Nintendo Marketing Boss Says amiibo Expectations "Have Been Smashed", and Aims to Improve Stock Supplies 

I have them all so far but I'm worried that I wont be able to preorder some if they go on pre order and sell out in minutes. Shulk, ness and pacman look awesome btw

About time.

Lucinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Good... as I realy want Megaman Dede Mettaknight Packman Shulk and Sonic... and Dont want to pay stupid prices from Scalpers...

I think the shelf-space-problem retailers are having is the most serious issue in at least Germany. Gamestops usually are very small and electrical retailers have a lot other products to claim the shelf-space they have.
Discovered slightly irritated that my local store apparently stopped ordering enough of each new amiibo. They have two relatively small areas to keep them and there seems to be not much more room to have much more than two of each of the new wave. Will look for Daraen later on in another store.

YOU DON'T SAY??? I was up at midnight last night checking Argos for wave 4 - never appeared. Went to bed, woke up at like 9, saw they were listed, frantically rushed to add them to my trolley, BAM - sold out. (this is despite Argos's search page saying they are all available for collection and delivery but my trolley states they are available for NEITHER) I don't know when they went live, but I can only presume it was around 3 while I was asleep and sold out before I even had a chance to wake up. Getting so sick of stock disappearing within seconds of it going live.

"needs" is a pretty loaded word for the amiibo consumer demand.

"From what we've seen the core audience for amiibo at the moment are our older fanbase who have the love and disposable income to get in first..."

Well this pretty much nails it.

"Although, if you search around, you can still find some of the more hard-to-find Amiibo sitting on shelves."

True. I saw 2 WiiFitTrainer lying around on one of my remote local stores. I need to search more for villager.

"We hope to do a better job of satisfying these needs in the future with more stock, and, while there are always going to be some times when we can't on certain characters, I suspect that is also part of the appeal."

So the rare characters will stay rare? :/

"and, while there are always going to be some times when we can't on certain characters, I suspect that is also part of the appeal." EFF YOU

Could this guy be any further out of touch from what the fans' reality is?

The whole amiibo situation is utterly insane. Nintendo don't you understand that you would make more money if you just met demand instead of other people leeching off the unneeded scarcity of certain amiibo? This guy is out of touch, actually Nintendo is out of touch. This is clear to see when the fans, the people who would actually buy these things literally can't. These amiibo do not exist in shops. The ones no-one wants can occasionally be found like Peach, DK and Diddy but thats it really. Not acceptable.
Sorry for the rant but i couldn't get the amiibo i wanted from wave 4 (except Lucina), gonna try in stores later today.

@Datasun_7 I have to check several websites every 5 minutes or so just to have a chance of getting a Ness, Pac-Man and Robin...Why is Amiibo collecting such a chore?...I don't know why I keep trying...
It can't continue this way, Nintendo.

Dont "hope" it, freakin do it !
I get it that suddenly starting toy production takes quite a lot of effort. Getting partners to do so, making the molds, shipping them across the globe.
Granted, starting hicups are expected.

But Amiibos are basically sold out as soon as they are announced. Instead of lamenting that you should aim to do better, just double or triple the production,
Why ? Because you can quite clearly see, that those things WILL be bought. There is no real loss here.

Amiibos are a freakin goldmine. They appeal to an extremely wide audience, from long time Nintendo Fans cherishing the fact that they can stock their shelfes with amazing little figurines of their childhood heroes, to the crowd who basically wants them for their games all the way down to collectors and modders.

Saying that "some figures might be rarer boosts their appeal" is utter BS. It not only hurts their overall appeal, since many people wont start collecting them, if some figures are inaccessable form the get go, it also hambers the games using their featurs.

As much as i love Nintendos approach to PR, cutting out the middle man when it comes to press releases with their Directs, there deperately need to be another way to communicate from the consumer to the company.

"Vote with your wallet" is only possible, if the product in question is actually available. As a consumer, you can only show your appreciation through purchasing a product, if it is actually up for purchase.
So basically, the system is fundamentally broken.

Nintendo implemented teh feaure of anonymously collecting user data. So when which game is played for how long etc.
If this also takes external peripheral use into account, what is the message they are getting ? "Oh, no one uses Amiibos, maybe they dont want them" ?
If so, wakey wakey, people arent using Amiibos, becaus emost of them are impossible to find.

