Video: Using amiibo With Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

I think its awesome! Have done the 1st book so far.

I collect amiibo because I'm such a huge nerd - but I'm pretty sure this functionality would have been perfectly possible without the need to touch a figure to the pad. I'm really waiting for something that uses amiibo where you simply couldn't implement it in any other way.

It's definately a neat little feature. Made even better by the fact that it stamps each level with a pixel toad upon completion. Gives us completionists an extra thing to work towards.

Does the location of "pixel Toad" change every time you go back into a level? Or is there one set location for each of the current levels?

If there were a few possible locations for him each time you enter a level, this could extend the game quite a bit...

Thanks for the informative video. It answered all the questions I had!

Now, if I can just find the Toad amiibo somewhere.....

@A01: Actually, they do serve a purpose in Skylanders. All of the levels/stat progression and whatnot are saved to the figures, if I understand correctly. I also doubt that Skylanders would have such a large character roster if not for the figures, the budget is no doubt based on people purchasing them. All of these "Tap-to-unlock" amiibo figures are doing nothing more than restricting content. Would such content have been produced without amiibo? There is no definitive answer. As it stands though, excluding their use in Smash, amiibo are barely serving any functional purpose

Don't think it's enough for me to go back and replay the game, even if I ever did find the Toad amiibo, but if I had the amibo from the beginning I probably would have looked for him. For people getting the game and the Toad at the same time I do think it's a fun little edition to extend the life of the game.

And kudos to Toad - even if he isn't a Captain - for being the only new amiibo in the new "Super Mario" line. I swear when you look at them next to each other I really don't know why they bothered, Bowser, Peach and Yoshi are so similar, and Mario and Luigi and still Mario and Luigi even if their poses have changed. Nintendo could lave been using their factory to make more Villager, Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Metakingiht, King Dedede and other hard to find amiibo, not just reposed amiibo that are still mostly easy to find on store shelves. Just seems silly.

http://smile.amazon.com/Yoshi-amiibo-Wii-U/dp/B00S7O6R62/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1427374568&sr=8-5&keywords=super+mario+amiibo

Picked up my toad amiibo yesterday, looking forward to trying this out today......if I can bring myself to open the packaging! I'll only buy amiibo that add to games not collections with the exception of wario and waluigi who are my favourites

Do you have to use him on each level or just once for the whole game? I may borrow or swap from a friend momentarily to unlock the content. I had to do this with a few amiibo for Mario Kart 8.

I'd love a little miniature Mega Man or Toon Link as the main character to change the game around a bit

@rjejr I agree 100% with this statement. I've been looking for Villager ever since these things came out, but there's no way I'm shelling out as much money as these folks want for them.

@rjejr agreed on the lack of change in this 'new' range of amiibo, they should have been more different! I got a toad amiibo off the shelf in a store luckily and I'm halfway through the game so I've been fortunate timing wise. and imo it's lame of Nintendo to not make a separate amiibo for captain toad as he is in essence new ip compared to standard toad and they just blew their chance to show this to consumers and define the character as different formally!

@TreesenHauser if you were UK I'd try to help you out, I've seen villagers in stores in my backwards city lately, but shipping costs would probably mean the same costs as an e bay bidder even if I helped. Good luck though man!

Playing "hide and go seek" with Captain Toad is my daughters new favorite thing to do with the Wii U. She loves holding the Toad Amiibo and tapping him "into" the game for each stage. I say bravo Nintendo! This is how my family wants Amiibo to work.

@ULTRA-64 Thanks! I appreciate the sentiment.

I would like be able to play with other amibo's in different games. WOuld be awesome... then it wouldn't be Toad game haha

@A01: True. I was specifically referring to the ability to transport data between games, which is covered by memory cards, USB drives, etc. NFC Figures are essentially a limited form of such things, but the functionality in Skylanders is admittedly neat. It's technology used in a novel, but imaginative way. Taking what looks like a toy, placing it on a stand, and watching the character depicted by that toy appear, moving, talking, etc. on screen is a magical experience for a child. Is this aspect of the argument purely emotional, yes. Skylanders function, that emotional element, cannot be replicated with a USB Drive or Memory card. Are there issues with the sheer number of Skylanders, steady annual releases, and other methods to make children bleed money into the franchise? Yes, but those games are using the "Toys to Life" concept in a fun way. Let's not attack something for what it's doing right, but certainly some of the issues arising from it. Let's instead focus on the real issue, amiibo, the "Toys to Life" series that's screwing up in every way possible.

