Bowser Jr. amiibo officially a Toys “R” Us exclusive in the United States
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
It’s official: the Bowser Jr. amiibo will only be available at Toys “R” Us in the United States. This was thought to be the case given how it’s also an exclusive in Canada.
Toys “R” Us tweeted out the following a short while ago:
Our exclusive Bowser Jr. #amiibo is available 9/11, in store only & while supplies last! pic.twitter.com/oClLZUTNKH
— ToysRUs (@ToysRUs) September 2, 2015
Video shows the Animal Crossing amiibo cards Colllectors Album
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 4 Comments
A new video from Nintendo of France gives us a first look at the Animal Crossing amiibo cards Colllectors Album, which is coming to Europe. Check it out below.
Modern 8-bit Mario officially Walmart exclusive in Canada
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
As expected, the 30th Anniversary Mario Modern Color amiibo will be exclusive to Walmart in Canada. That information comes from one of the retailer’s latest circular. Chances are that this figure will be exclusive in North America as well, but we’ll keep you updated.
It also seems that the Dr. Mario amiibo is a Walmart exclusive in Canada. In the Unitd States, the figure is only available at Target.
Yacht Club Games doesn’t have much to say about rumors of Shovel Knight in Smash Bros.
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 12 Comments
Rumors recently circulated about Shovel Knight potentially coming to Smash Bros. It’s not yet known if there’s any truth to the speculation, and as expected, Yacht Club Games doesn’t have much to say on the matter.
When asked by iDigitalTimes about the rumors, the studio’s Sean Velasco simply said: “No, we don’t have anything to say about that.”
Velasco again touched on the Shovel Knight amiibo as well, and explained how this is something the studio is prepared for.
“We’re the first third-party amiibo being made. Nintendo, they do this thing where they go to developers and tell them what’s next. We brought up amiibo, and they gave us a run-down of everything. We never thought we could do a third-party amiibo, but that’s what Nintendo’s plan was.”
“We already have a pretty big merchandise wing at Yacht Club. We make shovels and shirts and toys and things. We already had this set up to make something like this, and it was right in our wheelhouse. We’re manufacturing and distributing the thing ourselves, but Nintendo is there with oversight. They’ve helped us out every step of the way. We’ve been working on this deal for a year now, so it’s exciting to be able to tell everyone ‘here it is!'”
Shovel Knight amiibo will be produced at the same factory as Disney Infinity figures
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
We heard last week that Yacht Club Games will be entirely responsible for the Shovel Knight amiibo. Nintendo is licensing the technology, but it’s pretty much up to the studio to get the figure into consumers’ hands.
This is something that Yacht Club Games reiterated to Destructoid at PAX Prime 2015. He additionally revealed that the Shovel Knight amiibo will be produced in the same factory as Disney Infinity figures.
Velasco said:
“We’re basically licensing the amiibo technology from Nintendo, and they’ve been overseeing it every step of the way. From the design, to how the amiibo functions in the game, to making sure that it was all just perfect in every way.”
“But we’re the ones that are dealing with the manufacturing and distribution, we’re the ones that are talking with the toy and sculpture people. Even things like the packaging.”
More: Amiibo, Sean Velasco, Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games
[Let’s Talk] Indie amiibo you’d like to see
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 29 Comments
Let’s Talk #21: Indie amiibo you’d like to see
Nintendo and Yacht Club Games made a major announcements during Nindies@Night. The two sides confirmed rumors – plus retail leaks – that Shovel Knight is getting its own amiibo. This is definitely a big move for Nintendo, and third-parties as a whole.
What’s happening with Shovel Knight really presents some interesting opportunities. It now seems like the possibility exists for any character to receive its own amiibo.
But let’s go back to the news about Shovel Knight for a second, and more specifically, independent developers. Indies have become a very important part of Nintendo’s plans over the past few years. Having said that, is there any indie character you’d like to see have an amiibo aside from Shovel Knight? Tell us in the comments below!
Highlights from last week’s topic: What do you want from the next mainline Pokemon?
LittleLynn
This probably sounds like a small, insignificant thing, but I was really disappointed to see trainer customization was absent from OR/AS. It was honestly one of my favorite aspects in X/Y. Between my obsession with collecting things, and my other obsession with making my customizable player characters juuust right in any game where it’s an option, I just always felt excited every time a new town had a clothing store. Plus, it was nice knowing my character wasn’t a carbon copy of approximately half of every other players’ characters. So, whether the next installment is a “third version” to X/Y, or it’s Gen 7, I really want to see that feature come back, and stay for good!
Also, whatever the next game is, it will almost inevitably have Amiibo support with it’s own special Pokemon line. I have no idea what it would do, but hopefully, something actually worth using (and hey, at the very least if character customization comes back, non-Pokemon Amiibo could be used for character-based costumes *wink wink, Nintendo*). Anyway, when it invariably happens, I’m just hoping that at least a few of my favorites will get one.
shinkuu
I’d like to see a bit of a break from the old formula, like with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. With each new generation there’s a new professor, new rival, new gym leaders, etc., and they’re largely forgettable. It might be interesting for new games to be set a bit in the future, with old familiar faces in new roles.
I think there also needs to be a bit of simplification to eliminate the “backwards compatibility” in each new generation. Like, “Oh, this Pokemon couldn’t hold this item before, so that’s why it never evolved” and “Oh, this Pokemon didn’t have this incense before, so that’s why this baby Pokemon never appeared”. Having a dynamic Pokedex that kept related evolutions together, and changed with new additions, might help too.
