The Purpose of Amiibos: Exploring Nintendo's Innovation in Interactive Gaming

Many questions about the new abilities and usage of the upcoming amiibos related to the release of Nintendo’s new game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have formed. With many other questions about what amiibos truly are and the purpose, they serve in the new game.

This is a collection of almost every amiibo that Nintendo has, the image has been soured from Nintendo.co.uk.

What are They?

Before getting into the tiny details, let’s grab an understanding of what amiibos are and what purpose they serve. Amiibos are collectible cards and figures that enhance the gaming experience by giving players new items or resources that can help further their strengths or looks. For instance, in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, if a player were to use the Ocarina of Time Link amiibo figure, there would be a randomized chance that a new piece of armor, weapon, or any small resource in the game would spawn. Also, in the case of games like Animal Crossing New Horizons, Nintendo offers amiibo figures and card packs that share the same use of inviting different villagers to your island and dropping items. The card packs allow people to buy many characters at once without paying a large sum for the figures, making the enhanced experience accessible to everyone.

This is the Tears of the Kingdom Link amiibo, this image was sourced from ign.com. — This is the Tears of the Kingdom Link amiibo, the image was sourced from ign.com.

The First of Their Kind

The first iterations of amiibo came out in North America on November 21, 2014, for Super Smash Bros Wii U. Since then, Nintendo has amiibos compatible with many games and consoles like the Wii U, Switch, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 3DS with the support of the NFC accessory.

This image shows off amiibo cards and figures, this image was sourced from Nintendo.co.uk.

The Criticism

While amiibos are adored by many fans, Nintendo has also faced much criticism about the amiibos design, mechanics, and in-store stock throughout the years. During the release of the first line of amiibos, many people were concerned about in-game content being locked away and only being accessible through certain amiibos that would cost extra. There was concern that games were going to cost an additional twenty to thirty dollars whenever the base price of the game was already sixty dollars. People also started to take advantage of this by buying massive amounts of amiibos and upselling two to three times their original price. This led to many stores like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart being low on stock and not having the ability to keep up with the demand of consumers. These actions have caused a long-lasting amiibo shortage and worry that any time Nintendo announces that they are releasing a new amiibo. When the Tears of the Kingdom Link amiibo figure was released, it was nearly impossible for anyone to buy one due to them selling out almost immediately. While the shortage has slowly started to dissipate, there still lies the worry that any amiibo will phase out of existence on its release date.

This shows the line up of the first amiibos released, this image was sourced from pocketgamer.com.

The Future of Amiibo

While amiibo does have an extensive history of criticism and an overall general worry about whether or not the figures will be accessible to the people. The future is still bright for amiibo with the new release for the Tears of the Kingdom Zelda and Ganondorf amiibos releasing soon and having more information on where to buy them near holiday 2023. Many fans are theorizing that they will have new items and weapons that could drop from their amiibos. Many theories also claim that they will have the same drops and materials as Link's Tears of the Kingdom amiibo figure by dropping only weapons, materials, and a new piece of fabric for Link's paraglider. Also, the new Power-Up Bands come with an exciting new theme park Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood. Power-Up Bands perform like any other basic digital ticketing system for amusement parks. They not only count as your ticket to let you into the amusement park but also allow you to interact with games integrated with the amusement park collecting a person's coins, scores, and keys throughout the park. Another genius ability the Power-Up Bands have is that they act like their corresponding character's amiibos. For example, if you get a Mario Power-Up Band not only do you have a fun, interactive band for the amusement park you also can use it as an amiibo for Mario. The Power-Up Band helps get certain items and cosmetics in corresponding Mario games acting just like an amiibo.

This image shows off the Power-Up Bands available at Super Nintendo World, this image was sourced from disneyfoodblog.com.

The Amiibo Experience

Amiibos have done a fantastic job to enhance the overall experience of a game for many and have also dwindled the experience to some. No matter the game mechanics, they're still a nifty collectible.