Video: We Check Out The Squid amiibo Challenges

Where are the darn Amiibo cards already?! Geez... Until I realized how many Amiibo there would be, I was on board to collect them all (no. No pun inferred) now, since the issues arose, and there are like 100+ Amiibo on the way... I jus want the cards (So they can go neatly into a folder next to my U) :/

I preordered the squid bundle and girl amiibo like a month before release, and thank God for that.The girl is now either sold-out or goes for at least double the price.

I opened and registered the squid amiibo, but haven't yet seen the unlocked challenges. For this reason, and the stick issues, I'm keeping the other two in their boxes until I see what I think of the bonus benefits (and if the value goes up, let's be honest, not that I'll part with anything Wii u related).

Copycats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdXFvR8xpNY
The challenges are good fun, 'specially the Kraken ones. But I didn't find the time limit in any way challenging, the invincible inks-his-own-path Kraken made the levels insanely quick to finish! Even the limited ink was too easy after I completed them and realised I didn't need to be anywhere near as stingy on the ink as I had been!

I completed all the squid challenges already - pretty easy if you ask me.

The power armour looks hideous, no loss to me!

Got all the amiibo and finished the challanges today.
To be fair those challanges are dissapointing, I was expecting some real "mission mode" like defeating enemies in an area or covering enough with the ink, instead all challanges ask only to replay a mission already beated in single player with different equipment or rules.

At least the prizes are nice, especially the minigames, but the challanges only streatch a lot the single player experience instead than adding more to it.

@NintyMan The amiibo unlock new arcade games? Does each one unlock a different one?

I want but Nintendo won't sell them to me.

I still don't understand why the squid is only sold in a 3 pack but the girl and boy are sold separatly? Who wants to buy a girl or boy separlty if you know you'll need to buy a 3 pack to get the squid? If all of the games were sold w/ the squid I would be perfectly ok w/i it. And for $60 in the US it should have come w/ the squid amiibo.

And really, why have a box in the hub marked "amiibo" if only 3 of the 2 dozen or so amiibo work w/ the game? We just found out this morning the new Skyaldners game will work w/ ALL of the previous Skylanders. That's about 200 Skylanders. And another 256 if you count all the combinations of the Swap force members. But Nintneod cant find a way to somehow have the other amiibo interact w/ the game? Just let them appear in the box so I can post a photos of my collection on Miiverse. Something.

amiibo <<<<< every other NFC toy

I got the boy and girl ones, but the squid not being sold separately does annoy a bit as I expect it will not be cheap to buy on its own. By way of confirmation I've checked Amazon and there are Japan-based marketplace sellers (the one territory where this figure is sold on its own) selling for around £25 with postage. Tempted...

I got all three of them by virtue of the Squid being part of the Limited Box in PAL territories, but I had to lurk 18 freaking hours on Amazon to snag the Inklings for pre-order!
That said, the "challenges" are entirely based on the single player maps not really being designed for the Roller and Charger, so it's more tedious. But the squid really serves to annoy with limited ink challenges, especially on stage 11...
And the rewards? If you're unlucky, the outfits you get receive some completely contrary perks that heavily water down their usefulness. And the final rewards from the amiibo challenges are just bad jokes...

I really think amiibo is just another way of locking stuff behind a paywall. Sure, the figures are okay just as figures. But I don't like figures. Smash is the only game where amiibo are used properly. Otherwise, it's just for unlocking and it's adding about a third - half again onto the cost of a game (if you are lucky enough to get them at a reasonable retail price.) I quite like the amiibo challenges as it extends the single player, but that could just have been a hard mode built into the game - no real consumer benefit to having an amiibo if all it does is unlock.

I managed to get all three of them, though I ended up having to pay $50 for the triple pack because of South America making U.S. products more expensive (even regular amiibo here cost $20 each).

I managed to pick up Splatoon at Gamestop Friday. I had to go online to get my amiibo 3 pack, but I was lucky enough to be able to get one from Walmart's webside. As loath as I am to give Walmart money, it's better than paying scalpers $60 on eBay.

@Sakura I agree. The amiibo figures are cool as collectables but the fact that half of them are impossible to find without paying 4x the price to an online scalper makes it so much worse. Sure the challenges in Splatoon are "optional" but don't you feel like you're missing out? I sure do. You're right the Amiibos were done well in Smash Bros. Completely optional content that I wouldn't feel left out if I didn't have them. I also think the way they unlock Mii costumes in Mario Kart 8 is also a good use for them.

Was the only one in line at my Gamestop before open who wanted the Splatoon 3-pack. Everyone else was hunting Fire Emblem amiibo, along with Pac Man and Ness.

Surprisingly the 3pack was somewhat easy to find on launch day in my area...now not so much. I got mine...they are drying the bitter tears I cry over Lucina and Robin.

The Boy & Girl challenges are annoying. The Squid ones are at least a nice change of pace from the normal single player.

