Rare Amiibo’s Getting Restocked; Iwata Unsure When Though

Iwata also gave us an update on the status of Amiibo’s. The good news is, as we already know, the demand for the Amiibos has been very strong. With strong demand has come strong sales. They have actually shipped 5.4 million Amiibos as of March 31. That’s no small number by any means.

The not so good news is, the demand is too high for the supply and there just isn’t enough Amiibos to go around. However, Nintendo is going to be producing more of the Amiibo’s that sold out quickly after launch to help with the supply. That said, there’s no time frame in which they’ll be coming. So for those looking for various different Amiibos, hopefully you’ll be able to find some in the not too distant future.

Advertisements

NintendPals Episode 12: Cranky Donkey

Download Episode

iTunes Link

In this weeks episode the NintendPals try out a brand new section for the show, they chat about some upcoming games including one that Myles found on a sketchy website and as always we talk about we’ve been spending our playing this week. Also Myles got drunk and played Mario Kart 8 again and Nick had an ill family member.

Nintendo Knows They’ve Screwed Up amiibo

If there’s been one constant frustration among fans when it comes to Nintendo over the last few months it’s amiibo. Those little figures that everyone just knew were going to happen eventually have been the cause of numerous headaches around the world. We’ve heard stories of people camping out to make sure they could get a hold of that one figure they needed for their collection. There have been WarioWare mini-games made in regards to the frustration of ordering online. We’ve heard of pre-orders cancelled, scalpers scooping up all of the rarest figures for themselves. It’s been more frustrating than fun for most people.

Nintendo realizes they’ve made mistakes when it concerns these new figures. Today they released a statement regarding the current state of amiibo and just what they’re going to do in the future.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm that our fans continue to show toward amiibo. Sales for the product have exceeded our expectations. We understand how frustrating it can be at times if consumers are unable to find certain figures, and we apologize for that.

We’re trying to meet the demands of our fans and consumers by increasing the amount of amiibo we manufacture and ship to retail. We may continue to see consumer demand outpace supply levels for certain characters at times, but we will do our best to prevent that from happening.

As our library of amiibo continues to grow, some figures will be easier to find than others. We are constantly looking for the opportunity to reissue amiibo and are already making plans to bring back some currently out-of-stock amiibo figures. Stay tuned for details.

Nintendo plans to make it easier for consumers to know when new amiibo are on the way, through Nintendo press announcements, timely updates on our social media channels and working closely with retailers.

We remain committed to keeping amiibo affordable and easy to access as a platform to enhance game-play experiences. These plans include Animal Crossing amiibo cards that will become available by the end of 2015, and a free-to-download app for Wii U called amiibo tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits that launched on April 30, 2015, that lets consumers enjoy playable scenes from certain NES and Super NES games with amiibo.”

I know they have much more in store for amiibo both in regards to the figures and collectible as well as to what they’re going to do in various games. We’ve spoken numerous times over the last few months. Our mindset has gone from excited to frustrated to apathetic in some cases. They’re a great idea. They’ve just been poorly implemented. When customers can’t walk into a store find the character they want and buy it that’s a problem. Activision and Disney both realize that. You never see mass outages of characters in their figure lines. Hopefully Nintendo can rectify this whole situation so that amiibo once again become something people are excited to talk about.

Nintendo Makes 25 Billion Yen Profit In Quarter Ending March 2015

Over the past few years, whenever Nintendo was talked about in the news from a financial stand point, everything was all doom and gloom. However, despite all the negativity, the Wii U sales have been increasing and Nintendo reportedly posted an operating profit of 25 billion yen in the quarter ending in March 2015. This is thanks to Super Smash Bros., Yokai Watch, the launch of the New 3DS in the West, and the Amiibos.

Last year, in the first two months of the Amiibo’s launch, 5.7 million Amiibo’s were sold worldwide and 3.5 million were sold in the U.S. alone. Since the Amiibo’s and Super Smash Bros. launched, the Wii U has seen an increase in hardware sales by 10% in the U.S. which has continued into 2015 with a 20% increase for the first quarter, according to NPD. Michael Pachter believes the Amiibo’s will bring in $200 million – $300 million annual revenue for Nintendo. He also states that as more games use the Amiibo’s, more people will want them.

Overall though, things are looking better for Nintendo. Sales of the 3DS are up thanks to the New 3DS, the Wii U sales are doing better year over year, software sales are looking good, and many Amiibos are still sold out in the U.S. at retail. Nintendo is starting 2015 off strong. Combine this with the recent news of the partnership with DeNA and it seems 2015 will turn out to be a better year for Nintendo then 2014.

