Wave 4 amiibo announced
Nintendo announced the 4th wave of the toy-to-life franchise amiibo during their first Nintendo Direct of 2015. The next wave of the Smash Bros. amiibo packs some heavy hitters from the world of Nintendo as Robin and Lucina from Fire Emblem, Ness from Earthbound, Wario, Charizard and even Pac-Man will be releasing on April 24th. It’s safe to bet that these all will sell out well before they are actually launched so if you want one you better be ready to click that pre-order button whenever it becomes available. Bill Trinen of Nintendo also announced that they are going to be releasing more Marth amiibo because they are virtually impossible to find at a reasonable price. Certain figures like Marth are going to be used in upcoming games like Codename S.T.E.A.M. so if you missed out on the first run of Marth, hopefully you will now be able to secure one when it releases later this year.
During the press conference Nintendo also announced a whole new universe of amiibo that are completely different than the current look of the Smash Bros. amiibo. “The Mario Universe” includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and Toad which all resemble their more user friendly poses rather than the fighter stances in the Smash line up. Another new aspect besides the color pallet is that all of these special amiibo are on red pedestals rather than the black ones found on the Smash Bros. amiibo. The new Mario Universe amiibo will release on March 20th alongside the release of Mario Party 10 and Mario from the Mario Universe set will be released with a limited edition of Mario Party 10 also releasing on March 20th.
Each amiibo has a specific use, however the first truly interesting amiibo gameplay addition comes with the new Toad amiibo and its use in Toad’s Treasure Tracker. The Toad amiibo will provide players with new hidden pixilated Toad coins to find which will provide more gameplay through exploration. It’s a kind of hide and seek game where The Toad amiibo will actually include new inventive ways to play Toad’s Treasure Tracker allowing a deeper and more involved experience rather than just providing in-game costumes or items. Eventually amiibo will be more than just a nifty hat and this is the start of it. Maybe one day an MMO inspired amiibo game will come out where players all around the world will run wild as their favorite Nintendo mascot in a massive open world… Well hey, a nerd can always dream right?
Nintendo explained that since an amiibo can only hold one game’s information at a time, then they want to give amiibo fanatics more options rather than just having them erase all of their hard earned Smash data. Mario Party 10 will use these toys in an exclusive game mode called amiibo mode that will require the save space of the amiibo. This mode allows players to use specific amiibo to play on new game boards that provide players with various character driven advantages on that board. For example Luigi’s board will allow players to use the Poltergust 3000 to steal items from other players, and Peach’s board provides Super Mushrooms to the player so they can move more spaces.
The world of amiibo continues to grow and become more incredible than ever imagined. What first started off as a $13, cool-looking statue, that came with piece of dlc is now blossoming into new and interesting ways to experience our favorite Nintendo franchises.