As you may be aware at this point, Nintendo has been doing a relatively below-par job of keeping amiibo supply up with the voracious demand. Whether this is an intentional ploy to drive the demand through the stratosphere or just a simple, recurring failure to accurately predict the sheer volume that the masses desire, the scarcity of these toys cannot be understated. It's evidently become so bad that Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Super Smash Bros. series (which was the début of this toys-to-life initiative, we might add), can't get the amiibo he wants.
On Twitter, Sakurai-san wrote a post stating that he popped out for some amiibo but was unable to get the Lucario, Rosalina, and Meta Knight figures. Granted, it's probably not too difficult for Sakurai-san to pull some strings back at Nintendo to secure himself these amiibo, but there's certainly a sense of irony to the post. Perhaps this'll spur Nintendo to be more on point with keeping stock of these toys up, as it must be rather embarrassing when such well-known members of the business make a point of highlighting low stock.
Have you been able to get your hand on any of these amiibo? If so, give yourself a pat on the back for getting to them before even Sakurai-san could, that's quite impressive. How has your experience with amiibo been thus far? Have you been having a hard time finding the ones you want? Blow off some steam in the comments below.
[source gonintendo.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 88
Not buying anymore amiibo as I can never find the ones I want.
I don't know about Nintendo of America as they seem awkward with the amiibos, but I just chatted with a Nintendo Customer Service representative on this website: http://www.nintendoservicecentre.co.uk and they had this statement about amiibo.
"No Amiibo is really rare when they come in they sell out really quick and as we have no info on stock levels and replenishment we do not know when they will come back in stock however, they will always come back in stock"
@thepeterwright Peter you took the words right out of my mouth mate !!!
@SilentShuriken even more annoying when you order one which is in stock and then you get an email to say your order has been cancelled as we dont have any stock.
I managed to get Rosalina ordered from GAME and I got Lucario pre-ordered from Amazon along with Shulk (hopefully I'll still get that one when that wave hits) when Nintendo Online reported them sold out already.
Still hoping I can get a Pac Man since they're selling out even faster than before despite the "one per customer" rule (makes me wonder if people are registering multiple accounts to work around it).
@thepeterwright Japanese stock is a good option though.. From eBay.
@Alundra-1998 See, my problem with that statement is that, by this point, they've gotta have some data to show which ones sold out and how quickly they did. There's really just no excuse.
@SilentShuriken had to do that for little mac. only one I have left on order is Toad and I do what Toon Link also.
besides that i'm not spending countless hours trying to find them anymore.
Apparently I am very lucky to live in Dresden. Our major electronic stores and even Toys'r'Us do seem to have enough of the toys.
At least Lucario and Rosalina were in stock, though I did not see Metaknight.
For getting Pikachu, Samus and Toon-Link I just had to go to the store anyways and I do not expect having to preorder figures of the waves to come.
Still hoping some villager pops back up at some point . As of wave 3, I have the 3 I want pre-ordered but I'm gonna see if I can grab a Rosalina off Target at release. I'm absolutely terrified of missing on Ness though.
@Shugo I feel you bro
I don't get what's the point in going for that kind of low stock of some amiibos? I understand that people are more keen to buy limited stuff because they realize it's not gonna be available later, but Nintendo seems to deliberately underproduce them.
I'm trying to find Little Mac and it's almost impossible.. I'm living in Berlin.. I really hate the reseller 😠
I've been able to just pre-order the ones I want with no problems really. Got 9 so far, another 4 on the way so I guess I haven't really had the same problems a lot of people have had
Also, here in Poland I don't see any stock shortages. You can buy pretty much any amiibo that has been released so far in Europe for it's normal price. I'm not really collecting all of them but I will be picking up some of the upcoming ones.
When Sakurai can't even get amiibo, it means that the low stock issues are really, really serious!
Well Meta Knight is due in february, and Rosalina is missing everywhere, but I've got Lucario XD
@thepeterwright Same here. Gave up on them cause they're too darn difficult to find.
