Nintendo UK says amiibo “smashed” expectations, will look to satisfy needs with more stock
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
Nintendo’s amiibo figures have done incredibly well. Strong demand for the figures have caused sell-outs in quite a few cases, and some have been find to locate in store.
James Honeywell, head of consumer marketing at Nintendo UK, admitted to MCV that amiibo popularity and resulting shortages caught the company by surprise. However, Nintendo will be looking to “do a better job of satisfying these needs in the future with more stock”.
Honeywell’s full words are as follows:
Right from the outset we hoped that Amiibo would be strong, but even our expectations have been smashed. With a unique line-up of iconic characters that are loved by so many people, it really has been unprecedented. We hope to do a better job of satisfying these needs in the future with more stock, and, while there are always going to be some times when we can’t on certain characters, I suspect that is also part of the appeal. What we hadn’t anticipated was the number of collectors wanting to get them all – this has seen demand exceed supply in some areas. Although, if you search around, you can still find some of the more hard-to-find Amiibo sitting on shelves.
More: Amiibo, James Honeywell, top
Artist’s block prevented Mega Flygon from happening
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
Mega Flygon is something that could have existed… had it not been for artist’s block.
That nugget of information was shared in the latest issue of Nintendo Dream, which features an interview with Game Freak’s Ken Sugimori, Shigeru Ohmori (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire director), Shigeki Morimoto (game developer), and Kazumasa Iwao (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire map designer).
Sugimori’s specifically shared the following:
Sugimori: For Aarune, he needed to have a Pokemon that could use the moves Fly and Secret Power, which are perfect moves for finding Secret Bases. And the only Hoenn Pokemon that wasn’t used by a key character that fit that criteria was Flygon. It does not Mega Evolve, but I really like Flygon.
Interviewer: Key characters often carry a Pokemon that can Mega Evolve, but Flygon is an exception, right?
Sugimori: Flygon has had the potential to have a Mega Evolution since XY, but we were unable to complete a design and so it was dropped from consideration.
Splatoon, Charizard, Wario, and Pac-Man amiibo pre-orders back up on Walmart
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
Update: Charizard out of stock.
Walmart is once again taking pre-orders for several upcoming amiibo. It’s possible to reserve the various Splatoon figures, plus Charizard, Wario, and Pac-Man. Links to each are posted below.
Splatoon 3-Pack
Inkling Girl
Inkling Boy
Charizard
Wario
Pac-Man
Nintendo UK store taking pre-orders for Yoshi’s Woolly World amiibo bundles
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 1 Comment
Pre-orders are now open for the Yoshi’s Woolly World amiibo on the Nintendo UK store, though they’re only available as part of a bundle. Reservations are live here.
The Yoshi’s Woolly World amiibo Pack (featuring the game and all three amiibo) are sold out, but these options are currently available:
Game + green Yoshi amiibo special pack – £49.99
Game + green Yoshi amiibo separate packaging – £53.99
Game + pink Yoshi amiibo separate packaging – £53.99
Game + blue Yoshi amiibo separate packaging – £53.99
Game + Green Yoshi + 8GB Super Smash Bros. Wii U system bundle – £219.99
Chances are that there will be quick sell-outs, so be sure to get an order in while you can!
More: Amiibo, pre-order, UK, Yoshi's Woolly World
Here’s what the wave 4 and 5 Smash Bros. amiibo do
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
GameSpot put together an article that rounds up the different functions of the wave 4 and 5 Smash Bros. amiibo. Check it out below.