Is there seriously need for a large scale petition to announce "let us pay for your stuff already" ?

@AyeHaley 100% agree, its becoming way more trouble than its worth. When a massive fan is saying that, you know something is being done very very wrong.

Funny thing is....I feel like I have only one rare amiibo. I have Shulk. The rest can be found. Well except for Mega Man. Sonic stopped becoming so rare as well. Maybe Toad....MAYBE! Everything else I have can be found in the store. I hate that I see Disney Infinity characters any and everywhere, but not Nintendo characters I'm interested in. If Nintendo satisfies everyone by meeting demand here, then my faith will be restored. However, I'm afraid that Nintendo is "marketing" in a way to keep demand hungry. Not a good look.

More Mario and Link amiibo for everyone!

I understand that meeting all of the demand can be a matter of "easier said than done" but like I've said before, Nintendo's sitting on a gold mine here. If they could just get more stock in, profits could skyrocket. As is though, the situation's ridiculous. At midnight, Lucina and Robin were available on Amazon for £30, which I didn't like but I bit the bullet and bought 'em. Good thing too because Lucina has since doubled in price this morning and Robin's not much better. All of the Wave 4 amiibo were released today and already people are having issues getting them.
These are supposed to be for kids, right? C'mon Ninty, there's gotta be a way to make most-all of the figures accessible and not just the common ones..

I really hope that Villager is made very common if an Animal Crossing U exists. More Rosalina, Wario, Toad, Pacman and Olimar would be nice too!

What a farce - make a toy line that:
1) only adult fans can get anywhere near
2) risks alienating the younger audience
3) is irrelevent to everyone else, as the toys are nowhere near stores and sold out online

They could stock more Shulk, Ness and Lucina if they wanted to, but no, they're generating an increasingly tiresome treasure hunt which, if anything, is perpetuating the image of a niche brand rather than increasing their mainstream exposure.

Limited supply of a serially manufactured item is never "an appeal", but a manufacturing mess up IMO

Shulk would be nice, but yeah to echo others, having Mario Party 10 which is a game that primarily appeals to children and yet having ZERO amiibo available for it is really lame. If any figures should be readily available I'd think it was that series. We also haven't had announcements about the balance of the figures, but we're told Smash equivalents will work - those being as hard to find as the Super Mario series ones!

And nintendo is just now getting this? What is actually going on in that company...are they even stepping outside to look at their own items, or are they just playing in their money bins? I've only seen the same characters in every store, haven't even known that any new ones have come out yet. I've been waiting to find Pac-Man, Gold Mario or even Fox (if he did come out). The only ones I ever see are Mario, Luigi, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Peach, Link and Zelda...sometimes seeing Samus. I just thought no other ones were ever released.

After my debacle with the oOfficial Nintendo Store, I went into Smyths. They only had 2 of each of Lucina, Robin, Ness, and Pacman.

And I bought the lot for me and my Nephew.

I just hope that Nintendo flood the market with them and leave all the ebay profiteers with tons of useless stock.

@Volmun you might want to check this website it informs you when an amiibo is in stock http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/games/amiibo/ ,and megaman and sonic are not hard to get ^

Are they waiting until all the smash bros amiibo have released to re-release the popular ones or what? They sure are taking their time, even though that shareholders report showed they know exactly how much demand there is for amiibo like rosalina across all regions.

"We hope to do a better job of satisfying these needs in the future with more stock, and, while there are always going to be some times when we can't on certain characters..."

Well I guess it's at least a good thing that they recognize its a problem.

"I suspect that is also part of the appeal."

Oh wait, never mind.

"What we hadn't anticipated was the number of collectors wanting to get them all – this has seen demand exceed supply in some areas."

What were you expecting?? Did you really think we'd be cool just collecting Link and Mario??

"Although, if you search around, you can still find some of the more hard-to-find Amiibo sitting on shelves."

That's bull. I'm not driving to another state to look for amiibos.

@Tiefseemiez I can confirm that. In Germany, there are not many places to get an Amiibo like in NA. You really have to search and have a good potion of luck. And Amazon is so overpriced that you could cry. It would be nice to have reruns of the old Amiibos for all of those, who couldn't buy them. Maybe then, the prices will go down.