Nintendo Download: Week of April 30th

This week is the week for the Virtual Console I’ve been waiting for. Paper Mario (N64) hits Wii U. amiibo Tap launches giving amiibo owners a chance to play short demos of various games from Nintendo’s history at a quick tap of a figure. Puzzle & Dragons gets a demo. More Star Wars Pinball lands, and much, much more. Head past the break for all the details.

Episode 11: Frugalcast

Download Episode

iTunes Link

This week on the NintendPals podcast Myles and Nick discuss the latest Mario Kart DLC and 200cc mode – specifically how neither of them could work out how to actually access the thing. They also talk about various ways to either not spend money or save it and have another rant about the state of Amiibo stock.

Amiibo Hunting in the UK

16 minutes. That’s the total time that the June wave of Smash Bros amiibo stayed on Nintendo’s Official UK Store, before vanishing behind the dreaded Sold Out sign. While the US amiibo situation is well documented, it’s easy to buy into the misconception that everywhere else has it easy. We’ve all seen the images of stores brimming with amiibo stock, but these are very much the exception rather than the rule, and in the UK, the presence of amiibo is virtually non-existent.

While the US market is (surprisingly) still very retail focussed, the battle for amiibo in the UK is almost entirely digital. A by-product of the GAME Stores group holding an effective monopoly of the games industry on the high street, the only place to go to get amiibo is online, and it is here where the chaos arises. Because no matter what companies may say, a pre-order is only worth as much as the paper it’s written on, and in the digital world, that paper doesn’t even exist.

In the retail space, there is only one large video games retailer in the UK – GAME. The GAME group, who for better or worse have swallowed all that have challenged them, are the biggest specialist games retailer out there, meaning amiibo are only going to one place in any meaningful quantity. While supermarkets and department stores are stocking a handful of (typically Mario) amiibo, the ones they know they can sell, the rarer amiibo are simply not appearing at retail, leaving the shelves in constant need of replenishment.

European Releases: Week Beginning 27th April

Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s time to find out what’s coming to our beloved Nintendo consoles in Europe this week…

Wii U (Download)

Amiibo Touch & Play – Not so much a game but more of a new way of interacting with your ever expanding collection of Amiibo. The app, which will be available to download exclusively from the Wii U eShop this Thursday (30/04/2015) will give players access to 10 minute demos of 30 NES & SNES games from the Virtual Console by simply tapping an Amiibo against your Gamepad. All Amiibo are compatible and a demo will be randomly assigned to your Amiibo when you scan it in. Amiibo Touch & Play will be available for free and you can find out more about it by clicking here.

Amiibo tap incoming to Europe this month!

Here comes another ‘free-to-play’ title from Nintendo that seeks to get more out of your Amiibo, potentially right now sitting either sealed in a glass cabinet, or gathering dust beneath your TV!

Nintendo of Europe via their Twitter account announced…
So what do we know about Amiibo Touch & Play? – well at this point it’s being released in North America under the name ‘Amiibo Tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits‘ on April 30th and has also had a Japanese release previous

Essentailly the title allows you scan any of your Amiibo figures and unlock timed demo’s of some of Nintendo’s classic titles, such as Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Kirby and the like. Think of it as an extension of the mode we have already seen in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U this year. Take a look at the below video from a Nintendo Direct for North America to get an idea of how things pan out

Although a limited program, it’s cool to see Nintendo looking to give Amiibo faithful more things to do with those little figures and I hope we see more functionality unlock as more games are released and also give’s Nintendo the ability to market these titles that are available to purchase via the eShop for varying prices

Amiibo Touch & Play will be released via the Wii U eShop on April 30th in Europe

Amiibo Tap Coming April 30th In North America

A smaller announcement that came from the Nintendo Direct earlier this month was for a piece of software called Amiibo Tap. The app came out earlier this week in Japan and it’s now on its way to North America.

amiibo tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits (confirmed for April 30): Download the game from the Nintendo eShop for Wii U, then tap any amiibo to your Wii U GamePad. You’ll unlock a random playable three-minute scene from a classic NES or Super NES game. It’s a cool way to extend the playability of amiibo. Here’s the game page: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/FHXK5fELXvygJ9ALk2bqyATmG-iDm07q

While I don’t think this will be something people will be going out and buying Amiibos for, I can see how this would give all those Amiibo collectors something extra to mess around with. How do you feel about Amiibo Tap? Will you be checking it out when it comes out?