As seen here, this figure had 2 uses/releases. One as a blind-box, the other as a bonus item.

Above, you can see it in MIP. The box has Mario on it, & it was apparently part of a vending machine style blind box set that also had characters like RayMan & Mario as well as Sonic. When you open it, you see the paper card with figure plastic wrapped to it. Notice that the figure itself has unusually small feet, and the bottom half of his eyes are yellow. It was likely later chosen to be a pack in/bonus item for a platinum selling game. The pink oval in the middle just announces that the title is a Platinum one, which means it sold a certain number of copies. It is labeled Métropole Collections/M6 Interactions’ ‘Designed by Neamedia’ & made in France. Photo discovered by: NintendoFanGuy, MIB & loose photo & info added by