Posted on 9 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.”

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Posted on 9 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.

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Posted on 9 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.

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Posted on 9 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”.

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Posted on 9 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:

Source, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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Posted on 9 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.

Source 1, Source 2

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments

The Shovel Knight amiibo, which was leaked yesterday through retailer listings, has now been officially confirmed. An announcement was just made during a presentation being held at Nindies@Night.

Polygon reports that Yacht Club will be selling the figure on its own. It’s the first licensed amiibo, and Nintendo will promote the Shovel Knight figure “in line at retail” along with the other figures”.

The Shovel Knight amiibo will unlock unique content in the Wii U and 3DS games. On Wii U, the figure provides a co-op mode, and a challenge mode on both platforms.

Nintendo’s Damon Baker also teased, “There will be more Yacht Club and Shovel Knight content coming to Nintendo platforms in the future”.

The Shovel Knight amiibo will be compatible with all future Yacht Club titles on Nintendo systems.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 71 Comments

Update 4: GAME is now taking pre-orders for the Shovel Knight amiibo.

Update 3: Bumped to the top. 4u2play’s listing is interesting, as it mentions co-op on Wii U and the ability to customize Shovel Knight.

Here’s the full translation (thanks Jake):

Coop Multiplayer (Wii U exclusive)

• Enter a friends’ game and shovel together!
• Special Coop-Moves support you on your journey together.

Full flexibility:

• Enter the level where you destroy your enemies and find precious treasures
• Earn never seen relicts, skills and powers.
• Alter the appearance of your Shovel Knight with cool cosmetic details.

User your personal amiibo seamless on Wii U and 3DS.

• The Shovel Knight amiibo will work with all Nintendo Products that Yacht Club Games will create in the near future.
• Compatible with Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS and Wii U.

Update 2: The Shovel Knight amiibo has also been listed by 4u2play.

Update: GAME’s tweet has been removed. We also have another, higher-quality image of the supposed amiibo from Reddit.

Is Shovel Knight getting its own amiibo? A tweet from UK retailer GAME claims that a figure based on Yacht Club Games’ character will actually be happening.

GAME Brighton posted the following on Twitter today:

Source, Via

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments

Nintendo has provided an update regarding the status of the amiibo stock situation over on its Facebook page.

The Splatoon 3-pack, Charizard, and Pac-Man are returning to store shelves “over the next few days”. Note that quantities will be limited.

Here’s the full message:

Additional Splatoon 3-pack, Charizard and PAC-MAN amiibo will be hitting shelves in limited quantities over the next few days.

For more information about timing and availability, be sure to visit your local retail stores or check out their websites.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments

Earlier this week, Nintendo finally confirmed the Super Mario Maker Wii U bundle for North America. We learned that it will come with the 30th Anniversary Mario – Modern Color amiibo, which was thought to be exclusive to the newly-announced package. However, that may not actually be true.

Last night, a Walmart Canada employee shared a planogram, which shows the 30th Anniversary Mario – Modern Color amiibo on the rack. This indicates that the figure will not be exclusive to the Super Mario Maker Wii U bundle… though now there’s speculation going around that the amiibo will only be sold at Walmart.

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