Before the first round of Amiibos launched I stated that despite having a deep love for Nintendo, I didn’t see the figures having the same appeal for me as Disney Infinity or Skylanders. Without a dedicated game where the figures were necessary, Amiibos just didn’t have the same pull for me.
Still despite my reservations, I had to know what the deal with the figures was. So, I’ve since purchased a couple of Nintendo’s Near Field figures and given them a spin in the small handful of games they are currently able to be used in. And after using them, I’m now even more confused as to their purpose.
Not to sound too boring but my first Amiibos were Nintendo icons Mario and Link. The figures themselves look like the character trophies in Super Smash Bros. They are of a nice quality with quite a bit of fine detail put into them. I’m happy with the figures themselves as they’ll look nice on my desk next to my other weird nerd collectibles.
The figures aren’t just cool little plastic statues, though. Instead, they interact with a handful of current Nintendo games, with more to come in the future. The current games are Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, and Super Smash Bros. The usage of the figures in Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors is disappointing to say the least. Mario Kart 8 support is very clearly strapped on, as certain Amiibos (Mario and Link included) unlock racing outfits for your Mii driver and that seems to be about it. Hyrule Warriors offers a little more value, albeit not much. Link (and eventually Toon Link) unlock a special spinner weapon in the game, Zelda unlocks a daily three star or higher weapon, and all other Amiibos unlock a daily three star or lower weapon or Rupee or crafting bonuses. Neither title knocked my socks off in regards to their uses for the figures.
It is clear that Amiibo support for Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors was an afterthought, but both games did come out before release of the figures so any support for them could be seen as bonus. Super Smash Bros. though launched with the figures and the packaging distinctly calls out their functionality with the game. Each figure in Smash can be leveled to 50. I’m not sure how the leveling is determined because I’ve played three matches against my figures and they are already at level 11. That’s right, you don’t play as your Amiibo, you play against them.
Going into the Amiibo options you can alter the Amiibo fight style, change specific moves, and “feed” it equipment to up its stats. My guess is that this makes the Amiibo a stronger opponent to face off against. My level 11 Link trashed me and the CPU opponents. But to tell you the truth, I don’t need any help losing in the game, I do it quite well on my own already. Maybe you can team up with it but this isn’t presented in any easy to discern way for the user.
Aside from their questionable usage in the supported games, Amiibos are inherently more complicated than Skylanders or Disney Infinity figures too. Because there is no base for the figures to sit on constantly, any progress they make needs to be manually saved. There is a prompt but it is an added step that delays playing the game further.
As I stated at the start, having used them, I’m now even more confused about their purpose. They just seem aimless to me. Cool looking but with no direction. My take on the figures at this point is that they aren’t essential and add minimal value to the games. And I’m not sure they add $13 worth of value to the games per figure though.
While I thought that Nintendo jumping into the Toys-to-Life genre would be really cool, it seems more a dud than anything. I’m sure for hardcore Smash players, the “training” aspect for the figures is a big deal and maybe future games will expand on their uses but I stand by my assertion that not having a central game that utilizes the figures in a Disney Infinity or Skylanders type way lessens the figures appeal. The appeal for non-Nintendo crazies may never even get off the ground.
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