Amiibo will unlock NES and SNES games on Wii U

Nintendo has announced its amiibo will be able to unlock NES and SNES games through a free app on the Wii U.

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Nintendo has revealed new benefits to owning an amiibo figure as they’ll unlock portions of NES and SNES games within a free Wii U app that will be released in the first half of 2015.

"With this app, once you tap your amiibo on the NFC area of the GamePad, you will be able to play highlighted scenes of one certain title for NES or Super NES,” Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata announced during a financial results briefing.

Unfortunately, players won’t be able to unlock full games with their amiibo as there will be a time limit, although tapping the amiibo onto the Wii U GamePad will allow you to play another scene from the game. “We hope that when you tap your amiibo, the quickly changing game scenes will pleasantly surprise you and make you feel as though you have just exchanged a game cartridge,” Iwata said.

I’m pleased to hear Nintendo is expanding support for its amiibo in unique ways like this, which can easily justify their $13 price tag. Let’s just hope the company can keep up with demand since it’s been pretty difficult to find some amiibo for some time now.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 17, 2015 6:35 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, Amiibo will unlock NES and SNES games on Wii U

    • reply
      February 17, 2015 6:46 AM

      [deleted]

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      February 17, 2015 7:15 AM

      How about unlocking snes games on them new 3ds xl's? Please tell me the new 3ds xl's can support snes games.

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      February 17, 2015 7:30 AM

      That's nice for the people who can actually find the right ones

    • reply
      February 17, 2015 7:49 AM

      Not full games, mind you, just game "scenes" :/

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        February 17, 2015 8:06 AM

        That’s a pretty big distinction.

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        February 17, 2015 8:39 AM

        Nintendon't get it :(

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        February 17, 2015 8:44 AM

        yeah this is pretty stupid. you are basically getting shareware in 2015. no worse, time limited shareware. This is why nintendo doesn't get my money anymore.

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          February 17, 2015 10:37 AM

          i bet they are doing this so they can patent the idea of unlocking old games via toythings.

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        February 17, 2015 8:54 AM

        Oh wow, what a bargain

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        February 17, 2015 8:57 AM

        [deleted]

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        February 17, 2015 10:22 AM

        i bet they are amazing scenes

        • reply
          February 17, 2015 10:35 AM

          Remember smashing barrels with a hammer in Donkey Kong? Relive exciting moments like that with your Amiibo!

      • reply
        February 17, 2015 12:25 PM

        Yeah, more useless content. I might pick one up if they did something worthwhile but they seem like they're just collector's items.

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        February 17, 2015 1:01 PM

        [deleted]

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        February 17, 2015 1:12 PM

        Wow, a lot of people whining about Nintendo giving them cool free extras. Maybe you would be happier if they just made more for the shelves and said FU in regards to extra benefits.

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          February 17, 2015 1:16 PM

          considering you get full levels and content with Skylanders and Infinity figurines, we are harping on the fact that Nintendo are a bunch of cheap skates who throw yet another good opportunity to not be assholes to the wind.

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            February 17, 2015 3:36 PM

            The games are the whole point of Skylanders and Infinity figures.

            Amiibos need a lot more content made for them, absolutely. Maybe in a year or so they'll make a lot more sense, but first they need to fulfill the idea that they work across multiple games and not just one game like Skylanders/Infinity.

            Code Name STEAM and Mario Party 10 are the first games that have real value added from the figures (Fire Emblem characters added to your squad in Code Name STEAM and additional boards in Mario Party 10). If Amiibo features get into more games then the NES/SNES demos will feel more like they should, which is "gravy" content for something that you're already getting value from.

            The obvious best thing would be if Nintendo made a game like Infinity that was free to download and was based entirely around Amiibos. Nintendo is going to take all the time they feel they need to make it good by their standards, so who knows when that will happen.

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              February 17, 2015 3:50 PM

              totally bookmarking this for a year for now so we can see just how much loving care Nintendo shows to those who bought these things.

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                February 17, 2015 4:00 PM

                My prediction is that we won't see a dedicated game for Amiibo. Nintendo is going to want to make a great game and I don't see them cranking one out in such a short period of time when something like SM3DW takes three years to make.

                They aren't going to shit one out like Infinity or Skylanders which, let's face it, are mediocre at best. I'd recommend a Lego game over Infinity any day.

                I think Amiibo is going to keep being add-ons for a bunch of games instead of "the point" for one game. Team members for Code Name STEAM, game boards for Mario Party 10, weapons and moves for Hyrule Warriors, etc.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          February 17, 2015 1:28 PM

          They're not "free."

          The Amiibos are expensive and (currently) mostly useless.

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          February 17, 2015 1:36 PM

          You should all be upset about the title of the article, if anything.

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            February 17, 2015 3:41 PM

            Yeah, its misleading by missing the word "demo" in there

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          February 17, 2015 1:43 PM

          Extra benefits imply that this is actually a benefit.

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          February 17, 2015 3:01 PM

          nintendroid right here folks

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            February 17, 2015 3:02 PM

            (i learned that gem from the youtube comments section)

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          February 17, 2015 3:07 PM

          I think the idea is kinda neat, but less neat than a full on game unlock. I almost thought about opening up an Amiibo or two.. I was going to be shocked to read that Nintendo was giving away full NES and possibly SNES games. Nope, just some bits taken from NES Remix. ;D

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          February 17, 2015 4:23 PM

          I don't care about the extras myself, it's just a pathetic missed opportunity. They need to expand their user base, and classic games (rather than 'scenes') might do that. The money that might cost them in the short term is insignificant by comparison.

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          February 17, 2015 4:28 PM

          well we learned from Apple that free stuff is always bad

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      February 17, 2015 9:02 AM

      I read this as "Amiibo will unlock Not Eye Safe and Super Not Eye Safe games on Wii U"

      • reply
        February 17, 2015 10:51 AM

        Mario spraying cum all over Toad's face. And Mario super-spraying cum all over Toad's face.

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