Normal maps were not new in 2007. I wondered if the Wii might have lacked support, but apparently the PS2 was the last home console to lack normal mapping hardware (you had to use the vector units to simulate them), and the Dreamcast was the first to have it though games made little use of it (that bloomed with the Xbox).
It’s still possible EAD Tokyo didn’t put much stock in the technique though, or that their workflow was not set up for that at this point, or that hardware limitations otherwise made rendering coins using normal mapping worse than fully modelling them.
There are tests of normal map assets found in Super Mario Galaxy, but they're unused. The GameCube "supported" limited normal mapping through its indirect unit, assuming the lighting response is baked. The BLMAP tech seen in Skyward Sword can generates lighting response textures at runtime and could support normal mapping, but I don't think the studio used it outside of a few special effects.
The bumpmapping hardware most wikis mention as "supporting normal mapping" is pretty much irrelevant.
It’s still possible EAD Tokyo didn’t put much stock in the technique though, or that their workflow was not set up for that at this point, or that hardware limitations otherwise made rendering coins using normal mapping worse than fully modelling them.