Amiibo is a toys-to-life platform created by Nintendo. It was introduced in November 2014. The system uses wireless technology to connect figurines to Nintendo consoles, including the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. These figurines work in a similar way to toys from other platforms, such as Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Lego Dimensions. Nintendo planned for Amiibo to support different types of toys, including future card games. Amiibo uses near field communication (NFC), a technology that allows devices to share data when they are close to each other. This can let information move between games and across different platforms.
Amiibo can be used with the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS consoles using built-in NFC readers. Other 3DS consoles can use an official NFC adapter. By September 2016, Nintendo sold 39 million Amiibo figurines and over 30 million Amiibo cards. By September 2022, total sales reached 77 million Amiibo toys.
History
The name "Amiibo" was created in Japan. The word "amii" comes from a French word that means "friend" or "playing with a friend." This reflects the idea of friendship that the name aims to show. The name is similar to the Spanish word "amigo," which also means "friend," but this similarity is not the origin of the name.
Toys for Bob and its parent company, Activision, invited Nintendo to be a partner in a new video game series called Skylanders. This series used figurines with special technology and a reader device to interact with the game. These figurines could store information, like a character’s abilities. Nintendo did not take the exclusive rights to the series, but Skylanders became very successful after it launched as a spin-off of Spyro the Dragon. This success led to competition, including a similar game called Disney Infinity released by Disney Interactive Studios in 2013.
In March 2013, Nintendo introduced Pokémon Rumble U, the first game for the Wii U that used the Wii U GamePad’s special communication technology to work with interactive figurines. In May 2014, Nintendo showed a prototype of a system called NFP, which allowed figurines to be used across multiple games for the 3DS and Wii U. The system was planned to be officially announced at E3.
On June 10, 2014, during E3 2014, Nintendo officially introduced the Amiibo platform. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was among the first games to support Amiibo figurines.
After the launch of Amiibo, Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto said the company planned to use near-field communication (NFC) technology in creative ways. He noted that Nintendo is known for making video games but is also a toy company.
Super Smash Bros. Amiibo toys were first sold in North America on November 21, 2014, in Europe on November 28, 2014, and in Japan on December 6, 2014, along with the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
The Super Mario series, including characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and Toad, was released for both regions on March 20, 2015.
In 2015, Nintendo expanded the Amiibo line to include new products. On February 27, 2015, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced plans for Amiibo-enabled trading cards. On April 1, 2015, Nintendo released Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, a game in the Animal Crossing series that uses cards. Amiibo yarn plushies were also introduced as part of Yoshi's Woolly World.
At E3 2015, Activision announced Amiibo figurines of Bowser and Donkey Kong for Skylanders: SuperChargers. These figurines can be used with Skylanders games or other Amiibo-compatible games by switching a setting on their bases.
On August 27, 2015, an Amiibo figurine of the main character from Shovel Knight was released. This figurine unlocks content in the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game. It is the first Amiibo of a non-Nintendo character not tied to a first-party title. The figurine was produced by Yacht Club Games, the game’s publisher, but Nintendo markets it as part of the Amiibo line.
The Amiibo line for The Legend of Zelda began with the Wolf Link figurine, used in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and later Breath of the Wild. It later expanded with collections like the 30th Anniversary set and the Breath of the Wild collection. At E3 2017, Nintendo introduced wedding-themed Mario, Peach, and Bowser figurines to coincide with Super Mario Odyssey, as well as Fire Emblem characters for Fire Emblem Warriors.
Amiibo figures based on Metroid characters were released with the 3DS remake of Metroid II: Metroid: Samus Returns. Later, figurines of the four Champions from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were also released. Third-party developer Bethesda Softworks announced that existing Zelda Amiibo would work with the Nintendo Switch version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, allowing players to use Zelda-themed items in the game.
Collectibility and supply issues
When the Amiibo line first launched, it became very popular quickly. Preorders sold out before the products were available to the public. Nintendo’s CEO, Satoru Iwata, said that Amiibo would stay in stock, but some would be "limited-time offers" that would be replaced by new ones once sold out. The rarity of certain Amiibo figurines caused online retailers and auction sites to sell them for prices higher than the retail price. In Nintendo’s 3rd Quarter Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ending March 2015, Satoru Iwata was surprised by online auctions offering "premium prices" for sold-out Amiibo toys. Some early Amiibo toys with manufacturing defects were found and sold for very high prices, such as a Samus figurine with cannons on both arms instead of one arm, which sold for US$2,500 on eBay, and a Princess Peach figurine missing legs, which sold for US$25,100.
