At a recent Nintendo press event in Toronto, Staff Writer Jay Borenstein was able to get his hands on Amiibo and check out their functionality in Super Smash Bros Wii U. Here are his impressions:
Never one to resist a photo op, Jay poses with Mario and Link
Who doesn’t love a good toy? Gamers often collect pieces of memorabilia to go with their gaming obsession, like the recently announced and beautiful looking Link on the Crimson Skyloft statue from First 4 Figures, or the statues that often come with the collector’s editions of games. They look pretty, sure, but all they do is sit on their shelf and stare at your with their dead eyes.
Recently however, I was fortunate enough to get a hands on preview of Nintendo’s upcoming Amiibo line of figures that promise functionality across the entire line of the Wii U and 3DS catalog, and I witnessed an otherwise idle but well designed Pikachu figurine come to life in Super Smash Bros Wii U and summarily kick my butt. Nintendo, you’re definitely on to something here.
The four Amiibo on hand at the event, and the Smash Bros Gamecube Controller
First off, these little statuettes are beautiful, and are worthy of sitting on any Nintendo fan’s shelf. They are highly detailed and sturdy, so even if they’re tossed around by little ones in the house they should remain intact. That alone makes them worth the suggested retail price of $12.99. However, what makes them truly special is their housed NFC chip, which allows you store data from your games related to those characters and transfer them to other Wii U (and eventually 3DS) systems. Of course, everyone is dying to know how they work in Super Smash Bros Wii U, so let me break it down.
Basically, each Amiibo represents a trainable version of that fighter that you can set as one of the AI combatants in a Smash match. They begin their journey as a level one character, and as you engage them in Smash matches they level up to a max level of 50, supposedly learning how to fight based on how you engage them in combat. So for instance, if you’re all about relentless smash attacks, your Amiibo fighter will mimic you and favour smash attacks over specials, while also becoming a crafty dodger. They learn as they grow, making them different from your standard level 9 CPU fighter.
You can feed Yoshi equipment to make him stronger
At the same time, you can beef up your Amiibo by feeding them fighter equipment which are similar to the ones earned on Super Smash Bros 3DS and used in Smash Run, consuming them in the process. Just like when you equip them in the 3DS version, each piece of equipment powers up one stat but reduces another, so if you want to have an evenly balanced Amiibo you need to make sure you feed them a balanced amount of Attack, Defense, and Speed equipment. Of course, those who want a more specialized defence fighter, for instance, can load them up with defence items, compromising their overall speed.
Each character can have three bonus effects from equipment, with the oldest one being bumped off the list if you feed them equipment with bonus effects beyond the third, and you can alter their special attacks as you unlock them in the game, just like in the 3DS version. So the question is, do they fight well?
I played against a level 50 Pikachu with maxed out defence and hyper smash attacks. I could not get that Pikachu off the stage, and though he was as slow as molasses, he managed to wallop me pretty good. He didn’t KO me very much, but because he was so hard to KO himself, he came very close to winning as the rest of us human players kept knocking each other out of the ring while he remained firmly planted.
I can see people training up their Amiibos and having them face off in Amiibo only battles to see which one will win, and they won’t be boring fights. Each Amiibo reflects the personality of its trainer, and the type of gear you feed your Amiibo means that each fighter will be completely different, even if they’re based off the same character. Of course, if you get bored with your Amiibo fighter, you can reset it at any time back to level 1.
This is a very cool idea, and though there have obviously been precursors with franchises such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity, Nintendo is making good on its promise to provide unique gameplay experiences using Amiibo. Currently only the Wii U can make use of Amiibo, but Nintendo is releasing a 3DS NFC reader in 2015, and the New 3DS, currently still with no North American release date, will have the NFC reader built in.
Other Wii U games that plan to support Amiibo include Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Yoshi’s Woolly World, though in what capacity remains to be seen. Still, from what I’ve seen of Amiibo in Super Smash Bros Wii U, I’m looking forward to seeing how Nintendo integrates these gorgeous figures into their games in the near future.
The first wave of Amiibo will launch alongside Super Smash Bros Wii U in North America on November 21st, 2014.
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