I have them all.... :0) to be fist though I am pre ordering them all as soon as they go live...that's the only way to be sure it seems...
While i'm not a fan of the Smash Bros. gameplay i must say that every time i read something about this guy i find him more awesome.
I honestly can't imagine Sakurai searching for amiibo in stores... and not envy the seller that had to tell him that he couldn't buy them >.>;;;
Still I wonder how much rare amiibo are really in Europe and Japan; not sure for the latter, but they were honestly easy to find here UNTIL all the sites covering america started to complain on the low stock, driving people in an amiibo frenzy all over the world. Nothing scare fans more than the "maybe this is ultra-limited" doubt (and I admit the doubt tricked a bit me and my wallet too XD; ).
I thought he would have been sent all of them for free considering they wouldn't exist without his role.
I can't get my hands on Lucinaaaaaaa!
Meanwhile in Germany...
@Tiefseemiez Meta Knight hasn't been released yet.
@asgarod21
I was wondering should should I start a business, since my only local store that sells Amiibos had Little Macs (didn't buy one since he doesn't interest me) And the store hasn't had Marth or Fit Trainer or Villager or wave two was also missing a few characters.
I managed to grab Villager from CDON (they also have this "get email notification once it's again in stock and ordered right away when I got the email - the same thing never happened with Marth)
Is that Germany pic from Saturn..? Visited one in Berlin a year ago, now that's a size for electronics store
@Finntendo yes, that pic is from Saturn.. But did you see.. They don't have Little Mac amiibo 😩
@asgarod21
Aww But I see Marth (Isn't that Marth between Kirby and Cpt Falcon?)
....now I am so tempted to buy that Little Mac
I've managed to get every Amiibo for waves 1-3! Granted I'm waiting for the release of wave 3, but I have them all on preorder. All that's currently left to do is eagerly await preorders in NA for wave 4!
/r/Amiibo over on reddit was/is a big help though! They're how I managed to get my hands on Captain Falcon, Pit, and Little Mac as I didn't get the chance to preorder wave 2 back then.
@Finntendo yes Marth is easy to find it.. Anyway when code S.T.E.A.M come out.. You will find Marth for sure. (I hope so xD)
I only picked up a few of my favorites. Captain Falcon, Pit, and Little Mac are nowhere to be found in my area and I'm not in a big craze to buy them off scalpers. I just stop collecting them and spend my money elsewhere.
The only one I'm picking up is Ike, but that pre-order could go the way of the dodo judging by news.
@BertoFlyingFox They are not limited, you know. Just buy then when they're available again.
@asgarod21
Ah yes, would think they'd stock more once it comes out.
I just ordered Rosalina, Ike and Sheik - only Rosalina it says from "4-6 days". Stupid me, could have waited for a week since hubby is going to city that has one gaming store that has (for now) Rosalina in stock. But since I'e paid already, I really don't bother to change my order. I hope they do get Rosalina this week or I'd prefer to change it to something they have.
Pit, oh I saw those too. But only a few left - I may check tomorrow, if those are still there and maybe buy. Maybe.
I'd still like to know what's the point with this lack-of-stock. Didn't Ninty expect them to sell this well?
They should give him every figure for free.
Kind of funny that the man who created Smash can't get certain Amiibo either. They really need to get this stock issue sorted out.
Had a dream i found a Rosalina and Luma amiibo on the ground and I took it... It was a weird dream
A shame
@scamander Well, off to Germany!
I think it is pretty ridiculous if even Mr. Sakurai is complaining about not being able to get the amiibo he wants. Nintendo really needs to improve their stock. It stinks having to worry about certain amiibo being sold out, and it stinks even more having to pay a premium price for an amiibo that you really want. I won't do it to be honest.
managed to get villager ,Luigi , little mac , Bowser , diddy kong , Mario , fox , DK , samus , Ike and lucario I also preorder mega man , sonic , meta knight , king De De De , Ness and pac-man.
@scamander
Chances are, once re-stocked, they'll sell out within hours. I work and live my life, don't really have time to babysit reddit pages and retail stores.