Nintendo has really handled the whole amiibo thing poorly. Though I got a 3 pack, why would they not make the squid available individually for others?

@rjejr The squid is sold separately in Japan and sold with the game in Europe.

I was late for the preorders online, they sold out in minutes but I manage to get the limited edition with the squid + the boy and girl amiibo at a supermarket on Friday the 29th.
I´ll have to try that for the next wave for Smash amiibo and for the yoshi´s as they all sold out online everywhere and cloudn´t preordered any. This very morning pre-orders for Yoshi´s and Rosalina appeared at amiami (to import them from Japan) and they were gone in seconds

@Ryno - WHAT!!! Why do you have a 3 pack? Well besides the obvious answer "to sell on eBay".

Though I did buy a silver Mario on Monday b/c I felt compelled to. Literally it was like being possessed and not in possession of my own body, I was somehow forced to against my will. It's still in the bag w/ the receipt. It's like the 1 ring, I calls it my precious.

@rjejr: You know I be like:

@Kaze_Memaryu - Thanks for that, about what I thought. As much as you appear to be into SPLATOOOON that makes me feel better that I didn't buy them Friday morning when they were sitting on the counter right in front of me. Had the game been $40 I might have picked up a 3 pack, but I just couldn't spend $95 for skins and timed challenges. It was a tough enough decision just to pick up the game for $60.

@Sanicranfast - I know, the US distribution must have been Reggie's decision as it makes no sense.

@Ryno - Nice animation, we're taking it up a notch I see.

Reminded me of my Miiverse post pic I called simply "Smaug".

@rjejr
I'm not sure what support of all the Amiibo would do in this game. I suppose it would be fun to see what Mario would think of all this, or watch him pull out FLUDD and take care of business... but how would that apply to the actual game really? The Inklings are the stars of this game and they need to stand on their own to establish the franchise.

Of course the Skylanders are the stars of their own game and they should be accessible in every iteration of the game... but they are also the same in most of those games right? Adding Amiibo to entirely different games in a more meaningful way is a huge resource hog and I'm not sure it's one that really adds enough to justify it.

I do think there needs to be a catch-all game or experience that the Wii U offers. What that is, I do not know, but I'll be disappointed if there's no hint of it at E3.

Besides, how much faster do you really want them to sell? ;P

@Ryno
It felt so good to do that in ducktales remastred. I always wanted to do that as a kid in the cartoon.

"I'm not sure what support of all the Amiibo would do in this game."

I don't'care so much what it does, as long as tapping an "amiibo" when I'm standing next to a box labeled "amiibo" doesn't give me an error message. Maybe they could hang out having coffee and tea w/ Callie and Marie in the studio. Or give us money like in Hyrule Warriors, which isn't even a Nintneod first party game but seems to work better w/ amiibo than Nintendo's own games. Maybe put pictures of them up on all the billboards? Or a big statue where the dog is?

I'm just throwing stuff out there off the top of my head, Nintnedo has been working on this game and amiibo for a year now, surely they could have thought of some way to give us something other than an error message?

I know, replace the squid in squid jump w/ the amiibo character. How hard would it be to create an 8 bit yellow famous Nintneod IP on the Gamepad?

OK, I think we're having the same discussion in 2 separate threads. I'll stop now.

And I hope you're right about E3. Our mini Direct, aka the Japanese Direct in English, was almost the same except no Animal Crossing, so I'm wondering if the west gets something similar, but different?

@aaronsullivan Exclusive amiibo costumes/cosmetic changes, perhaps? I dunno about you, but I'd love to be able to play Splatoon wearing a Samus or Pit costume.

I've got the Inkling Girl and despite having 14 of these things now, this is the first one I've actually used. I quickly scanned a couple to unlock MK8 outfits, but this was the first time I'd ever seen the register an amiibo and give it a nickname screen. I bought it mainly for how it looks as a figure, but the challenges are pretty fun with how they force you to play differently with a new weapon. Thumbs up from me, although I still think it's dumb to ship so few. I'll be honest, I was trying to avoid spoiling too much about the game so I didn't know exactly what the amiibo did. I knew it let you repeat single player missions, but I didn't know that each of the 3 unlocked different gear. I thought one amiibo would let you do all the challenges. Good thing I don't particularly want the squid/boy unlocks because it would suck to realise it now and not be able to get one.

I would have bought them but I can't find them locally...and I refuse to over-spend on them online.

@Goob Yeah, that's a good idea. I'd just hate to see the Inkling identity lost. You know, maybe not even a full costume, but just an awesome cap or shirt or shoes or cosmetic change to a gun that are themed with the Amiibo character. Mario hat or overalls. Samus helmet or arm-cannon. Pit gives angel wings. That would be fun and fit the fashion savvy inklings.