And finally, I think one of the most appealing aspects of the games is trading with others to get Pokemon you need. It would be interesting if your game’s exclusive Pokemon weren’t simply set by which version you got, but partially randomized, so just buying two copies of the game wouldn’t be a guarantee and you’d HAVE to trade or use the GTS.
Locky Mavo
More Regions with all the Gym Leaders and badges to earn, challenging Pokemon battles from Trainers, Rival, Bad Guy Team, Gym Leaders and Elite 4, at all times. Have the day/night cycle and calendar Pokemon like they had in Gold and Silver. A good story, X and Y did well with that, and some creepy mystery like the ghost girl in X and Y, that was cool.
But ultimately, an open world, home console Pokemon game would be nice, open world with the likes of Xenoblade’s open world feeling. And maybe with some MMO elements would be neat too.
But heck, a Pokemon game where you start in the Kanto region then made your way to the Kalos region would be awesome.
thecrimsonbolt
Aesthetically the game is pretty ok, but I’d lke the next game to look more polished and less rough around the edges.
Pokemon distribution really turned me down in X/Y. The amount of Pokemon was fine, but they were all just thrown in every route, making for some truly bloated routes (route 2 had like 6 different pokemon!) B2/W2 had the same amount of Pokemon, but their distribution was done a lot better (Make more caves and side areas so the distribution is more even).
I loved customization, but it was really biased towards the female side. For every single customization option, females had twice the options as males). Also, I’d like to go hatless as well.
HAVE THE OPTION TO TURN ROLLERSKATES OFF.
Allow Megas to be usable in Amie.
Allow for multiplayer battle backgrounds to be changed. This gen had some amazing backgrounds but for online battles you’re stuck with the boring blue one.
Then I’d like to tweak some of the breeding mechanics. Destiny Knot now passes down the 5 highest IVs instead of 5 random IVs, and make it so both parents can pass down the Pokeball, but in different ratios, (instead of only females passing them down, make it so it’s 25% male and 75% female).
More side areas like caves and forests. These last two gens have felt really linear.
I think that’s pretty much all of what I’d want.
Kogamo
What I want is what I think everyone has wanted since… jeez, the Wii’s launch, maybe? Just a simple open-world, home-console experience, if not containing all regions, at least containing all Pokémon thus far introduced. Where there aren’t two versions, and where coming across Pokémon that would normally be version-exclusive is simply a rare occurrance that isn’t dictated by your color or cover-legendary preferences. ‘Tis beautifully simple to imagine.
Also, the underground from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum is something I’ve wanted again and again since it was removed. Naturally, things that are objective improvements, like character customization and online trading, should return just because there’s no reason to remove them at this point.
Yacht Club on the Shovel Knight amiibo’s origins, Nintendo on third-party figures
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Game Informer has new quotes up from Yacht Club Games’ Sean Velasco and Nintendo’s Damon Baker. Between the two, we learn about how the Shovel Knight amiibo came to be (including how Miyamoto said “no” to one of the pitch documents), third-party amiibo in general, and more.
Continue on below for a roundup of Velasco and Baker’s comments. The original interview is located here.
More: Amiibo, Damon Baker, interview, Sean Velasco, top
Nintendo open to more third-party amiibo
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 32 Comments
Shovel Knight is making big waves in the amiibo scene. This is the first time that a company other than Nintendo is handling the distribution of its own figure, and it’s the first licensed amiibo.
In a recent interview, Nintendo’s Damon Baker said that the company “is certainly open” to the possibility of more indie/third-party amiibo. He also said that the Big N will “continue looking at proposals” and “there’s every opportunity”.
More: Amiibo, Damon Baker, interview
Shovel Knight amiibo concept images
Posted on 8 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in General Nintendo, News | 8 Comments
Nindies@Night has just ended at PAX and with that came a slew of announcements, one of them being the confirmation of the rumored – and then subsequently leaked – Shovel Knight amiibo, the first third-party amiibo by Yacht Club Games.
Now that the event is over, the show floor is opened with the amiibo on display, and along that blueprints and concepts on the bases and overall design of the Shovel Knight amiibo and packaging before settling on the prototype currently being shown. You can check out photos of the planning behind the amiibo below:
More: Amiibo, Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games
Photos of the Shovel Knight amiibo, official functionality overview
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Images | 11 Comments
A few in-person photos are now available of the Shovel Knight amiibo, which are in the gallery below.
Additionally, here’s the official functionality overview of the figure’s features:
Cooperative Multiplayer (exclusive to Wii U)!
Join a friend’s Shovel Knight campaign and shovel together!
Use new cooperative moves to help each other out along the way!
Deep Customization!
Level up by defeating enemies and finding treasure!
Earn all-new relics, abilities, and powers you never thought possible!
Customize the look of your Shovel Knight with cool and crazy cosmetic options!
Use your custom amiibo seamlessly between 3DS and Wii U!
Exclusive Challenge Stages!
Battle your way through amiibo exclusive challenge stages that take advantage of the new amiibo relics and abilities!
One amiibo, multiple games
We plan to continue support of the Shovel Knight amiibo in future Yacht Club Games and Nintendo products! Stay tuned to amiibo.com for compatibility details in new games.
