amiibo refers to a line of figurines for the Wii U designed to work with games via the Wii U GamePad's near field communication technology. Several amiibo figurines will be released in conjunction with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and the title will be the first to use the figurines.
An amiibo can be scanned using the Wii U's GamePad, and when scanned, the character represented by the figurine can be used in-game. In-game, amiibo can be used to fight against or team up in battle with the player; the player can also watch an amiibo fight against CPUs. amiibos appear to be able to learn new fighting tactics, level up (to a maximum of 50), and gain increased fighting statistics. Additionally, the amiibo may have custom special moves saved to it. The data in each amiibo figurine can be kept and saved, allowing it to be used on another game.
Through the use of a specialised adapter, amiibo will also be compatible with any Nintendo 3DS; in addition, the New Nintendo 3DS model is compatible with amiibo without the need for an adapter.
It has been confirmed that amiibo figurines will not be required to unlock any characters.[1]
Smash-related amiibos are set to come to market at a price of $12.99 (USD).
Confirmed amiibo figurines
The following characters are confirmed to have amiibos, either through video or images of the figurines themselves or through footage of a character with the "FP" tag:
- Bowser
- Donkey Kong
- Fox
- Kirby
- Link
- Mario
- Marth
- Peach
- Pikachu
- Pit
- Samus
- Villager
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Yoshi
- Zelda
Shinya Takahashi of Nintendo's SPD division confirmed that the plan is to ultimately release amiibo figurines for all characters on the roster.[2]