Somebody at Nintendo messed up. I’m assuming that as review copies for Paper Mario: Color Splash were sent out, some measure that was meant to allow those select few to access the game unintentionally unlocked the game for many more. Early this morning (or late last night, depending on how you see it), reports started trickling in from North American Wii U owners saying that they had full access to Paper Mario: Color Splash . As it turns out, anyone who had the game purchased and pre-loaded was until recently able to access and play the full game.
That’s no longer the case, of course. As NeoGAF and Twitter blew up with screenshots and early impressions of the game, several more users reported that they were no longer able to pre-load the game at all. It seems Nintendo caught on pretty quickly to what was happening, but not quickly enough. Most of us will have to wait until October 7 to get our hands on the game, but we’re undoubtedly due for some early reviews from hardcore, dedicated fans. Stay alert if you don’t want anything spoiled.
Source: NeoGAF