On April 2, 2015, when people were placing preorders for the May 29 release of Super Smash Bros. Wave 4 and the Splatoon series, the US preorder process caused GameStop’s website and in-store systems to stop working. Nintendo acknowledged these problems in early May 2015. Amazon did not allow preorders for those waves instead setting specific times on the release date when non-retailer exclusive Amiibo and the Super Mario Silver Mario Amiibo were available. This practice continued with Amazon’s exclusive release of the Palutena Amiibo and those released on September 11, 2015.
In May 2015, a truck carrying preorders for the special edition of Splatoon, which included a rare Inkling Squid Amiibo as a preorder bonus, was stolen in the UK. This made Nintendo unable to supply the Inkling Squid Amiibo to those who preordered. Instead, Nintendo offered Inkling Girl or Inkling Boy Amiibo with a standard edition and a £10 refund, or full refunds.
In response to the lack of certain Amiibo toys in the United States, Satoru Iwata explained on February 17, 2015, that a labor dispute on the west coast had delayed the delivery of shipments for six months, causing some Amiibo toys intended to be delivered before the November launch to be missing. After this announcement, rarer Amiibo toys like Wii Fit Trainer, Meta Knight, and Ike received limited re-releases in North America. For the US, the exclusive Best Buy release of the Dark Pit figurine did not accept preorders or online orders and limited the item to one per customer. While some news sources supported Best Buy’s practice, others, such as Brian Altano, Jose Otero, and Peer Schneider from IGN’s Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, encouraged American collectors to import hard-to-find Amiibo items.
Hardware support
The Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS/3DS XL, 2DS XL, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 have built-in NFC support. This allows them to work with Amiibo toys. On the Wii U, toys are scanned using an NFC reader inside the Wii U GamePad. Amiibo support was officially added to the consoles' software between November and December 2014. These updates included an Amiibo menu in the system settings. This menu let users scan, register, and erase data from Amiibo toys. The Nintendo Switch also has NFC readers in the Joy-Con R and Pro Controller. A separate NFC reader accessory for the original Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS was released in 2015 with the game Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.
Amiibo data communication
Supported games use one of two types of Amiibo compatibility: the ability to read an Amiibo toy's NFC tag and store data, or only read information from the toy. Each Amiibo toy is linked to one specific game that can use its storage space, though some toys may work with multiple games. However, each Amiibo toy can only store data from one compatible game at a time. To use it with a different game, data from the current game must be removed. For example, a Mario Amiibo figurine with data from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U must have that data deleted before storing data from Mario Party 10. Some games allow Amiibo toys to be used only for reading, which unlocks extra content. For example, using certain figurines with Mario Kart 8 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe unlocks Mii costumes based on the character shown on the toy. Different versions of the same character may offer the same compatibility, but special versions can unlock unique content in specific games. Existing Wii U and 3DS games can receive updates to support Amiibo features. Because Bandai Namco Entertainment worked together with Nintendo on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, they were the first third-party publishers to include Amiibo support in their own games.
List of Amiibo
The following list includes all known NFC items made by Amiibo. These items were first created as character figurines in 2014, then as cards in 2015, and may include other types in the future. Nintendo designed all Amiibo characters to work with any game that supports them, no matter which game series they belong to. For example, Mario figurines from the Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario series have the same functions. The Yoshi line uses soft dolls instead of hard plastic figurines.
There are currently 233 Amiibo figurines, 3 Amiibo card series, and 21 noted variations listed.
The following is a list of all confirmed Amiibo cards for the Animal Crossing series. Series 1, 2, 3, and 4 each have 100 cards, while Series 5 has 48 cards. There are also five cards not part of any series. After an update for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a new series of 50 Animal Crossing RV cards and an additional series of 6 cards featuring Sanrio characters were announced. Later, on September 23, 2021, Nintendo confirmed through its official Animal Crossing Twitter account that Series 5 was being made and might include villagers from Animal Crossing: New Horizons and returning villagers. Series 5 was released on November 5, 2021.
In North America, Australia, and New Zealand, some Amiibo were initially sold only at specific stores. In Australia and New Zealand, this included Mario (Silver Edition), Dark Hammer Slam Bowser, and Dark Turbo Charge Donkey Kong being available only at EB Games, Mario (Gold Edition) at Target in Australia and Mighty Ape in New Zealand, and the Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome Amiibo Sanrio Collaboration Pack and Qbby Amiibo at the Official Nintendo AU/NZ eBay Store. In North America, this practice was more common. Some characters, like Villager, were originally available at all stores but later became exclusive to certain retailers during restocks. In Mexico, GamePlanet sold Greninja, Rosalina, Ike, and Palutena exclusively at launch.