Nintendo is adding more characters to their planned collectible toy line, Amiibo. Amiibo was first announced back in June at Nintendo’s E3 Nintendo Direct event. That announcement can be viewed right here:
For the uninitiated, the Amiibo toy line is Nintendo’s take on games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity. Gamers can buy a physical toy that will store data about their character on it, which can then be accessed through the Wii U’s near field communication technology. The game that has most been associated with Amiibo up to now is Super Smash Bros. Players can set up their custom Mario move and equipment set in the game and store it on their Mario Amiibo figure. The fundamental difference between Amiibo and Skylanders or Disney Infinity is that Amiibo figures will be usable across more than one game. The current list of games with planned Amiibo functionality contains five Wii U games: Super Smash Bros, Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, and Yoshi’s Wooly World. Amiibo support for 3DS is expected to come sometime in 2015.
Today, Nintendo added more characters to the Amiibo pool on their Japanese website. The following figures are on the Japanese site, but have not yet appeared on the North American one:
- Lucario
- Rosalina & Luma
- Bowser
- Toon Link
- Shiek
- Ike
- Meta Knight
- King Dedede
- Shulk
- Sonic
- Mega Man
The website also contains release dates for these figures. The first eight of the list are scheduled for release on January 22nd, while the last three are scheduled simply for February. These are Japanese release dates, so they are probably not accurate for the rest of the world. In North America, the first wave of Amiibo characters, containing headline characters like Mario, Link, and Samus, releases on November 21. Six more Amiibo figures will come out in December, with these newest characters likely joining the cast in 2015. The full list of NA releases can be viewed at Nintendo’s Amiibo hub.
Nintendo memorabilia collectors are probably pretty excited for Amiibo. Are you going to collect them all? Or is this line of figures just something that will clutter your shelves? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Nintendo’s Japanese Amiibo site