're going to need to find numbers to enter online. Open the boxes of your Nintendo games and look for a red card like this:

free games for wii

This card includes a number, which you can use to register your game. If you've got a Wii or a DS, check the box it came in: recent systems also came with one worth quite a few points.

Wondering if a game or device you own qualifies? Check this list. Some cards might have expired, of course, but it doesn't harm to check.

Step Two: Register Your Games

Head to club.nintendo.com and register. You'll find a simple place to enter your newly found number:

free wii games

Enter your number and voila: you'll get some points. What to do now? Cash them in for games, of course!

Step Three: Get Your Free Games

Assuming you registered two games successfully, you have enough points to get at least one game. Click the game you want on the Rewards page, then click the game you want. The best games should be at the top, under "Featured." These games will change regularly, so just wait a while if you don't like any of the games currently being offered.

Once you click the game you want, you'll see this on the right side if you can afford to download:

free wii games

If you can't afford a given game, you'll see something like this:

free games for wii

Assuming you can afford the game, simply cash in your pieces and download! You should check out these instructions if you're not sure how to download games to your Wii or DS. Basically: you need to enter a special code into the store of your gaming system and enjoy the ensuing download.

Sadly, each of these codes can only be used once.

Conclusion

I downloaded Fluidity for Wii with my points, and I'm not disappointed. It's a fun game with amazing, liquid-based controls and way more than what I was expecting from a free download. I'm not sure what will be offered by the time this article is published, so check it out! I'm looking forward to more new games.

If this is the quality of games Nintendo is going to offer, it's well worth registering your games from now on. What games would you like to download for free? Let me know in the comments below!