amiibo

Mini Mario and Friends is a new entry in the Mario & Donkey Kong puzzle franchise. It plays similar to previous entries in the series, but this time you’ll need an amiibo if you want to play the game. I got a copy of this game thanks to a friend! Here are my first impressions of Mini Mario and Friends.

If reviews from popular gaming websites are to be believed, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is at best a rarely fun experience, but generally a snooze fest, legitimately. Some reviewers said they fell asleep playing this. We picked up the title over Christmas, and sure, some of what these reviews are saying is legitimate. However - and I have spoken about this in the past - it shows a disconnect between hardcore Nintendo fans and the casual audience Nintendo continues to cater too. My son Logan falls into that second category.

Mario and Luigi titles have been one of my favorite Mario franchises. My other favorite franchise? Paper Mario. In my personal opinion, the last release for each - Mario and Luigi: Dream Team and Paper Mario: Sticker Star where somewhat of a let down. Dream Team was good, yes, but Sticker Star was pretty bad. Frankly, I had little hope for Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam. However, after playing it a few times at various Nintendo events, and watching a few Let's Plays on YouTube - the game has been out in Japan and Europe since December - I'm really excited for ...

Just when one would expect the Skylanders formula to get dated, the team at Activision comes up with something new to excite players. This time around, that new mechanic is vehicles. While driving these toys around the level can sometimes be frustrating, their inclusion in Skylanders SuperChargers gives the Skylander franchise a very much necessary kick in the butt. Skylanders SuperChargers is the best entry in the series to date with better looking characters, more gameplay options, and of course, vehicles!

On the eve of the launch of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, it appears as if Animal Crossing amiibo cards are sold out at almost every retailer, and those that are not sold out will have limited stock. What I'm basically saying is: if you don't go get your copy of the game the second the store opens, there is a good chance you won't get any amiibo cards.

People love amiibo. There is no way around that fact. They are excellently sculpted miniature figures of our favorite Nintendo and friends characters. It would be interesting to see what percentage of amiibo buyers are actually using them within games, and how many are picking them up purely for collectible reasons. I think those numbers could prove whether Nintendo is smart with amiibo cards and jumping on a great opportunity, or if they are just getting greedy?

I'm not going to spoil what was in the Nintendo Direct today. Basically, it was awesome. I originally had no desire to play this game, but the more I've seen of it, the more I want to play it. The addition of those fantastic amiibo helps as well.

Yarn Yoshi amiibo have gone up for preorder at retailers across the UK, and amiibo hunters may - or may not - be surprised at another price increase. At what point is price too high? For these particular figures, I'm not sure there is a price that is "too much."

Today's Nintendo Direct shed a lot of light on the newest wave of amiibo, as well as other amiibo that will be launching later this year in conjunction with a number of games. Here are the highlights (courtesy of my viewing, and Nintendo of Canada's Press Release):

Nintendo has update their wildly popular puzzle title, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker game to work with the new, and hard to find, Toad amiibo. Scanning Toad into the game will offer an extra challenge on each level throughout the game. A pixel Toad will appear on a wall somewhere in the level, and players are challenged with rotating the level, finding the Toad, and tapping on him using the stylus to complete the challenge.