Despite dominating the news cycle since release, we haven’t discussed amiibo as a gift idea yet. With the current climate of availability and not all characters being released, that means some aren’t available yet. Despite that, if you’re buying for a friend and you’re not sure what exactly amiibo do, this post is for you.
Amiibo is Nintendo’s toys to life concept, similar to Skylanders or Disney Infinity. The difference is that amiibo will work across multiple Nintendo games, instead of having to buy new amiibo each time a game is released, which is how Skylanders and Disney Infinity operate. The currently compatible games for amiibo include Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros., Hyrule Warriors, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Future releases that will support amiibo include Yoshi’s Woolly World, Mario Party 10, and Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed amiibo support for his Star Fox game today.
So what do the figures do?
It depends on the game you’re using them with. Currently the figures can “learn” to fight in Super Smash Bros. according to items you feed them and how you use them when battling. Super Smash Bros. is the only game supported that actually writes data to the amiibo, but in the future there may be more. The downside to this is amiibo can only support one game that writes at a time, so data will have to be erased if you want to use that amiibo in the future with a different game. For that reason, some people may choose to own multiples of the same amiibo, if a way to save the data is not implemented.
Which characters are available?
Amiibo are being released in waves, just like Skylanders. Wave 1 amiibo have already been released, with three that have been discontinued. Those three are The Villager, Marth, and Wii Fit Trainer. What this means is retailers will no longer be receiving stock from Nintendo, so these figures may become very rare.
Another thing to watch out for is amiibo that are exclusive to certain stores. Currently there are four amiibo that have been announced as exclusive.
Meta Knight is exclusive to Best Buy
Lucario is exclusive to Toys R Us
Rosalina and Luma is exclusive to Target
Shulk is exclusive to GameStop
It’s likely we could see exclusive amiibo for Walmart and other retailers in the future, so be aware of this. That being said, Wave 2 amiibo should be available any day now and include several figures.
Wave 1 (November 2014):
Mario
Peach
Yoshi
Donkey Kong
Link
Kirby
Fox
Samus
Pikachu
Wii Fit Trainer (discontinued)
The Villager (discontinued)
Marth (discontinued)
Wave 2 (December 2014):
Zelda
Diddy Kong
Luigi
Little Mac
Pit
Captain Falcon
Wave 3 (February 2015):
Toon Link
Ike
Lucario (Toys “R” Us exclusive)
King Dedede
Bowser
Mega Man
Sheik
Shulk (GameStop exclusive)
Rosalina & Luma (Target exclusive)
Sonic
Meta Knight (Best Buy exclusive)
Amiibo make a great stocking stuffer or gift for anyone who has several Nintendo games. They’re priced starting at $12.99, but often times you can find deals from places like Toys R Us that offer a buy one, get one 50% off deal or better. For the purposes of gift-giving, only amiibo Wave 1 and Wave 2 will be here in time for Christmas.
Wii U Daily Gift-A-Day Giveaway
This post is part of our Gift-A-Day giveaway that we announced earlier this month. Each day until December 21 we’ll be posting one unique gift idea for any gamers in your life, including yourself! We know how hard it can be to get something for the gamer who has everything, so we’re hoping to make that a little easier this holiday season. Prizes include Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, GameCube controllers, amiibo, and even some special surprises we’ll reveal in our live hangout when we announce winners.
Enter below for your chance to win. Winners will be announced on December 22 in a live hangout, where winners will be matched with their prizes. For a look at some of the things we’ll be giving away that day, check out the original announcement post.
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