Wave 4
Lucina
Super Smash Bros for Wii U – AI sidekick
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – AI sidekick
Mario Party 10 – Scratch Bonus
Hyrule Warriors – 3 star or less weapon, Rupee bonus or crafting material bonus
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Extra 1-Up
Codename: S.T.E.A.M – Gets added into your team as a playable character
Robin
Super Smash Bros for Wii U – AI sidekick
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – AI sidekick
Mario Party 10 – Scratch Bonus
Hyrule Warriors – 3 star or less weapon, Rupee bonus or crafting material bonus
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Extra 1-Up
Codename: S.T.E.A.M – Gets added into your team as a playable character
Charizard
Super Smash Bros for Wii U – AI sidekick
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – AI sidekick
Mario Party 10 – Scratch Bonus
Hyrule Warriors – 3 star or less weapon, Rupee bonus or crafting material bonus
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Extra 1-Up
Wario
Super Smash Bros for Wii U – AI sidekick
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – AI sidekick
Mario Kart 8 (on April 23) – Mii racing suit
Mario Party 10 – amiibo Party mode
Hyrule Warriors – 3 star or less weapon, Rupee bonus or crafting material bonus
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Extra 1-Up
Ness
Super Smash Bros for Wii U – AI sidekick
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – AI sidekick
Mario Party 10 – Scratch Bonus
Hyrule Warriors – 3 star or less weapon, Rupee bonus or crafting material bonus
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Extra 1-Up
(Note: This Amiibo is GameStop exclusive in the US.)
More: Amiibo
An “honest trailer” for Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Random, Videos | 4 Comments
Smosh Games’ continues its series of “honest trailers” with a new video for Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. Watch it below.
More: Pokemon Ruby, Pokemon Sapphire
Inti Creates wasn’t originally planning on making any Mega Man Zero sequels
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GBA, General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
USGamer put up a massive piece that recounts the history of Inti Creates. There are plenty of quotes mixed in from Takuya Aizu, the company’s president.
One of the more interesting topics concerns Mega Man Zero. Aizu first explains how Inti Creates originally wanted to kill off X, but Capcom intervened.
The main concept that we wanted to explore was Zero killing X. We wanted to come up with something really sensational. There was something about Mega Man Zero at first that we felt wasn’t quite right — it wasn’t true to our idea of the character. So we tried to resolve that by coming up with this dramatic concept.
Within the team, there was no resistance at all. In fact, right up until we went to master the game, the plot played out with Zero defeating X. However, Capcom as a company… it didn’t serve well for the company to have a series in which X is the hero and then another title where that same hero gets killed off. And so because of that, at the very, very, very end, like right before we sent the game to be manufactured, we had to change it so that the X that Zero kills was actually a copy. We didn’t have time to change the game play, though, so just the story changed slightly.
More: Capcom, interview, Inti Creates, Takuya Aizu, top
YouTube views of “Super Mario” were at nearly 550 million last month
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Newzoo and Octoly published a new monthly YouTube Game Franchises table that gives insight into the most-viewed IPs on YouTube. Super Mario is a new entry on the list, and saw nearly 550 million views during the month of March. Almost all views stemmed from fan-made content.
Take a look at the full chart above.
More: YouTube
Wario, Charizard and Pac-Man amiibo unboxing video
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 1 Comment
A new amiibo unboxing video has been uploaded by NintenDaan. We’re able to get yet another look at the Wario, Charizard, and Pac-Man figures. Watch the video below.
Nintendo on its evolved approach to HD development
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
This month’s issue of EDGE has an extensive feature about Splatoon. Naturally, a great deal of the piece focuses on the Wii U game, but the magazine was also able to ask Nintendo EAD general manager Katsuya Eguchi an off-hand question as well.
Discussing how Nintendo’s approach to HD development has evolved over the course of working with Wii U, Eguchi said:
“As you say, HD development tends to need a lot more people due to the higher standards required. The question of how to secure the necessary programmers and designers is one common to all companies in the industry, and everyone has to find ways of dealing with it. For example, if you increase the number of staff, there will be a greater difference in skill levels between them, which makes managing quality control extremely important.
“However, what’s really critical is making sure that this increased number of staff aren’t doing any unnecessary work. It hurts to imagine just how many people’s work would be wasted if we had to redo something. Being able to judge what needs to be done is the key to making sure that people and time are not wasted. This applies not only to decisions about specific features after development has started, but also to the starting point itself – what kind of new game to make, for example. That is critical, and getting it wrong runs the risk of the whole project amounting to nothing.
“It’s normal that, when a company decides what to start developing, the opinions of the people at the top of the organisation are given the most weight. It makes sense because the people in those roles have had a lot of experience and success stories. However, Nintendo is an entertainment company, and good ideas for entertainment can come from anywhere… Young people are also more sensitive to new trends, developments and technologies that are appearing. We are trying to use the opinions of this younger generation even at the start of a project.”
