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Friday, April 17, 2015

More amiibo: Cards, Yarn, and Markets

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Got my slant rhyme.

If Nintendo thinks they will just replace amiibo with NFC-enabled cards and think people will be just as happy, they don't know their customers.

We've always been critical of Iwata's statements that they will have these NFC-enabled cards to replace amiibo, we just haven't written about it until now. The catalyst? The April 1 2015 Nintendo Direct. Specifically, the new Yoshi amiibo for Yoshi's Woolly World (made out of actual yarn unlike and not plastic)... and then an announcement that there are these near-field communication Animal Crossing cards. The difference is startling.


Green pink light blue Yarn Yoshi Amiibo Yoshi's Woolly World Nintendo Direct
You probably want one of these. Or all three.
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer amiibo NFC cards Isabelle Peanut Goose
What would you rather have in your house? Not counting your virtual home.

Bill Trinen said, "They're a new, more portable form of amiibo that doesn't require a figure." The Animal Crossing series is apparently the first series to come to cards. They're basically trading cards. You know, flat. A lot easier to produce and store than figures, but with none of the tactile feel or visual oomph. You can't put 'em on your shelf since they don't stand up on their own. (You know Nintendo puts Jolly Ranchers up Link's ass so he can stand in that pose indefinitely, right?)

I guess with cards, there is no torture of characters by putting poles up strange places, but being flat can be torturous, too. But perhaps this is how they plan to make Mr. Game & Watch's amiibo, by making him a card and not a figure?

Don't forget about the other amiibo stuff from the Direct. amiibo will grant you random Virtual Console demos now with amiibo Tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits. And there are those Splatoon amiibo we already pictured. Would you want those Splatoon amiibo if they were cards?

Perhaps you could say that Nintendo knows when to make things cards and when to make things figures. Well, if they replenish sold-out amiibo with cards, then this argument is shot. Also, would you rather have an Isabelle card or an Isabelle figurine for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer? I rest my point. The only happy home is the one in the game, since your own, real home will suffer from lack of adorable figurines.

Yarn Yoshi Yoshi's Woolly World amiibo activation Wii U in-game
You can feel the adorableness!
...Only with an actual amiibo to feel and not a picture of one on a card.

I'd rather have a few high-quality amiibo figurines than a flood of these cards. ...Besides, Nintendo tried cards before. Remember the e-Reader? Hell, Nintendo already tried Animal Crossing e-Reader stuff! It really didn't work out then.

Also, life lesson in economics here: It's all thanks to you that Nintendo is doing all this amiibo stuff. They apparently did not know that it would be such a "smash" hit. If the response to the amiibo was not so overwhelmingly positive and sold-out-y, then Nintendo would not be moving forward with cards or Yarn Yoshi amiibo or any of that. It would be a hush-hush "well that didn't work" thing that would've just stuck with Super Smash Bros. and not proceed to try to integrate itself with every new Nintendo game afterwards. (And then backwards-integrate with older games, to the destruction of a certain series.)

So in terms of things like Ike being shoe-horned into Code Name S.T.E.A.M. and ruining his canon personality, yeah, that's your fault. And mine, I guess.

We're all to blame.

Seriously, though, the bright side to Nintendo suddenly embracing this on-disc DLC is that you're also buying this figurine that brightens up wherever you put it. That bright side doesn't exist if it's cards. If the future of amiibo is in these cards, then Nintendo has crossed into the dark side. ...Of the Force? ...Awakened?

...Uh, have a nice weekend!


Ludwig sees amiibo used in the Super Smash Bros. For Wii U community on Miiverse, where people ask who will win: Them or their level 50 amiibo? Winner gets a follow! Ludwig always votes for the amiibo and gets Followed. That's how he now has 300 Followers on Miiverse! You should Follow him too at NNID PrinceOfKoopas on the basis of his content. He has four amiibo. ...And wants more.


Paying attention to markets leads one to the conclusion that amiibo prices should be raised.
Yarn Yoshis are selling... but so are the amiibo cards. Wildly.

4 comments :

  1. Does Nintendo not realize that a lot of people collect amiibo and don't actually use them in games--or take them out of the boxes? For many people, the figurines are the draw, not the functionality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still remember being called a troll on Miiverse for arguing that the primary purpose of amiibo for people was their looks.

      Delete
  2. "What would you rather have in your house? Not counting your virtual home."
    I'd still have the Yoshi amiibo if I was counting having him in a virtual home.

    ReplyDelete

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