@JLPick

Amen, you said it!

Do you live in NA? Those are exactly the ones I see too. I never see anyone else besides, maybe, yoshi. When the wave 3 preorders we're going around, I had asked a worker at GameStop when they were hitting the store shelves. His response was that wave 3 was never going on the shelves, and that the preorders even took his extra stock for their first day on sale. I have to imagine a lot of other stores had to do the same thing.

Amiibo is the worst thing Nintendo has done in a long time. It's embarrassing really.

Give us the option to purchase entire "waves" in a bundle. It's so simple. Makes sense. Never going to happen

Seems spot on to me. The ones I seen and somewhat know in person that collect and complain (sometimes whine) about amiibo are old enough to drink legally. Funny how the kids are more mature about the stock issue compared to the older crowd, as far as I know in my area.

"while there are always going to be some times when we can't on certain characters, I suspect that is also part of the appeal." Controversial but true. If WFT and Villager wasn't suspected of being cut from production line last December, they would of been in stock even longer. Ones like gold Mario speck for itself.

After Wave 3, I learned to be even more patient. Ones that was once hard to find like Megaman and Sonic is more common now and they begin the process of restocking older amiibo and rumors going around they're doing it with Metaknight and Shulk at their stores. They're learning, they just need to be quicker then the demands.

"We hope to do a better job of satisfying these needs in the future with more stock, and, while there are always going to be some times when we can't on certain characters, I suspect that is also part of the appeal."
Uh...no. In fact, I would very much prefer it to NOT be this damn difficult.
"What we hadn't anticipated was the number of collectors wanting to get them all – this has seen demand exceed supply in some areas. Although, if you search around, you can still find some of the more hard-to-find Amiibo sitting on shelves."
1. What did you expect, really!?
2. Bull-crap. The only ones that I ever see on store shelves are the Mario ones and either Zelda or Link.
Also, have you seriously just now realized the issue at hand, Nintendo!? I would like to get at least ONE amiibo in Wave 4, but right now it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I am not happy right now! It's good that they're FINALLY learning, because maybe now they can get their sh*t together with this!

"They really are the perfect stocking-fillers."

It's April. Stop that.

@MoonKnight7 I do live in NA. It is a pathetic approach that nintendo is doing, and shows fans and others on how much they care about their fans. It's a very poor business measure on their part, and they should know by now that their products sell to not only children but adults as well. It's not like pressing buttons on a machine to make them is that hard, they have enough money to do this especially with how much money they are getting from them...you'd think that they would think that if they make more, they sell more...which gives them more money...especially with their lagging sales with the Wii U. It was pathetic when the original Wii first came out, of how long it took to actually start seeing it sitting on store shelve...almost 2 years into its lifespan, and there shouldn't have been that much of a shortage. Sony had this problem with the PS4 system on launch, but fixed it to where you at least see them on store shelves, it just all comes down to wondering on what is going through nintendo's heads right now.

Thanks to whoever decided to use the photo showing how Nintneod messed up yet again. Rather than making more of the rare amiibo they retooled an entire manufacturing line to make 5 variations of the amiibo that could already be found on store shelves. What a wasted effort.

I am hoping Wave 4 and all the rest are in short supply due to Ntinedo going all out on making the Spaltoon amiibo. Those NEED to be readily available everywhere the game is sold.

Though on a contrary note - anybody know of any other game the Splatoon amiibo work in besides Spaltoon? I'm pretty sure Splatoon are supposed to be better than all the other NFC toys b/c they work in more than 1 game. Though I suppose at this point there are already a lot of other amiibo that only work in SSB, though the amiibo demo databse of amiibo Tap will sort of rectify that. I wonder if Splatoon amiibo wil work on that as well?

@Rafie
Yesterday, I saw dozens of Mega Man and Sonic on the shelves and Toad, too, I think. At Toys R Us in the US it looks like they are overstocked with all the more common Amiibo, too.

One big problem with this can be perception. If you only check one store all the time it feels impossible to find some. I never see Kirby at Target but there are plenty elsewhere, for instance. Retailer exclusives make it worse. Not sure most parents are willing to cart their uninformed kids to multiple retailers to find one.

