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[Shotgun Kiss]

I just posted this in the OT for Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, but thought the sheer gall at hand here warranted it's own thread.

Paper Jam implements amiibos by letting you scan them and unlocking random cards that provide benefits in battles. You can also make stronger cards by scanning two different amiibos. It's actually a neat mechanic, and a good use of amiibos.

However, there are also "sparkle" cards, which you can only create by scanning two different amiibos of the same character. In other words, the game outright incentivizes buying two of the same amiibo character. Sure, you can borrow one from a friend, but that may not be an option for many people. And why should you need to when you already own that character?

I'm actually quite enjoying the collecting aspect of creating cards by scanning amiibos (you have to find/buy blank cards in the game before you can create them, so it's not just a matter of scanning all your amiibos repeatedly right off the bat), but this means that I can say goodbye to any hope of completing any character's set, because I'm sure as hell not buying the same amiibo twice.

What, you aren't making enough money from people buying these things, Nintendo?

 

[NickWright]

Well, if Mario is one of those characters, can you use Dr. Mario's amiibo instead? At least, that's what some games do.

 

[kadotsu]

The foiled cards aren't worth it. They only give you 4 star power in addition to the card's effect.

 

[Darkspineslayer]

Well I mean, it's a small extra. And personally (and possibly shamefully) I have like, 5 different figures that are all read as "Mario". Not hard to get a few duplicate characters for the Mario universe.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

The foiled cards aren't worth it. They only give you 4 star power in addition to the card's effect.

Well I mean, it's a small extra. And personally (and possibly shamefully) I have like, 5 different figures that are all read as "Mario". Not hard to get a few duplicate characters for the Mario universe.

whether or not it's a small bonus, it's still kind of shitty

 

[Darkspineslayer]

whether or not it's a small bonus, it's still kind of shitty

Far more offensive ways they've used Amiibo IMO. Worst case is probably Splatoon.

 

[Platy]

Well, if Mario is one of those characters, can you use Dr. Mario's amiibo instead? At least, that's what some games do.

Yeah ... you probably could use any mix of mario/luigi/yoshi from mario party/smash and other types of amiibos, like silver and regular mario, woolly world yoshi and smash yoshi

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

The foiled cards aren't worth it. They only give you 4 star power in addition to the card's effect.

But if you're a collector (which is going to be a lot of amiibo owners), that's still really annoying.

And 4 star power is actually quite handy.

 

[Stilton Disco]

whether or not it's a small bonus, it's still kind of shitty

Yep, doesn't matter how insignificant it might be, implementing this is a really low move from them.

I'm really starting to feel Amiibos are bringing out the worst in Nintendo. Makes me very concerned about how they'll approach mobile gaming.

 

[Nemesis_]

Um wait is every single Amiibo individually coded?

 

[KelpPlankton]

sounds more like a small bonus 'thank you' for collectors than any sort of content being locked behind the figures

 

[Chopper]

Which characters?

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Well I mean, it's a small extra. And personally (and possibly shamefully) I have like, 5 different figures that are all read as "Mario". Not hard to get a few duplicate characters for the Mario universe.

You're in the minority. And of course it's "not hard". Expense is the issue here; not difficulty.

 

[tim_pkmn89]

You're not going to be counting on this for 100% or anything

 

[KelpPlankton]

Um wait is every single Amiibo individually coded?

they're individualized and games can tell the difference between multiples of the same amiibo yes. same as skylanders and disney infinity

 

[exemp30]

Does "two different amiibos of the same character." mean you would need like say the Mario from smash and the one from Mario party?

 

[ZeroGravity]

Seems like a mostly non-issue unless the idea of not having every single little box checked off in a game drives you insane for some reason.

 

[OranSky]

That's fine I can just borrow one of my friends amiib--oh right he's an in box collector. Honestly though if it's just for bonuses then I don't see it be a big deal. The most harm I can see is if the cards you get a recorded in a library of sorts and the only way to complete it is by getting a card exclusive to two amiibos or something. Even then it would only bother hard core completionists.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Yeah ... you probably could use any mix of mario/luigi/yoshi from mario party/smash and other types of amiibos, like silver and regular mario, woolly world yoshi and smash yoshi

In order to unlock all sparkle cards, you need two Mario's, two Luigi's, two Peach's, two Yoshi's, two Bowser's, and two Toad's.

And even if it were just for one character, that doesn't make it acceptable. The fact that they all share the same functionality is why I don't feel inclined to go out and buy multiple versions of Mario/Yoshi/etc.

Oh, and there's only one version of Toad, for what it's worth.

 

[ffdgh]

Ehh this is a rather minor thing...imo ofcourse. Seems like something for serious collectors more than anything.

