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My Dream for Amiibo

by Addison Webb - March 18, 2015, 5:56 pm EDT
Total comments: 1

Nintendo can make Amiibo more than just a collecting craze by giving players the ability to create their own unique Nintendo worlds.

It has been over three months since the launch of Nintendo’s Amiibo figures worldwide. Since November, these figures have caused a frenzy among Nintendo fans, with collectors and scalpers alike questing to find the rare figures to complete their collections. Last month’s investors meeting finally solidified what we knew about Amiibo fever: according to Satoru Iwata, 5.7 million Amiibo have been shipped.

While Amiibo have been a fiscal success for Nintendo, the figures still seem to be lacking depth as a gaming peripheral. So far, Amiibo are compatible with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Captain Toad, Codename S.T.E.A.M., and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. Other than Super Smash Bros., which lets players level up their Amiibo as support fighters or opponents, Amiibo have been essentially used as keys to unlock DLC-like add-ons.

While I have enjoyed using Amiibo in Super Smash Bros., to me, they are little more than a collection of mediocre to great looking decorative figurines. Most of the time I find using them in-game to be more of a chore than they are worth.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is not alone in the Toys-to-Life business. Before Amiibo, Activision and Disney created the Skylanders and Disney Infinity franchises.

While I have not played any of the Skylanders games, I am a big fan of Disney Infinity, and in my opinion their use of interactive figures is much more compelling than Nintendo’s. Not only does Disney Infinity feature story modes for the characters to be used in, or Play Sets as they are referred to, Disney Infinity features a mode called the Toy Box in which players can create their own game scenarios and share them over the internet. Personally, I love games which allow the players to create game content and share it. I enjoy being able to fire up Disney Infinity and have a seemingly unlimited supply of material to create or choose from. While I understand that user-created content can vary in quality, the joy of finding innovative and fun new things to do outweighs the potential for shovelware.

After messing around with the Toy Box in Disney Infinity, I have come to realize that Nintendo needs to release a similar sandbox, game-creating software. When I think of a company that can match Disney’s quality of franchises and characters, Nintendo is first to come to mind. There is endless potential for crazy, imaginative, fun games to be created by Nintendo fans.

Nintendo could begin this trend with the upcoming release of Mario Maker. Rather than just limiting Mario Maker to Mario characters and tilesets, various Amiibo could unlock that character as well as themed tilesets from that characters franchise and use them in 2d platforming setting. This could look similar to how the NES Remix games took characters and placed them in games from other franchises, such as Samus in Super Mario Brothers.

While this concept meets my desire to have a level building game that includes all Nintendo franchises, my end desire for Amiibo would be a 3D world building sandbox game. Imagine being able to create your own 3D Mario level and play as any Nintendo character, or creating your own 3D Metroid and take down Mother Brain as Link. Amiibo could unlock not only the character as playable in this game but also unlock world building assets from their respective franchises. Additional world building content could be made available through the upcoming Amiibo cards.

For this concept to reach its full potential online sharing and co-op is a must. Players should be able to share their created games over Miiverse as well as team up with their friends to play other users’ games.

Nintendo could set this game apart from other sandbox games by allowing players to create their own melting pots of Nintendo gameplay. Players could potentially make a Zelda dungeon that is completed by winning a kart race, fighting an army in a Fire Emblem style strategy minigame and fighting a boss in the style of Punch Out!. Nintendo has the advantage over Skylanders and Disney Infinity due to having decades of games featuring multiple play styles in their library. Nintendo needs to give players the power to manipulate these game types in their own creations.

What really makes or breaks this is the amount of freedom players have in creating. Giving players this much freedom would be a big step for Nintendo to take, but it could go far in reaching a new generation of gamers who have skyrocketed games that offer a high amount of creative freedom, like Minecraft, to success. This concept could not only improve the quality of Amiibo use options but create a new community and platform for Nintendo fans to promote their own creativity within Nintendo’s franchises.

So far the talk about Amiibo has been stories of scarcity and scalping. However, Nintendo can change that story using Amiibo in a sandbox, level-making game with classic Nintendo flare. Disney Infinity has been successful in creating a compelling Toys-to-Life platform through the Toy Box. I believe that Nintendo can take this concept, improve it and make it unique in a way that takes Amiibo from a toy to a creative peripheral.

Talkback

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)March 19, 2015

Ganondorf in a Super Mario Bros 3 level?
Little Mac riding on Yoshi in Mario World?
Shulk cutting down Bowser on 8-3?


This has to happen!

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