@A01 - "There is absolutely no functionality that nfc figurines can provide that can't be done without it."

My kids actually spend time playing w/ these after school. Can't do that w/ DLC

I know, it doesn't add to game play, your main point isn't lost on me, but it's still something you can do w/ the toys you can't do w/ DLC.

And while you could do it w/ DLC, the Swap Force Skylanders add an extra element of interactivity which if you watch my 2 sons play it together you would realize you aren't going to get that same feeling w/o the toys. you could do it, but it wouldn't be the same. Admittedly I've seen nothing from amiibo anywhere near that feeling.

@SomeBitTripFan - Apologies for basically rewriting your post, didn't see it before. Oops.

@ULTRA-64 @TreesenHauser

One thing that really bothers me w/ amiibo, and I'm not even collecting them, is scarcity. Having collected Skylanders for 4 years these issues invariably pop up. We had to wait several months before finding a Kaos Trap that wasn't $80 on eBay. I ordered one on Amazon and found 1 in Target a few days alter, and w they are $25 on eBay and that will probably drop soon as well. The vibe Ninteod is putting out though is that some of these models are gone forever. And that's bad if they are putting out this entire new line which seems completely unnecessary. And they haven't even finished the SSBU line-up yet.

I understand stock can be an issue, but telling potential customers cards are coming doesn't really inspire confidence that amiibo will be easy to find anytime soon, if ever. At some point I would think people would grow weary of playing hide and go seek w/ every new wave. And Nintneod is obviously leaving money on the table based on all of these eBay sales.

@rjejr You put it way better than I possibly could. Well said!

Best thing about importing my Toad is that he's actually Kinopio:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xe8umbxo8yf6gsj/2015-03-24%2019.30.02.jpg?dl=0

@rjejr The weirdest thing is that the Mario-series are all a slightly different scale, so they're all larger than their Smash-series counterparts. I do not get why Nintendo would change the scale on different Amiibo lines, but having only picked up Toad, it's not so bad. He doesn't look quite as small as he prolly should, but he isn't too giant either.

@A01

These 2 statements:

"doesn't affect the game in any way."
and
"they don't and will never add anything that can't be done without them."

aren't necessarily the same thing however. Having played Skylanders Giants w/ my wife there is a greater sense of immersion when handling the toys. And it's very noticeable while watching my children play Skylanders vs the similar Lego games. Some people don't like games like Uncharted 2 or Metal Gear Solid Sons of Liberty b/c they say it's more akin to watching a movie than playing a game, not enough interaction. Well from experience I can tell you playing w/ the toys does change the gameplay experience from siting back on the couch to being constantly moving and looking around and bumping into each other when playing multiplayer. Kids playing w/ these toys will notice when similar games don't have the toys, the experience will be lessened.

So the toys do make a difference to playing the game. Yes the game may be able to be played w/o them by pressing some buttons, going into a menu, and choosing other characters, but it wont be the same. So the toy sdo matter.

Again, I'm talking about Skylanders, not amiibo, which have been sparingly used to this point. Even the Disney Infinity games don't have quite the same level of interaction as Skylanders, and certainly not Swap Force. amiibo haven't really added a thing to anything my family does w/ video games.

@A01 how about augmented reality?

I like this game a lot, but I'm not about to spend 13$ so I can find a pixel. The only Amibos I own are Shulk and ToonLink. I haven't even open them yet. If they were to make a pokemon game with Amibos I would be totally broke. These things are a hit and I'm just mildly interested in them to not even caring about them. Nintendo has a lot of money to be made if they can pull of Pokemon Amibos.

I haven't gone back to this game in quite some time. I am looking forward to this new challenge when I do. Any extra functionality for amiibos is always welcomed, even the 1-ups in this game.

Nintendo could have made Luigi amiibo working in this game too. Finding Luigi!

@GreatPlayer But there were some Luigis placed in the standard game already.

Most wave 3 amiibos (other thank Mega Man and Sonic) didn't even make it onto shelves in UK stores. My local game only ever has Mario, Peach, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Link and Pikachu. Something really needs to be done about this, you can't even pre-order wave 4. I will not pay £30-£50 for an amiibo but I desperately want to complete the collection. So frustrating.