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[ChemicalCutthroat]

Polygon had an interesting short article on the Amiibo frustrations.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/12/15630186/custom-amiibo-cards-zelda-ebay

Admittedly that looks rather good. And the Chinese knock off cards look super sharp.

 

[Jubenhimer]

There's plenty of content locked behind amiibo lately in Nintendo games. Whether it's essential or not is subjective, but they really should take a hint from their own Mario Maker where everything can be unlocked without them (I think...).

But amiibo already does that in most cases. Kirby for example, let's you get certain powerups you can already get through conventional means in game. And in Breath of the Wild, nearly all of the amiibo content can be acquired without using amiibo. Most of the time though, you can fully enjoy a game without having some Mario costume used. You don't need amiibo to enjoy a game fully, content-on-disc or not it usually isn't essential to the enjoyment of the game.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

I agree about the content being sold digitally. I would have to imagine that's not the reason they are selling out so quickly. But Nintendo rarely does things that make sense anyone outside of game design.

 

[Galang]

I don't mind the limited stock, but if it is going to be limited there should be other ways to obtain said perks in the game. It was out of hand before, but they've added so many amiibo.. it's just way out of hand now. I rather just purchase these things as DLC. I like the idea of cards or even e-cards that let us use them across multiple games.

 

[Gradon]

I am actually baffled that Link has been out of stock since BotW came out and that buying them from sellers ranges from £30-60. That is unnacceptable for one of Nintendos biggest franchises, an amiibo that I saw flood stores because Nintendo made SO MANY Links and Marios is now 'rare' and 'hard to find'. I just don't get it.

 

[yrba1]

I love amiibos, loathe the way Nintendo handles it supply-wise.

You're advocating piracy, you do realize that, right?

Until Nintendo figures out how to deal with scalpers hoarding all these units. I don't blame anyone for making a hackable NFC. Many others just want the in-game content like throwback outfits in BotW. Until then, Nintendo has no right to complain about them

 

[ViolentP]

Until Nintendo figures out how to deal with scalpers hoarding all these units. I don't blame anyone for making a hackable NFC. Many others just want the in-game content like throwback outfits in BotW. Until then, Nintendo has no right to complain about them

The only part I disagree with is that last bit. They certainly have a right to complain about the piracy. They need to protect their IPs and if it is their choice to understock, that is on them. It does not justify the piracy nor is it the consumer's responsibility to handle any company's stock situation.

 

[Lylo]

I buy the ones i like, put them on my shelf and that's it. I never used the NFC features nor want to use. I don't really care for what they unlock in any of my games.

 

[killatopak]

in the hands of nintendo?

More like Amiibo is the worst DLC period.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Really, We're still on this? Look, amiibo shortages suck, and it can be annoying to try and scavange for the ones you really want. But calling them "the worst DLC in the hands of Nintendo" is nonsense. Most of the content locked behind amiibo is non-essential stuff like costumes and shortcuts that you don't actually need to complete or even enjoy the game. Now if they start locking important story elements or essentail levels behind amiibo, you'd have a point. But amiibo is nothing more than a tool, so don't blame the tool for that, blame the person using it. So far, Nintendo has done a decent job with keeping amiibo content fair, and non-essential. You can enjoy and fully complete Breath of the Wild for example without using a single amiibo. Also in the case of games like Zelda having a dungeon behind an amiibo. In those cases, the game usually comes with the amiibo you need. So really, there's no reason to complain in that case. If it doesn't come with the amiibo, then yeah it'd suck.

Most DLC in general is cosmetic/perks that are largely unnecessary, and that hasn't stopped other publishers from getting a bad rap over it. It's not different now just because Nintendo has wrapped them around a $10 plastic happy meal toy that someone may or may not want.

 

[Giga Man]

Amiibo are dangerous money wasters. My name is Giga Man, and this is my story.

I started my amiibo collection only buying my favorite Smash Bros. characters while not caring about the functionality. I thought I was content with just collecting toys of my favorites. Then, all of a sudden, I saw a Wario (Smash) amiibo in Best Buy, the last one they had, and I thought it looked pretty good. And... that was the turning point. Keep in mind that I do not prefer Wario in his WarioWare outfit. So, I was looking at it, but I put it down because I didn't want it. Then, I walked back to pick it up, but put it back down again because I didn't want it! And, I left the store. Then, I came back another day, and it was still there, so I picked it up. That's when I started buying every Smash series amiibo for the sake of collecting every Smash series amiibo regardless of whether I liked every character or not, regardless of whether they looked good or not (Peach and Link were hideous). I just wanted a complete Smash Bros. collection, even going as far as buying Famicom-colored ROB since ROB was one of my favorites.

Then, the unexpected happened. Nintendo, after 30 years since the announcement, finally reveal the Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta amiibo... WITH TWO VERSIONS OF EACH! ... The deep, dark hole I had dug myself into would have forced me to think that I had to buy all six of these freaking things. But, I just couldn't. I couldn't be bothered to care about the figures of characters I didn't like. I don't care about Cloud, and I despise Corrin as a character. If they had come in only one version, I would have bought them, but they aren't, so I gave up. I packed up all the amiibo I didn't want, which was less than half of my collection because I have amiibo from other series too, and auctioned them off on ebay. I used to proudly display my complete collection of Smash Bros. amiibo in my bedroom, but as time went on, I increasingly became more and more depressed with how much money I spent on them and how much I did not care for most of them. I had to set myself free.