I'll go out of my way sometimes to get things and I'm reasonably aware of this stuff compared to most parents, yet there are several amiibo I have never seen in person that I would have willing picked up at regular retail price if I saw one.

When the average fan can get whatever they want at the retail price with a reasonable amount of extra effort then this problem will be solved.

I'm honestly encouraged to see anyone from Nintendo acknowledge the problem. I see some progress on restocking, but the old rare amiibo seem like they are never coming back and that's the announcement I'm waiting for. A refresh of those to discourage scalpers.

@JLPick " It's not like pressing buttons on a machine to make them is that hard" You don't seem to understand manufacturing. They build machines and assembly lines with work on figures like these often involving a human touch. When a contract is made there are agreements about the amount of time a particular thing is created. When the contract is finished that part of the factory is repurposed, rebuilt, to make something else. When you want to make something that was made before to the same spec and there is proven demand there is room for negotiation from manufacturers. On top of this, as has been noted by Nintendo, the cost of making each type of Amiibo varies widely. The rare ones are often the most intricate and I imagine the margins on those are pretty slim. Retooling and renegotiating could make margins nonexistent. Finding the right number of millions of toys is difficult, too. Retailers and warehouses don't like stock that just sits on shelves and there is a big fight for space.

Not disagreeing with you in principle. Nintendo has created a situation where parts of games are locked out by these toys and there should be an enduring way to get to that content. It's just not as simple as pressing a button to print money despite the meme.

This is why alternate cards alongside whatever other restocking they do is critical to combat scalpers.

Good thing close to no one owns a Wii U where I live so I basically get first dibs on all the amiibo.

I'll believe talks of bettering the stock problem when I see it. Also, I know in my area it doesn't matter how much you search around because you aren't finding any rare amiibos. We consider it a win if we find an uncommon amiibo. Nintendo has been talking about fixing the stock issue but it hasn't helped the consumer at all. Amiibos are frustrating and it's all Nintendo's fault. Someone else posted that retail space is also an issue. It is in really small boutique stores but it's not an issue for bigger retailers such as Target, Best Buy, & Walmart. In fact, my local Best Buy has plenty of unused space in the Nintendo row of shelves.

@rjejr
Yeah, Splatoon Amiibo and any non-SSB IP is going to have that problem of working with fewer games.
Mario Kart seems to get regular updates to include Mii Costumes some of which are pretty clever. I bet we get those for another year and it eventually includes many more amiibo including Splatoon. The Tap thing helps, like you say, but we know where this is headed.

There needs to be a hub game or free download where these Amiibo can get together as well. The Amiibo Tap is a stopgap.

This Amiibo thing has potential to be a major net positive. I bought a Kirby amiibo to go with Rainbow Curse when I give it to my son for his birthday. The in-game bonus is just a novelty really but he loves that character, too, and I know he'll get a kick out of it. Plus, it unlocks a MK costume and he can train him up in Smash Bros one day for fun. Plus, there's Amiibo Tap coming up and who knows what else. It was just kind of a no-brainer at $13.

Incidentally, I think Amiibo Tap will get more kids to try out those retro games than just adults, ultimately. My kids play some of those already but they watch me play them more. With little short fun bursts unlocked by Amiibo I think they will be playing them instead of me.

Anyway: Alternate Cards Nintendo! Plus, restock the rares!

@DBPirate You're lucky then. If I went to any store in my area even an hour after they open on the day a new amiibo comes out, I've probably waited too long.

@aaronsullivan I'm not falling for the "Amiibo Tap Trap". It's going to be a slightly better version of playing the free demos of classic Nintendo games that is found in the last two Smash games. No thank you.

If they wanted to release something that allows you to play classic Nintendo games, they should release NES Remix 3 for free and have Amiibos unlock levels.

@dkxcalibur
As far as shelf space goes, Best Buy is a poor example. That retailer seems to always be on the brink of folding. Shelf space and stocking is paramount at a retailer like Target and Walmart.

On Amiibo Tap, I went and edited an earlier post to add more, but basically I see it as possibly reaching kids who aren't familiar with those games. I think it's more likely to get attention than the SSB feature anyway. Not sure how it could be a "trap". It's a fun diversion and a targeted ad.

I don't blame Nintendo for initially underestimating amiibo's demand. When they were first released, I didn't understand their appeal and didn't expect them to do that well. However, they now need to hurry up and make lots more of them.

