Nintendo recently revealed its second wave of Amiibo figurines, featuring many Nintendo greats from many Nintendo properties far and wide. For those of you who don’t remember, the original Amiibo lineup included Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Link, Fox, Samus, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Pikachu, Kirby, and Marth. Joining them will be Zelda, Diddy Kong, Luigi, Little Mac, Pit and Captain Falcon. The initial wave of Amiibo figurines will launch on November 28 th , whle the second wave has not yet been price. Each figurine will cost thirteen dollars to buy.
If that lineup looks similar to the Smash for 3DS and Wii U line-up, it’s because it is. Smash is central to Nintendo’s Amiibo marketing plan. Having an Amiibo figurine for Smash allows you to basically store a custom A.I. character inside the figurine. The character will get better as you fight it and will have a custom set of moves and equipment as well. You can then take this figurine to friend’s houses and have them play against it. Perhaps most interestingly, people have theorized that professional players can use Amiibo figurines to set up team matches with only one player on each side. They would use their Amiibos as a stand in for a teammate.
Nintendo swears that Smash won’t be the only game to have Amiibo support. However, note that not every single Amiibo figure will work with every game. A number of different Mario themed games will take advantage of Amiibos. These games include Mario Kart 8, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Mario Party 10 , and Yoshi’s Woolly World . So if you are going to prioritize getting any sort of Amiibo figurine, prioritize getting the Mario ones.
3DS games will also come with Amiibo support as well. However, note that the original Nintendo 3DS does not actually have an NFC sensor. To be able to take advantage of Amiibo support on handhelds, you will have to purchase one of Nintendo’s “new 3DSs.” These are the ones with a faster processor and c-stick. Even so, it is currently unclear what games will support Amiibo figurines on handheld platforms. Likely you can expect the Mario line to be heavily represented.
However, Mario isn’t the only series represented by Amiibo figurines. As of right now there are also figurines from the Donkey Kong, Zelda, Star Fox, Metroid, Wii Fit, Animal Crossing, Pokémon, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Punch-Out!, Kid Icarus, and F-Zero series as well. It seems entirely unlikely that we will see a new F-Zero, Kid Icarus, or Punch Out! any time soon. So these figures will likely only be used in games like Smash . Then again, we can always hope.
What do you think? Will you be purchasing Amiibos? What games would you like to see utilize Amiibo functionality? Is thirteen dollars way too much to be spending for a tiny piece of plastic with an NFC chip in it? Let us know in the comments and we will bring you more information on the upcoming release of the Amiibos as it becomes available.