I still have a lot of amiibo compared to the average collector, but I'm sticking to favorites 100% and being as picky as possible. Of the new amiibo on their way this year, I'm only buying Inkling Girl (Splat2 ver.) and Bayonetta (Bayo2 ver.). I don't want any of the amiibo Nintendo announced at their Treehouse Live event at E3 this year. Even though I'm hyped as balls for Super Mario Odyssey, I do not want the associated amiibo. Even though they look nice, I do not want them. No, thank you. I do not care about the DLC. There are plenty of games I played that I have (or had) compatible amiibo for, and I just never bothered to use them because I'm satisfied with the games as they are.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Most DLC in general is cosmetic/perks that are largely unnecessary, and that hasn't stopped other publishers from getting a bad rap over it. It's not different now just because Nintendo has wrapped them around a $10 plastic happy meal toy that someone may or may not want.

Not really, many games offer additional substantial content as DLC, sometimes for free. Disc-locked content doesn't have to be a bad thing as long as the base game is substantial on it's own, with all the substantial content right from the start, or made available later for free, it becomes a bad thing when they make you pay extra for essential content that should be accessible by other means. The reason Capcom and EA got a bad rap for it was because they were locking things like important story elements and even entire characters for multiplayer games behind an extra paywall with no other way of accessing it.

There have been some poor implimentations of amiibo, but that's not the fault of amiibo itself, that's the fault of the developers. But because on-disc DLC has a bad rap regardless, there's a misconception that all amiibo functionality is bad and should be available through other means, when most of the time, all you're missing out on is a few extra skins and convenient shortcuts. If they star locking an new ARMS character behind an amiibo with no other way to acquire it for example, then these people would have a point. But there really haven't been many cases of that with amiibo.

 

[zelas]

Not really, many games offer additional substantial content as DLC, sometimes for free. Disc-locked content doesn't have to be a bad thing as long as the base game is substantial on it's own, with all the substantial content right from the start, or made available later for free, it becomes a bad thing when they make you pay extra for essential content that should be accessible by other means. The reason Capcom and EA got a bad rap for it was because they were locking things like important story elements and even entire characters for multiplayer games behind an extra paywall with no other way of accessing it.

There have been some poor implimentations of amiibo, but that's not the fault of amiibo itself, that's the fault of the developers. But because on-disc DLC has a bad rap regardless, there's a misconception that all amiibo functionality is bad and should be available through other means, when most of the time, all you're missing out on is a few extra skins and convenient shortcuts. If they star locking an new ARMS character behind an amiibo with no other way to acquire it for example, then these people would have a point. But there really haven't been many cases of that with amiibo.

I think his point was that if less egregious implementations of dlc has caused publishers to draw the ire of fans then then its not a problem for those people to also complain about Nintendo's implementations that aren't just cosmetics.

OP and most others certainly aren't taking it out on amiibo themselves. He's expressed his willingness to pay, the problem is on top of having to deal with the dlc implementations, both consumer friendly and not, he has to struggle with Nintendo's supply issues when they could easily offer other ways to purchase the content. Meaningful content tucked away as dlc where you can't even access the "Buy Now" button is not on the list of things that should never be complained about.

 

[DVCY201]

I just view them as Prize Figures. They're cheap, adequate figures of some of my favourite characters. The Content is superficial and largely extraneous, I wouldn't feel upset about missing it.

They might as well put some costume DLC for BotW on the eShop, they'd make good money

 

[Jubenhimer]

I think his point was that if less egregious implementations of dlc has caused publishers to draw the ire of fans then then its not a problem for those people to also complain about Nintendo's implementations that aren't just cosmetics.

Exactly, when amiibo is implimented poorly, then we should call Nintendo out for it, like with Splatoon. But, if it's just skins and shortcuts locked behind amiibo, then I don't feel there a reason to complain. It really depends on the game.

OP and most others certainly aren't taking it out on amiibo themselves. He's expressed his willingness to pay, the problem is on top of having to deal with the dlc implementations, both consumer friendly and not, he has to struggle with Nintendo's supply issues when they could easily offer other ways to purchase the content. Meaningful content tucked away as dlc where you can't even access the "Buy Now" button is not on the list of things that should never be complained about.

Yes, amiibo shortages are a big problem. But I don't buy that Nintendo is intentionally limiting supply, the Switch already disproved that bogus theory. I think Nintendo is doing what they can, but with so many amiibo released, and so many being more popular than anticipated, something's got to give, and Nintendo does have to pick and choose which amiibo get prioritized.

As for meaningful game content, if there's a significant feature of the game where you need amiibo to unlock it, you might as well bundle the amiibo with the game, which Nintendo has done on multiple occasions like this such as Twilight Princess HD. That way, you still get all the meaningful content of the game, plus a cool figure bundled with it.

Of course if meaningful content is locked behind amiibo and said amiibo doesn't come with the game, then that is a problem and should be called out for.