Obtaining some of the amiibos is insanely hard. I checked my local GAME and Argos this morning for pacman, but they never have anything except for the really old and common amiibo.

@aaronsullivan - "The Amiibo Tap is a stopgap."

I think you mean "amiibo is a stop gap until Lego Dimensions comes out."

We really really don't need another NFC game. Still waiting to see what Sklyanders 5 has in store, but DI sits unplayed, and probably always will at this point. But that Lego game has a siren's song. If Nintneod finally does announce "amiibo Land" at E3 this year for a holiday release we may just laugh it off as too little to late.

@RainbowGazelle What? I was also surprised that everybody wanted the full collection. I was expecting to only get a few, and I was expecting everyone else to only get a few. Nobody was expecting so many people to want every single Amiibo. Sometimes people get a number one smash hit out of something the maker thinks will sell only a relatively small amount, an it can take a few years for stock levels to catch up (Discworld comes to mind).

I hope they re release all the characters again so I can get the ones I've missed out on.

@aaronsullivan This is not the case in my local area. Walmart probably has more empty space then my local Best Buy, in the Amiibo area. Target is a little more tight, but still enough room for more. I don't blame the stores, they can only shelf what they have in stock. I blame Nintendo. I can understand the initial "safe" approach but that was with the first two waves.....these recent stories of preorders not being fulfilled for the newest amiibos is unacceptable.

@Setery10 Thanks for trying to hellp but from what i can see thats all US stuff (and im in the UK) -Iv seen sonic for £15 on Amazon UK but Megaman is often stupid prices also seen DeDe for £40... total rip
-
Oh i see the UK setting - thanks.

I was going to collect some amiibo, but after I paid extra to import a Lucario from Japan because I couldn't get one in America and now they've made two others that I wanted store exclusives, I'm out. They've lost me as a customer for these things.

I'm just one person, but I'm sure there are more like me that liked these at first and were interested in collecting some here and there, but are not interested in pre-ordering and driving from store to store hoping to find rare amiibo.

Thankfully Disney Infinity figures are plentiful and easy to find. I'm sticking with that game since my kids and I enjoy the gameplay and collecting.

@MadAdam81 I'm aware it can take time to restock, but this idiot still thinks it's possible to get rare amiibo on store shelves, and also, bizarrely, seems to think we enjoy not being able to get the figures we're after.

@Volmun Just click on the UK prices on the left. Or alternatively, use this site: http://www.amiibofigures.uk/

@rjejr
Disney Infinity is waning here, too. But, they do like to mess around in the Toy Box still here and there. I could drum up their excitement about it if I tried, but I shouldn't have to do that.

I really want to see a fun creative building tool that is easy to play with but modular enough to make unique and interesting play experiences with. LBB almost does it, Toy Box has potential but is too fidgety. Minecraft is pretty great at this actually. Mario Maker looks like it will be fun to build just because of the immediacy of testing, but I've seen nothing from LEGO. To me, that's what LEGO should have, but it seems more interested in the mash-up of brands. That's cool in it's own right but I'm just not looking for that from LEGO, I don't know.

Also, there is definitely a limit to this toys for video games collecting. I just look at our Disney Infinity collection and shake my head. I think the problem has become that the Marvel toys as statuettes just aren't doing it for me. I'm agreeing with you on this more now. I like the Disney and Pixar characters because they closely match the characters and bring out their charm well. Same with my Amiibo actually. They can sit on shelves long after I play games with them. But many of those marvel figures and some of the "extras" I don't care about just make me question my purchases.

What the new Star Wars Infinity characters actually look like and how they are going to address the fun factor of the games and Toy Box in Infinity is going to determine if I care about it at all in 3.0.

@rjejr I actually think Nintendo's main competitor this fall will be Lego.....kind of. That game will be on a Nintendo system so it's not a direct competitor like the the PS4 & XBone is to the Wii U but it will compete directly with Amiibos. Where Lego has an advantage over Disney and Skylanders is that Lego toys are super hot right now, and they could stock either the Lego aisle or the game aisle. I know my family is very very interested in the Lego game and how each toy will interact with the game.

Gold Mario amiibo...exclusive to Walmart only - should NOT be a thing!!!