I'm not in it for that, so I just dont buy any more of them and spend my money on things that are properly stocked by a normal company. Not this weird cornered scalpers-market Nintendo has going for itself. Even one of their own developers (most likely all of them) can't get amiibo for the game he developed for cripe's sake.
It'll still make Nintendo millions and continue to sell like hotcakes, so my buying amiibo or not means nothing to them. Just readily available software from here on out for me.
Had to order Meta Knight from Japan for roughly twice the American retail price because Best Buy is awful. Have yet to even see Captain Falcon or Little Mac at all. They might as well just be internet mock-ups as far as I know.
To date I own all of them, I'm glad (so far) there are no variant models out there. I also have all the next waves preorderd and the Super mario series to
@Beechbone
Hey, I'm also based in Poland. Can I ask where you are buying your Amiibo from because where I live (Wroclaw) it is literally impossible to find anything Nintendo related. I've searched every shop in the whole city and come up dry so many times by now I've given up and just buy off Amazon these days.
I was lucky enough to pre-order Sonic at GameStop before they cancelled pre-orders, I didn't take chances with this crazy market.
Anyway, hope Sakurai can those few since they are based off his game so... Yeah.
I've been pretty lucky with these so far here in England, my advice is pre-order the ones you want that way you won't be disappointed, I pre-ordered Rosalina from a local retailer literally 2 days before release & got one no problem, same for the entirety of Wave 2 (Cpt Falcon, Little Mac, Pit etc) although it does seem the craze is getting worse recently, a lot of forums have had people from the States etc snapping up all the pre-orders from Wave 4 as soon as they've gone live at places like Game, Shopto etc in some cases within 15-20mins of them going live... luckily I've managed to get my name down for all Wave 4 but even Nintendo's own UK store only have pre-orders for Wario & Charizard left from Wave 4 ...
@scamander I have never been more jealous of a country until now
that is pseudo awesome. Not the fact that he couldn't get them, but the fact that instead of just asking Nintendo to give him a full set he went to a store like a normal person and went through the same thing his fans went through.
@scamander Looking at that pic hurts. There are like 5 amiibo types at both of my local gamestops. Best buy is a joke right now.
@RJBurgess I'm in Warsaw so I suppose it's a bit easier here. You can try ordering them from electronicdreams.pl or ultima.pl
I see that Ultima is already taking pre-orders for Wave 4 and SMB figures. Also, it's still possible to get any Wave 1 amiibos.
@scamander
Nice, but there doesn't seem to be Little Mac, that's the one I want. They don't sell amiibos in supermarkets in Finland (or at least I've yet to see them). Mostly in gamestores like Gamestop. Speaking of Gamestop, amiibos cost 23 euros there! The next place I saw amiibos (a smaller variety of them) had them for 17 €. Insane price differences.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! sorry, but i find this HILARIOUS!!!
"recurring failure to accurately predict the sheer volume that the masses desire,"
Personally, I doubt this is the case. Nintendo knows the demand and if they want to fix it, they can do it with ease by restocking the Amiibo which they don't seem to be doing outside of Marth (and the images of Nintendo)
This does not imbue with confidence in Nintendo.
@Alundra-1998 I received a similar message. If this is true, I wish Nintendo would release a presser outlining it's strategy on replenishment of amiibos. Until then, I will remain frustrated over the situation.
@scamander that is beautiful.
@scamander
Awesome pic. Now for a pic here in America just condense that to one section and only have a few of each of Mario, Princess, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Diddy Kong, Pikachu, and maybe a stray Kirby or Luigi.
I'm really annoyed about the whole amiibo shortages and store exclusive nonsense. I'm tired of this crap! [Can I say crap?] It's so stupid!
I went to a store that sells amiibos this weekend, [keeping the store name hidden to protect identity]. The employee told me that Nintendo purposely give out limited stock of certain figures. For instance, when Little Mac came out only 4 were given per store. Are they that hard to made and mass produce?! They keep beating themselves up. Like someone said in the comments above "this doesn't build confidence."