 

[Gaiaknight]

thats fine i have all the smash amiibo, the entire mario party line, yoshi woolly world line, 30th anniversary mario amiibo, i think im good on having 2 of the same of the amiibo.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Um wait is every single Amiibo individually coded?

No, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam writes the card data to the amiibos themselves, rather than saving to the game. Annoyingly, this also means that to use a card in battle, you have to scan the amiibo. Quite a hassle, if you want to use a card each battle.

Of course, it also means you have to delete anything currently saved ti the amiibo. I'm now unsure if I want to use my Mario, as it means losing my Smash Bros. data.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Far more offensive ways they've used Amiibo IMO. Worst case is probably Splatoon.

Seems like a mostly non-issue unless the idea of not having every single little box checked off in a game drives you insane for some reason.

it still sets a precedent and with Nintendo recently talking about giving more value to amiibos in software, i think it's perfectly rational to be a little concerned.

if they start gating more and more content behind the figures I want to see a proper microtransaction or unlock system that doesn't solely rely on the $13+ figures.

i'm alright with cosmetics being tied to the figures. actual content, whether it's smaller or larger (like splatoon and this) is a bit too much. just make a toys to life game already, ninty

 

[@MUWANdo]

Um wait is every single Amiibo individually coded?

They do have distinct IDs but a lot of the character variants tend to be treated as identical in most games, so your Smash Mario will often do exactly the same thing as your Gold Mario or 8-bit Mario or whatever.

 

[Vena]

it still sets a precedent and with Nintendo recently talking about giving more value to amiibos in software, i think it's perfectly rational to be a little concerned.

if they start gating more and more content behind the figures I want to see a proper microtransaction or unlock system that doesn't solely rely on the $13+ figures.

If anything, they've been gating less and less after the initial flurry from STEAM, Splatoon, Mario Party, and such where it seemed like they were trying to figure out what the hell to do with the unlocks.

Nowadays its been generally throwaway stuff or skins or Mario Maker/Smash alternates.

 

[Tathanen]

You're in the minority. And of course it's "not hard". Expense is the issue here; not difficulty.

Of course expense is not the issue here. If expense was the issue, you'd be claiming that Nintendo thinks you should literally buy two of each Amiibo to make this happen.

This is a little perk for someone who can borrow a friend's Amiibo. There is no conceivable narrative I will believe where Nintendo is incentivizing the purchasing of multiple copies of one Amiibo for some stupid shiny in-game card.

 

[Chopper]

In order to unlock all sparkle cards, you need two Mario's, two Luigi's, two Peach's, two Yoshi's, two Bowser's, and two Toad's.

And even if it were just for one character, that doesn't make it acceptable. The fact that they all share the same functionality is why I don't feel inclined to go out and buy multiple versions of Mario/Yoshi/etc.

Oh, and there's only one version of Toad, for what it's worth.

Interesting. Toad is the only contentious issue for me.

 

[Gaiaknight]

Um wait is every single Amiibo individually coded?

some are like SMB mario, SM Mario, work exactly the same no matter what you use them in Gold, silver, and the 30th anniversary mario all have small little differences in the code that allows only them access to certain unlockables.

 

[TI82]

Far more offensive ways they've used Amiibo IMO. Worst case is probably Splatoon.

Nah, worst is fire emblem and codename steam so far.

"Oh, those 4 of the most rare amiibo? Yeah they unlock full characters. Good luck lol"

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Oh no, even the handheld is being tainted! Somebody wake me up.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

You're not going to be counting on this for 100% or anything

Shitty practices shouldn't be casually disregarded just because they're not mandatory. People who have paid money for amiibos shouldn't be expected to pay again for those same amiibos for ANY reason, however trivial.

 

[Platy]

In order to unlock all sparkle cards, you need two Mario's, two Luigi's, two Peach's, two Yoshi's, two Bowser's, and two Toad's.

Mario :
Smash Mario
Smash Dr Mario
Mario Party
Gold
Silver
8 bit mario
8 bit mario modern

Yoshi :
Smash
Mario party
Woolly World
Woolly World mega

Bowser :
Smash
Mario party
Skylanders

Luigi :
Smash
Mario party

Peach :
Smash
Mario Party

Toad :
Mario party

 

[Gaiaknight]

Shitty practices shouldn't be casually disregarded just because they're not mandatory. People who have paid money for amiibos shouldn't be expected to pay again for those same amiibos for ANY reason, however trivial.

what your telling me the average collector doesnt already have SMB mario, SM Mario, Gold Mario, Silver mario, classic mario, and modern mario?

 

[axisofweevils]

Welp. Really don't like the sound of this.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

What is going on with every game being riddled with ''Cards''. Is this some new hook our brains are obsessed with and the devs figured it out? Some that come to mind are Halo 5, M&L Paper Jam, Battlefront, RotTR, Paragon, Destiny, Witcher 3...