This is no different than the scarcity of the Wii for almost 2 years, Nintendo underestimated the power of Amiibo (as a collectible) and undershot production by a TON, they will still undershoot going forward, but hopefully by a much smaller margin.

It will get better, because hype will die down, and only the diehard collectors will buy them (although that might only be in a few years). I have a lot of friends with the "gotta buy 'em all" mentality, even though they aren't big collectors, I assume this fad will fade, even if it's only slightly.

Amiibo collecting is like a game in itself, so no matter how frustrating it is, I think a lot of people are enjoying the chase, and then bragging about it.

@bezerker99
I don't know if it bothers me that much. It's painted Gold. It neither adds to or takes away from any game and only matters to collectors. Let them pay for it.

As for keeping an Amiibo in its box. That should not be a thing.

(I actually think the retailer exclusive part "shouldn't be a thing", though. I was just having some fun.)

@Volmun no problem glad I could help you avoid those scalpers

@aaronsullivan I understand. I am one of the people, as the article noted, that wants to buy all of the amiibo and have a complete set but it's nearly impossible (as we all know). Not only do the 'rare' amiibo sell out quickly everywhere, but by making store specific amiibo - it just takes that word 'rare' to a whole new level. This gamer is pretty much done with preordering and driving all over town looking for these things.

EDIT: I should have stated that it's not the gold mario amiibo in general i have a problem with, it's amiibo tied to a certain store only....

So far, the few amiibo I've been interested in (Fox, Mega Man, Pikachu, and Diddy Kong) have thankfully been easy for me to find. I hope Olimar will be as well, since that's the next one I have interest in.
I do kinda feel bad for people wanting some of the super rare characters. I have been to a LOT of retail stores looking at amiibos, and there are still many characters I've never seen in the wild.

@sketchturner Keep on top of Olimar, that one could definitely "go rare".

@Nintenjoe64 I couldn't agree more. I would say the eBay seller is the main reason there is a shortage at all.

Keep throwing your money at these toys, kids! You won't regret it!

@aaronsullivan Actually for the record, the Gold Mario amiibo isn't just Mario painted gold; it has Gold Mario functionality for games that want to use it, but functions as regular Mario for those that don't. Right now the only game that does anything special for Gold Mario is Mario Party 10 though

@aaronsullivan - "I'm agreeing with you on this more now."

Sorry about that.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but only of the first movie. And Yoda, b/c I was a huge Kermit the frog fan as a kid. Right place, right time kind of thing. So the new toys will likely hold no interest to me. Yoda will be Clone Wars CGI ugly, R2-D2 won't beep or light up. My family will see the movie in theaters, seems like a family thing to do and I try, but don't see how the game can hold any more interest than the other dozen Star Wars games I've already played.

I could still be tempted back to DI w/ the classics, but they really don't seem to want to go that route. Who wouldn't want this as a playset?

@TeeJay Didn't realize that, thanks. At least it is something that can be unlocked without Gold Mario.

@rjejr
Won't be Clone Wars so much (but maybe as ugly) because Star Wars Rebels is likely going to be featured as that's the main TV show that is running and already out. Hadn't really considered that... I personally really enjoyed that show and it will be in its second season when Infinity 3.0 arrives. Family loves that show, too. That could be tough to overcome. lol.

I hear you on the classics. You have to admit that it would be a bit of an uphill battle to market that. Perhaps Disney needs an entirely new line of collectible game and toys for adults? That way the cartoony simplified toy look would be unnecessary and it could focus on more nostalgic entries... and be more expensive.

@dkxcalibur - "Lego toys are super hot right now"

Legos have been hot for about 85 years or so I think. They defy all "fad" odds. From cheap packs to $200 computer toys to a wide range of $30 - $150 licensed products, hardly a male living in the US today hasn't played w/ Legos at some point in their life, and I think that gives them a leg up over all the other NFC products. Any other company joining the toys to life fad now I might say they are too late, but Lego has instant brand name recognition, I don't see how they can fail.

How much it harms the other toys is the only real question.

They have got to get the ball rolling on the card form of amiibo, at least. I would love a Toad amiibo so I can get more out of my Captain Toad game. But I should not have to pay $20+ for it second-hand! They should get card forms of them on Nintendo online store as soon as possible. People could then keep collecting the toys and those of us who miss the one we want for a game can still enjoy the functionality of it.

