When Nintendo first announced the release of Amiibos in May 2014, I felt rather sceptical of it’s practicality for our gaming experience, especially for Super Smash Bros.
When they were released, I went to the midnight opening and queued up for Super Smash Bros and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, the Amiibos look just merely like collectables sitting perfectly next to the Skylanders and Disney Infinity figurines too. Since buying a Mario Amiibo for the other half’s little sister (as she loves Mario), it has got me thinking whether it was useful or not to have these Amiibos around.
What are Amiibos?
Amiibos are figurines of the iconic characters that you will come across on the current Nintendo gaming market. At this moment in time, it is only known to do a couple of things. First of all it can store data for the game which you have used it for; for example, the unique play style settings and costumes that you use for that particular character in Super Smash Bros. Amiibos can also be used as a key to unlock certain features to other games, however it is not known how many of the new upcoming Nintendo games will use these Amiibos.
Which consoles can use Amiibos?
The first obvious option is the Nintendo Wii U. The Amiibo has to be placed onto the bottom left corner of the gamepad when the game is in play to activate the data. Secondly, it will be the new Nintendo 3DS that is due to release on 13th February 2014 in the UK along with the revamp of the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The Amiibo will be activated through the touchscreen pad of the new console, however the previous version of the 3DS will not have this functionality.
Are Amiibos practical?
This question is truly dependent on how many games you play on your console and whether your friends of family also have the same consoles and/or games. As explained before, the Amiibos will store data of your own preference of a certain game, therefore it is quite convenient to take your own Amiibo(s) to your friend’s or family’s home and play it on their console. The Amiibos themselves are pretty light and small; however looking through the packaging, I do question the sturdiness of these figurines if you are carrying it around to different places just so you can play at your own settings without faffing around.
One major flaw to this product is that each Amiibo can only store one game at a time (even though you can delete the data). To me, this is one huge problem for someone who plays a lot of games on both the Wii U and the 3DS. I do not particularly want to buy duplicated Amiibos taking up the limited amount of space that I have to store things, alongside taking the wrong Amiibo to a friend’s or family’s for a different game. The Amiibos do not come cheap either and there are many released or due to release. These figurines are certainly a lot more expensive that the common Skylander ones and just a little bit more expensive than the Disney Infinity ones; therefore it is rather uneconomical on my wallets and it gives the feeling that Nintendo are just trying to take more money from us if some Nintendo players are reliant on using these Amiibos as some sort memory storage.
Conclusion
Overall, as much as it could be useful for some people or very entertaining for the children, I find that these Amiibos are merely collectibles where Nintendo can earn more money from these paraphernalia, especially with the way they are releasing them in waves. As much as it is not so economical on our pockets, they are very good ideas to buy as presents or gifts if they have a Wii U or the new version of the 3DS.
