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What Should Nintendo Do With Its Amiibos?
Nintendo’s amiibos are adorable little action figures I look forward to staring at while they find a home on my desk, but as of this moment, their application seems limited.
Of the confirmed games that will take advantage of the figures, Super Smash Bros. is the only one we really know how amiibos will be integrated. You will be able to store an A.I. fighter in your figure that will get stronger as you allow it to fight on its own. You can track your fighter’s progress as they take on other fighters, but it is a mostly passive experience.
Other confirmed games include the recently dated Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, and Yoshi's Woolly World. We don’t know how amiibos will function with these games yet, but we hope their implementation will be more interesting than their initial limited use. Here are some of our own ideas.
A dedicated amiibo adventure game
The most obvious possible use of amiibos is one many thought of when they were first showcased: designing a game explicitly for their use. Super Smash Bros. is a consistently successful franchise for Nintendo thanks to a number of factors, but one of its largest draws is its impressive cast. The amiibos are inspired by the success of Skylanders and Disney Infinity – why not take that inspiration a step further for a full adventure game where you can use your amiibos as playable characters?
Moving customizations from game to game
One of the advantages amiibos have over something comparable like Disney Infinity or Skylanders, is Nintendo’s characters exist in a multitude of games across many genres. Luigi, for example, appears in Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Mario 3D World, just to name a few. Owning a Luigi amiibo could give players the opportunity to take their favorite Luigi iteration from game to game. Maybe you like white lab coat Dr. Luigi, and could use his amiibo to play as that version of Luigi in Mario Party, and then take him over to Mario Kart 8 to watch his coat flap in the breeze while riding a motorcycle.
A dedicated WarioWare amiibo experience
The WarioWare series (or Game & Wario) has always been fertile ground for experimentation and general hilarity. I would love to see what the WarioWare team could come up with using the amiibo figures. The WarioWare games always take advantage of very limited input (single button presses or the simple rotation of a handheld) to create fun, interesting, and confusing games. Using the camera to film or photograph an amiibo, or even the act or placing and removing it from the GamePad’s sensor would undoubtedly create an interesting experience. Plus, I wouldn't say no to a Wario amiibo, and this would create a good excuse to make one.
Introducing new characters
Nintendo has a fantastic collection of iconic characters, and because of that, it struggles a bit to bring in new faces. amiibos could offer a testing ground to design and create new characters to eventually appear as guests or receive their own games in the future. Often people will buy a toy, figure, or collectible based solely on an interesting design, and Nintendo could use that to its advantage to see what kinds of new characters resonate with fans.
Amiibos as DLC
So far Nintendo has been reasonable, thankfully, with its DLC experiments and implementation. I would hate to see the amiibos become an avenue for frequent paid DLC, but they could be used as a way for players to identify their fandom to receive interesting DLC. For example, if you’re a huge Fire Emblem fan you will probably buy a Marth amiibo. Maybe having that Marth amiibo could be used to gain Fire Emblem content across a number of different games, like Fire Emblem stuff for your Animal Crossing home, or a special bumper sticker for your kart that says, “Hey. I like Fire Emblem. Deal with it.”
Moving data between the 3DS and the Wii U
Right now, the Wii U and 3DS don’t interact a lot. Nintendo’s consoles look at the loving relationship between the PlayStation 4 and Vita with jealousy, but the amiibos could offer a simple way to bring the two consoles closer. The 3DS will offer an attachment for amiibo compatibility, the New 3DS will have it built in, and the Wii U has had the technology since day one. With the amiibos’ ability to store some data, maybe save files or some other kind of data can be stored for transporation between the handheld and the console. Nintendo has no cloud system in place, but maybe save files for Virtual Console games that appear on both the 3DS and Wii U (like Minish Cap) can be moved back and forth (with a Link or Zelda amiibo). Sure, there might be an option to move an SD card with a save file back and forth, but that’s not nearly as fun.
For more on Nintendo's amiibos, head here.
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