@RainbowGazelle There are plenty of places that have rare stock, although it's not easy to contact hundreds of stores.
And if everybody could buy all the amiibos they wanted, they wouldn't preorder all the amiibo they could and buy them all as soon as they can.
The shortage is leading to people buy more than they were otherwise going to, the craze got way out of hand.

@JLPick

"It's not like pressing buttons on a machine to make them is that hard..."

I'm going to have to disagree with the "hitting a couple buttons" part of your comment. Factory work, depending on what you have at your disposal, is very taxing. It's great once everything is setup, but changing equipment to do other amiibos has to cost a fortune, and takes up a considerable amount of time and man-power. It simply isn't as easy as just flicking a switch.

Having said that, the rest of your comment is accurate. Despite the complications of their factory efforts, they have had ample time to adjust for the demand. It's obvious that they just need more machines, and more people to hire, etc. Nintendo needs to do whatever it can to make more of these, but it seems like they are just going about it as usual.

The worst sin though, is their handling of the pre-orders. Their strategy of just making "X" amount and then shrugging their shoulders when they sell out in minutes is a very poor business strategy. I feel like they cover this kind of stuff in Business 101. It would be better to open pre-orders up at stores, let people order them, then go all out and make the correct number while the machines are set up. It may take a little longer, but it's the right way to do it.

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. I understand that they underestimated the demand, and I also understand that you may want to limit some supplies to create demand and "sold-out" headlines in the beginning of a business venture. However, having said that, Nintendo has found themselves in a sticky situation.

Their fans are mad. Really mad. I have heard so many people say, "I'm done with these things, I don't want them anymore." That's not the language you want to hear. They really need to figure this out, and this article at least shows that they understand they really need to step up and do better. Me personally, I'm not going to hold my breath. I think it's more likely that little Jimmy won't get his favorite character because Nintendo just dropped the ball, and just shrugs their shoulders. If this continues as usual, Nintendo loses a lot of money and opportunities. But the fans will lose even more, cause all little Jimmy wanted a Ness amiibo.

@aaronsullivan - "it would be a bit of an uphill battle to market that."

I don't think I want to live in a world where it would be an uphill battle to market giant squid, man-eating sharks, and the coolest submarine ever known to man. (I like the Atragon/Gotengo more but I know I'm niche.)

@MoonKnight7 - "Factory work, depending on what you have at your disposal, is very taxing. It's great once everything is setup, but changing equipment to do other amiibos has to cost a fortune, and takes up a considerable amount of time and man-power. It simply isn't as easy as just flicking a switch."

I think that's what I find most annoying that not only did they switch to a new amiibo line for Mario Party 10 before they even finished w/ the SSB line, but those amiibo are almost identical. All they needed to do was add 1 Captain Toad amiibo for his game, not slightly rework 5 other characters. They could have used that effort to make more of the harder to find characters, or Wave 4. It just adds to how bad Nintnedo management looks right now.

@rjejr I'll agree that they have been around for a long time and most people have at least played with them at one point or another in their life. What I meant by "hot" is that they are more popular now then they ever have been in the past. 6-7 years ago, you could have purchased bulk lego blocks online for really cheap. Now, that they are mega popular, you're paying a lot more. Also, now there are mini figures that sell alone by themselves for $10+. That's all I meant. Ever since the Lego Movie released, the popularity has increased to a higher level.

@HollywoodHogan ....especially if you're buying in an attempt to resell them later.

I think with Amiibos vs Beanie Babies at least half the people buying amiibos actually want to own them and use them instead of making an investment like the beanie baby craze.

@rjejr
Certainly the concept and poster are awesome. There's just nothing else you can build off of compared to what is happening with the other toys 2 life. There is no current or upcoming movie, no current interest in the book, no TV series, no toy line, no continuing stories that this was the root of. Even most adults who could remember it as a kid probably haven't thought about it in decades.

Skylanders is the only one that gets to be the first of its kind and build on a lesser property but get the most attention on the novelty of the toys2life concept alone.

There it is again, "but I suspect that is part of the appeal" - no it blooming well isn't.