@rjejr I hear you. It would be nice to have extras like that. I'm not sure I want every game to have the burden of supporting every amiibo, though. I don't think that was ever the intention. Just that one amiibo could be useful in many games, obviously favoring the games it is primarily in, but fun for crossover stuff, too.

Maybe now that Splatoon seems to be a hit, Nintendo will give us some more Amiibo love.

@aaronsullivan - "I'm not sure I want every game to have the burden of supporting every amiibo, though."

Well not every game, just the games w/ a big amiibo box in the middle of the hub. And supporting 1 does mean supporting them all, just ask Hyrule Warriors, which I'm sure must work off of some kind of amiibo ID chip that's identities them as amiibo, just not which amiibo, so they all function the same except for Link. I'd be more than ok w/ games not supporting any amiibo, even games w/ amiibo like Zelda U or Starfox, but if you advertise amiibo as a big part of the game, which Splaton does having 3 at launch, then incorporate some more. And make some more.

I'm not replying to the other response, but know I read it, and that I'm very glad my kids play w/ their 60+ Skylanders toys like the toys that they are, even though Flashwing has no head and Spyro only 1 wing. It happens.

So glad I preordered mine

@EverythingAmiibo Most of the limited ink challenges weren't bad with exception of the invisible stage. It didn't help that if you would die that your ink level remained the same. :/ I seriously played through that level a few dozen times before completing it last night.

Also when you first unlock the squid armor you only have one stat added to your armor. I unlocked a second after playing several turf war battles online. Does anyone know what unlocks these extra two stats per armor piece? Can you re-roll for different specs? Or are these specs you receive predetermined?

@AceTrainerBean Me too. If I didn't work on a computer it would have been darn near impossible to have reserved one though.

I went to Target last Friday. These were right there to be bought. I walked away, because they are amiibo, and no game uses them well. $13 for a plastic statue? No thanks.

@rjejr Personally, I still love this game beyond logic, but that doesn't stop me from being critical about it. I wouldn't feel well just ignoring what I see as issues or even downplaying them, but I can enjoy the game despite these flaws.

@Nico07 By playing online, you level up not only your character, but your clothes as well. If you press X in the equipment menu while hovering over the Robo Suit pieces, you'll notice a small bar at the bottom of the info window - fill that experience bar in online battles to unlock an additional random skill. If there are multiple slots, the next one will require three times as much experience as the one before that.

Just use nowinstock.Com just ordered mine from Walmart. They seem to have some every day online

@Platypus101 I'm with you on the cards,but I can't help but think that as long as the Amiibo are as in demand as they are, Nintendo has little incentive to release Amiibo cards.

Now what's the point of a literal paywall for this on-disc DLC? These challenges and their rewards could've easily been included in the package, especially for the full retail price in the Americas and Australia. It would be much appreciated considering the relatively small amount of content already included. As a young adult, I really have no desire for an amiibo, so really it comes off as pointless and frustrating for me.

Couldn't find the three pack so I grabbed the boy and the girl.

@Sakura thing is, without the "paywall" you wouldn't get the content... it's not like they could just add it for free.

it takes time to generate the content and they have to be willing pay people to do so. that's only a possibility if they ask for more money, and it seems by the reaction that amiibo is a great way to do that... it gives a physical component to a mostly digital product.

@day Perhaps there is some content that can't be added for free (like extra courses in MK8, the dlc for fantasy life - both much cheaper than amiibo), but in the case of Splatoon all they've done is use amiibo to unlock challenges for the single player mode that's already in the game. So that's using one set of maps/levels/characters etc 4 times over. Still a fair bit of work, but I think it could have been included for free as part of the inbuilt game. I would perhaps pay more willingly if it were dlc and at a better price point, but really to have to pay an extra £30 minimum on top of the game itself, that doubles the cost for simple unlocking that doesn't really necessitate the amiibo. It seems to be the way gaming is going though. There's the game and then other things to add to it to get the full experience, whether that's AR cards, amiibo, online subscription, toys-to-life figures, dlc... I'm just not sure the consumer is getting a fair deal. Going to have to be careful we don't get too used to having stuff locked away like this. It's the same kind of slightly dodgy ground that lies behind microtransactions. Sure, I want great games with great content, but not at the prices it is currently costing with extras often adding up to more than the cost of the game I have to say that I'm not at all bothered about having a physical product apart from a game disc. Some of the figures are pretty nice, but i'm not sure I like being forced to buy them in order to play a game to it's fullest potential. It's simply not true that the figures can be used in many games. They can be "used" in Smash, but otherwise, all they do really is unlock stuff. It feels a bit like an overstatement of truth (lie!). I still buy amiibo, but I am aware of the negatives and wary of the hype. I wish they would hurry up with the cards (or whatever) so we could get the content without the plastic.

Not that its rocket science, but the first Kraken challenge gave me a much better feel for the Kraken and its attacking power. Sniped quite a few players with the Kraken online afterwards.