@scamander "Hahaha. That is AWESOME!"
I was able to get Lucario before it was supposed to be sold (I had him preordered anyway) and I'm expecting to get Meta Knight because I have him preordered at Best Buy I doubt I'll ever see Rosalina though.
Man he can get any amiibo he wants,he can get a reggie amiibo if he wanted!Struggling?Ha!
I wonder how much Nintendo expected to sell. I also wonder if some markets have too many and some too few.
I guess there is money to make sending from Germany to the US.
I don't believe for one second that Sakurai can't find the Amiibos that he wants.
I too have given up on Amiibos because I can't find the ones I want and I refuse to over-pay for them on Ebay.
The Germany pic: In NA, where I live, I've never seen even a quarter of that many figures total in one place. The most figures total in one store that I've seen is about 6 rows; and it's usually Mario, Peach, Samus, Yoshi, & Kirby.
If you believe this on any level, you do not live in, have ever been to, or never import things from Japan.
Sure they sell out, but you can always order online etc. They don't have the scalper issue like us losers in NoA.
Iwata-san to Sakurai-san....."Please understand."
I got DK and Captain Falcon fine, I just hope my preorder of Megaman on GAME doesn't get cancelled.
Also, just got an email from Toys R Us saying my Lucario amiibo will be ready for pickup this Friday. Poor Sakurai, if he wants mine he can have it....
@scamander I want to live in Germany now
@scamander What the... what's the name of that store?!
@scamander Is that... real?
I went to pre-order Shulk at GAME and they had sold out. I guess I'm not getting my main
@scamander Please I must know, what store is that? Any website? I want amiibos desperately but I can't find any.
Guess he's gonna be tracking the Amiibo reddit too for pre-orders from all of the different Amazons =p
I still only have one amiibo... It's the link one.. I wish I could easily find the amiibo's I wanted though. I regret not getting a few of them.
If Sakurai doesn't get his hands on the amiibo he wants soon, I bet his right hand will turn into Master Core.
I got Lucario. I tried to get Rosalina, and failed. And I could care less about Meta Knight TBH
Dude is just boasting about how popular they are.
SERVES YOU RIGHT SAKURAI
I think Nintendo didn't expect amiibo to sell well at first, but now they are purposely holding stock to skyrocket the demand, just like they did with the Wii at launch.
Nintendo is notoriously bad about not expecting things to sell well - amiibo (and the toys-to-life concept in general since Activision had originally pitched Skylanders to them as a Nintendo exclusive, but Nintendo turned the idea down because they didn't think it would take off), the Wii, and even Pokemon are all examples of this. The only major exceptions to this would of course be the 3DS and the Wii U.
I really like the Sonic one, which is not available yet. I think most of the Amiibo figures look ugly and cheap.
Poor Sakurai, he cannot catch a break.
I want Palutena but there is not word of a release date for her yet!
There aren't any Amiibo that I REALLY want that are actually out now, but all the store's I've gone to have a pitiful selection.
It's getting this bad? Scalpers and Gemany have these while even the creators are trying to find them?
@scamander Is that heaven? Are you dead?
Yeah, I'm sure he doesn't have any. Just publicity for damage control.
I want Rosalina just for display purposes, but it's not worth the trouble to track one down with all the jerkoff scalpers hitting the preorders. As for other Amiibo, my last will be a Sonic one if I happen across one in the wild. Until then, Fox and Pikachu will be my only kids.
I got my Fox and DK, as it stands I'm alright with those two.
If MP 10 turns out to be a good game, I'll probably pick up the Super Mario Bros Luigi one, and I'll be picking up Ike and possibly Lucina for Code Name S.T.E.A.M
Any others depend on non-smash bros functionality
@luckybreak For what? Creating a great game that everybody seems to enjoy?
I'm kinda glad that I haven't yet got into amiibo. I like the figures and the functionality but the supply:demand situation is crazy. I'm not gonna pay $30+ on ebay to get the ones that aren't available in stores.
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