Is this the new Bow? Should we embrace this new future?

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Oh no, even the handheld is being tainted! Somebody wake me up.

It already was back with what STEAM pulled with the FE cameos. Thankfully in this specific case it doesn't seem like a big deal unless you're a completionist, but I'm starting to feel uncomfortable with the way content unlocks are handled with Amiibos. It's something that can get ugly very easily.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Oh no, even the handheld is being tainted! Somebody wake me up.

CAN'T WAKE UP

 

[Velcro Fly]

Nah, worst is fire emblem and codename steam so far.

"Oh, those 4 of the most rare amiibo? Yeah they unlock full characters. Good luck lol"

people tracking down the FE amiibo for STEAM were in for disappointment anyway

i don't understand how mad people were about that when playing the game with the actual characters was much more fun and not terrible

Also I plan on getting this game and I really don't care about sparkly cards. I'm not sure about how the cards work anyway so I wasn't sure I'd use my amiibo. It honestly sounds more like something to reward people who have bought multiple versions of the same character and not just a "fuck you pay me" sort of deal.

 

[Junahu]

How does the dual scanning work, and can you curcumvent it by wiping the amiibo's data in between scans?

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Mario :
Smash Mario
Smash Dr Mario
Mario Party
Gold
Silver
8 bit mario
8 bit mario modern

Yoshi :
Smash
Mario party
Woolly World
Woolly World mega

Bowser :
Smash
Mario party
Skylanders

Luigi :
Smash
Mario party

Peach :
Smash
Mario Party

Toad :
Mario party

You missed the following statement I made when you quoted me:

The fact that they all share the same functionality is why I don't feel inclined to go out and buy multiple versions of Mario/Yoshi/etc.

I don't care how many different versions of characters there are. They all have the exact same functionality, so I'm only going to buy one, and games should only require the use of one. The only reason to buy more than one is for collector's sake; not practicality. VERY few people are going to buy the same character twice.

Of course expense is not the issue here. If expense was the issue, you'd be claiming that Nintendo thinks you should literally buy two of each Amiibo to make this happen.

This is a little perk for someone who can borrow a friend's Amiibo. There is no conceivable narrative I will believe where Nintendo is incentivizing the purchasing of multiple copies of one Amiibo for some stupid shiny in-game card.

But it's stupid. Why should you need to borrow something you already paid for and own?

How does the dual scanning work, and can you curcumvent it by wiping the amiibo's data in between scans?

No, as I mentioned above, the cards you have unlocked are saved to the amiibo, and not the game. So if you delete the data on the amiibo, you have nothing.

 

[maxcriden]

If iI don't use amiibos at all, Willi be missing out on a significant sidequest and aspect of the game, and will battles be much harder?

 

[Tathanen]

But it's stupid. Why should you need to borrow something you already paid for and own?

It's a bonus for people with friends, not a bonus for people with Amiibo.

There is precedent for games that require you to perform actions in the real world with other game-owners in order to unlock content. See: trade or version-exclusive Pokemon. It is what it is.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

If iI don't use amiibos at all, Willi be missing out on a significant sidequest and aspect of the game, and will battles be much harder?

No, not at all.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying this really affects the game in any way. It's just cheeky, and I'm surprised some people are defending it.

 

[AdmiralSnackbar]

Yeah it seems like this is more of a "we can't believe you bought the smash set AND the Mario Party set, have this small worthless token".

 

[Tathanen]

No, not at all.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying this really affects the game in any way. It's just cheeky, and I'm surprised some people are defending it.

I do think it's kinda stupid, to be clear. I just don't think Nintendo is saying "buy two of the same Amiibo for this." More just a bonus if you happen to already have two due to the Mario/SSB situation, or if you can grab one from a buddy.

 

[power pole]

CAN'T WAKE UP

SAVE MEEEE

 

[Nibel]

Did anyone think about the possibility that this is supposed to be for two people owning one Amiibo each and not one person owning the same Amiibo twice? You know, since this is a game targeted at kids after all who meet up and unlock that stuff together?

Are there achievements for collecting all consumable cards? Just asking since I don't own that game

 

[TentPole]

It's a social thing for kids who need some extra help from their friends to get through the game. Takes nothing away from those who don't engage with it.
I doubt this game is too difficult for anyone on GAF.

 

[Aeana]

If iI don't use amiibos at all, Willi be missing out on a significant sidequest and aspect of the game, and will battles be much harder?

Nope. Some of the cards are nice, but you can only use them once per battle so overall it doesn't matter that much.

 

[The12thGripper]

the amiibo collector in me thanks myself

also my little sister has a toad amiibo so i'm covered with that

sucks for people who don't collect all of the amiibo though