Riding on the popularity of other toys connectable to video games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity, Nintendo has made their own action figures that connect to their games.  These new toys from Nintendo are called Amiibos, and the first wave was recently released, fashioned after some of the popular characters from Super Smash Bros.  So what do these Amiibo do, and what’re they all about?  Well, I have them all (yes I am insane), so keep on reading if you want to learn more.

When I reserved Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, I also reserved the first set of Amiibos, too.  I’ve got the second wave reserved as well when they come out after Christmas, so I’ll probably write about them, too.  So the first wave has twelve figures, and here they all are in their packaging.

From left to right, top to bottom we have Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Villager, Samus, Marth, Fox McCloud, Wii Fit Trainer, Link, and Pikachu.  My favorites are the Villager from Animal Crossing, Wii Fit Trainer, and of course, Kirby.  Here is a larger shot of Kirby in his packaging.

They’re all fashioned to look like their trophies in Super Smash Bros.  In fact, I even arranged them like that for a picture after I opened them all up.

Using Amiibos on the Wii U is pretty easy for the most part.  On an Amiibo compatible game, all you have to do is just place it on the scanner part of your Wii U gamepad, and it does the rest.  Later on you’ll be able to use them on the 3DS, too, using a special adapter.  In Smash Bros., you can scan Amiibo and have them fight against you or with each other, and the more they fight, the more they level up and get better.  Only problem I had was that I wish you could use them in more fight modes, and it was a little confusing at first when saving and editing your Amiibo fighters.

Hyrule Warriors is another game that uses the Amiibos.  When you scan Link into the game, you’ll get a new weapon: the ride-on spinner from Twilight Princess.  And if you scan other Amiibos, you can get random prizes.  When I scanned Kirby, I got the Triforce Spinner, a more powerful version of that weapon.  Other times I just got things I had no idea what they did, or 1 single rupee.  Big whoop there.  You can only scan five Amiibo per day in Hyrule Warriors.

In Mario Kart 8, you can scan Amiibo to get new racing outfits for your Mii character.  You can get Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Samus, Fox McCloud, and Link outfits right now.  When the second wave comes out, you’ll also be able to get Luigi and Captain Falcon outfits as well.  I like the Kirby outfit because the helmet has Kirby’s face on the back of it, only problem is the suit is all pink so it doesn’t look very manly.  Finally, Captain Toad is supposed to have Amiibo support as well, but they haven’t implemented it yet so I don’t know what it is.

All in all, the Amiibo toys are designed pretty well.  I only have one problem with one of my Amiibo toys.  When I opened the Princess Peach one, the bottom black cap part fell off.  The other ones are attached pretty well, but this one wasn’t.  It’s not broken or anything, and unless they glue them together I don’t see how they could be attached so tightly, but this one wasn’t.  So I have to be a little bit more careful with the Peach Amiibo, because she’s so delicate.  Ha ha!  And don’t be trying to look up her dress in the picture below, you sicko!  Just joking!  🙂

And that’s all for now!  I’ll be sure to talk about the Amiibo toys later when the second wave is released.  If you have any questions regarding Amiibo, please let me know in the comments section!  Later!  –Cary

Tags: Misc