Satoru Iwata Unique Amiibo Selling for Charity!

This Amiibo is truly one-of-a-kind and such a touching tribute to one of the founding fathers of Nintendo. I really wish that there wasn't only ONE of these figures, I would totally try to hunt it down. However, I love that the proceeds are going to such a good cause.

Read the full story below:

Created by GandaKris, the figure uses the standard Mii Amiibo as a base and features Iwata's Mii holding the Master Sword. At his feet are Diddy Kong's Nintendo cap, a Pokeball, a 1UP mushroom, a Super Star from Mario, and the Red Shield from Zelda.

"GandaKris has created what we believe to be the most touching, and inspirational custom Amiibo ever created," reads the eBay listing. "In Iwata-san's memory we will be donating 100% of the proceeds directly to Child's Play, a non-profit charity dedicated to providing children in hospitals with toys and videos games."

At the time of publishing this story, the bidding has reached $779, with three days left on the item.

Iwata passed away in July 2015, following ongoing health issues.

Amiibos to be Released in Rare Gold and Silver Variants

It's-a-me! MORE MARIO!

Look out! Nintendo looks to be releasing some rare versions of their Mario Amiibo. These versions will be solid gold and solid silver. This news was leaked  in a pair of Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) certificates posted to Nintendo's website. They have since been removed.

Several media outlets have reached out to Nintendo for comment and clarification on how these Mario amiibo figures will be distributed, either at retail, through a giveaway, an exclusive or some other method but haven't received an official statement.

With no official word from Nintendo, we don't know if it will ONLY be Mario figures or if there will be any other variants. However, we do know that this amiibo is in a new pose! This is coinciding with the release of Mario Party 10.

The new Super Mario line of amiibo is scheduled to launch March 20 and includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi and Toad. Nintendo will release another batch of Super Smash Bros.-themed amiibo, which include Robin, Lucina, Pac-Man, Wario, Ness and Charizard, this spring.

Yes, Charizard...you will be mine.

Keep your eyes open for news on these rare gold/silver versions and hope we can get our hands on them!

Target Not Restocking Rosalina and Luma Amiibo

I'm really not sure what Nintendo is thinking with their distribution of Amiibos. As we reported late last year, Nintendo will be pulling certain characters off the shelf after only being released for a few weeks.

This trend is continuing.

Rosalina and Luma, which in fact is only one Amiibo figure, was exclusively released at Target yesterday with a notice to Target employees...This letter states that they will NOT be restocking Rosaluma (that's my new name for her figure). Period.

There isn't a "Not be restocking Rosaluma for 2 weeks/2 years/2 decades," just...not going to send you more. Period.

Listen, a few years ago Micah and I were Skylander crazy. We would go into just about every video game store whenever we could, just to see which Skylanders they had. It was suspenseful, fun and great bonding time. Honestly, looking back on it, the hunt for those little boogers when the first game came out was more fun than actually playing them.

But if Nintendo is trying to recapture this feeling by only letting certain characters be shipped ONCE. That is insane. The hunt for original Skylanders was fun, hopeful. Conversations while nearing the closest Gamestop would go like this:

Micah: "Man, Two-Dad [that's what he calls me], I really hope they have Stump Smash...or...Dinorang...or someone other than Boomer!"

Mike: "I know, me too! Hopefully they got a new shipment in!"

Micah: "I hope so..."

Yep, this conversation only happens though if there are MULTIPLE shipments of the figure. Not just one. Where is the hope of the hunt? Oh there it is, POOF! Gone.

I'm curious to see how this whole thing shakes out, but so far, I'm pretty content with my 4 amiibo characters. I'd love to add a few to my collection in the future, but I won't be driving around on my lunch break or surfing Amazon to try to find these things. If they are in the store when I need to pick up some milk, then awesome, but I've really lost interest in trying to find these things if Nintendo is going to make it this hard.

We shall see!

3 Amiibo Figures Already Getting the Axe

Goodbye, Marth...:'(

Nintendo has confirmed today that 3 of its amiibo figures' production will soon be discontinued and not available in stores. So, if you are looking for some particular figures that aren't as popular (according to Nintendo) as Mario, Link and other faces of Nintendo, then you may need to snatch them while you can.

This announcement includes the discontinuation of Marth from Fire Emblem, Villager from Animal Crossing and Wii Fit Trainer from Wii Fit. I'm a little upset about Marth. As stated in my earlier amiibo article, Marth was my favorite character to play as on the GameCube version of Smash Bros. Now, unfortunately, if I ever want to symbolize my GameCube dominance, I will have to grab him off of eBay for some insane Buy it Now price.

I may try to find in stores now and see if anyone still has one...

Any who, never fear if you are wanting Mario, Link, Princess Peach, etc., according to Nintendo, they will make sure that the "most popular characters" are always regularly available in stores. So, if you and your child already have Mario and want to splurge on another amiibo, you can go to the store and find...more Marios?

Hmmm...

I'm not a huge fan of this announcement, especially after not even a month of being on the shelves.

- Mike

What's an Amiibo?

A...mii...bos....??

Amib-bow, Amybeo, Amuboo...yep, I've heard it said all these ways, but I believe it is Amībo  or A-MEE-BO, for us english speakin' folk. What exactly is an Amiibo? Well, I'm sure you have seen something similar to them over the past few years in the form of Skylanders. Recently, Disney jumped on board and started creating their own near-field communication (NFC) creations as well, all based off of characters from their universe.

Well, here comes Nintendo! They've released several figures from their own Nintendo universe that includes some very recognizable faces. These figures work with a few games from the start, but Nintendo will be releasing updates to other games to allow the functionality of the Amiibos. They also plan on allowing these Amiibos to be functional with the Nintendo 3DS in the future. Here's a list of the games that currently have full support:

Princess Peach for the ladies

• Super Smash Bros.
• Mario Kart 8
• Hyrule Warriors

With support coming later to these titles:

• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
• Mario Party 10
• Yoshi's Woolly World
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Super Smash Bros. (3DS)
• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus (3DS)

Link in store packaging

Now, these figures work a bit differently than what you may be accustumed to with NFC toys. They don't just pop in the game for you to be able to control them. They work differently for each game you insert them into. In Super Smash Bros., entering the figure into the game spawns a computer-controlled character to fight either alongside a player-controlled character, or against other CPU, player-controlled, or Amiibo-generated characters. With continued use, the Amiibo's corresponding character will be able to level up and learn new abilities.

If you insert one of them into Mario Kart, it will give you unique outfit options that you can only access if you have that character's Amiibo. So, it can make your game completely different, or just add some cosmetic changes. Either way, very cool accessory for gaming. 

Accessory...I like that word. With Skylanders and Disney Infinity, the NFC figures are necessary for you to play and enjoy the game. These Amiibos however, are more collectible accessories for your games...They don't have to be inserted into a game to be useful, you can enjoy a full experience without having to use an Amiibo. So, I'm going with that. It is a Nintendo gaming accessory. 

With all this said, you are probably wondering which characters are available and how much they retail for? Well, folks, there are a TON of figures that have been released in Wave 1 and other Waves will be released as we enter 2015. They retail for $12.95 a character (kind of pricey if you are wanting to collect all of these accessories) and can be found in any gaming store/section of department store. 

Here's a list of available characters and who will be coming out in the next waves:

Wave 1 (released Nov. 21):

Samus Aran, ready to fight for you!

• Mario (Super Mario)
• Peach (Super Mario)
• Yoshi (Super Mario)
• Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong)
• Link (Legend of Zelda)
• Fox (Star Fox)
• Samus Aran (Metroid)
• Wii Fit Trainer (Wii Fit)
• Villager (Animal Crossing)
• Pikachu (Pokemon)
• Kirby (Kirby)
• Marth (Fire Emblem)

Wave 2 (will release Dec. 14)

• Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
• Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong)
• Luigi (Super Mario)
• Little Mac (Punch-Out)
• Captain Falcon (F-Zero)



Marth, one of my favorites from Smash Bros.

• Pit (Kid Icarus)

Wave 3 (will release Jan/Feb)

• Rosalina and Luma (Super Mario)
• Bowser (Super Mario)
• Lucario (Pokemon)
• Toon Link (Legend of Zelda)
• Sheik (Legend of Zelda)
• Ike (Fire Emblem)
• Shulk (Xenoblade)
• Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Mega Man (Mega Man)
• King Dedede (Kirby)
• Meta Knight (Kirby)

So, as you can see...there will be a TON of characters to chose from within the next quarter. Not to mention, a very rich universe to continue creating more of these toys! Don't be surprised if games start getting developed strictly around these Amiibos. This will definitely help Nintendo get some sort of footing in the console wars. 

Which Amiibo would you get right now if you could? And which are you looking forward to in Wave 2 or 3?!