All I have is Shulk and Toon Link and I'm ok with that. I wish they would come out with a Pokemon or a Skylander type game to increase the use. They have positive results. What are they waiting for.

@Volmun Sonic and Megaman are always available.

I'm just here to say that my local Game still has one Marth left.

@dkxcalibur - I knew what you meant, hot right now. Guess what I was trying to add to your point, not subtract from it, was Lego have been around long enough so that I think as another toy entry it's a safe bet that it will do well.

See Hogans #65 photo of the Beanie Babies. At some point, they too, were "hot right now" but that didn't last. Pet rocks. Motion controls. Chia pets All those things have had their "hot right now" moments, but they faded fast, Lego has legs.

I think Lego has long term staying power to outlast "hot right now". amiibo are more likely to be joining the Beanie Baby crowd. Scalpers always move on to the next big thing after hot right now turns into yesterdays leftovers. Scalpers will buy Lego NFC toys, but a lot of people who want them will as well. And I think Lego will make sure there are enough toys to go around. Not during the holidays, those things WILL be hard to find, but soon thereafter. And maybe many years to come.

Yay more Mario that's what we all need.

And for me it's not so much about the figurines when are the Amiibo cards going to be released?

@rjejr

I'm with you there. Making the Mario Party line was a mistake. It would be different if amiibos were in great supply. They could have used those machines to re-make some of the more high demand amiibos like Little Mac, Captain Falcon, Rosalina, etc. Just like you said.

What's worse is that only Japan is getting more of the rare ones. I know they are getting Captain Falcon, Villager, and the third one is escaping me. If you have the machines set up, why wouldn't you pump out more for everyone?! People in the west will just import them from Japan anyway! It's insanely illogical to me.

@aaronsullivan - Glad you added Skylanders there at the end b/c according to your entire first paragraph it should have already failed miserably.

But seriously, Nintneod can promote Splatoon, a new IP game w/ ZERO nostaliga factor and it's 3 amiibo that only work in 1 game so far - but Disney can't promote Capt. Nemo and the Nuatius? That doesn't seem right at all. Wii Fit Trainer amiibo sold out, who wanted that oddity?

I do understand you - the marketing tie-ins for SW and Marvel are too huge to ignore, NOT putting them in DI would border on criminal negligence and their stock holders would revolt, but anybody should be able to market a 20k Leagues playset w/ a guy in a deep sea diving suit, a toy Nautilus, and a toy giant squid. Gold I tell you. gold!

I'll give you that a playset of the USS Cygnus, V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and Maximillian would be a tougher sell, but everybody has heard of those Jules Verne stories. Maybe if the Black Hole playset came w/ a DVD of the movie in the box?

Edit: Oops, wrong photo.

Hopefully this includes bringing more stock of previous waves - pretty difficult to find some of them for a decent price around here

I'm looking at you, store exclusive Amiibo

Still waiting on Gold Mario for Europe!

Meanwhile in Chain,
Worker - "Did you hear NOA? (puts Samus's arm on Little Mac and put Little Mac's arm on Samus) We have to make amiibos quicker!"
Worker 2 - "Yea, I heard. (puts Shulk's head on top of Ganondorf) That's means well get paid extra right because we pretty much remembered all these amiibos names and what parts belong to who."
Worker - "Yeah, I did the same. (picks up Luigi amiibo) This one is Mario right, (puts Wario arm on Luigi) and this is one of his parts right?"
Manger - "As if we didn't already have a issue..."

@aaronsullivan I hear ya. Something interesting is all the rare amiibo (wave 1 & 2) are getting restocks in Japan. So i think restocks will happen in NA and EU as well. I ordered a villager from PlayAsia

I'm just echoing da comments here.

Perhaps when you complete the Smash Bros line up (Well, till you decide to Amiibo the DLC characters) you can do a Reissue Wave where the most desired Amiibo get a reprint huh Nintendo?

Pity they did not ask him about the Gold Mario Amiibo getting a UK run. Getting him without a UK release will be a financial nightmare for us importers... @_@

The situation is absolutely ridiculous, I've collected a few amiibo so far including Marth and Ike and I really want to buy Lucina and Robin to use with Code Name Steam when it's out in a couple of weeks..

Right now it's on Amazon for around £49!! Sold out everywhere else that I have searched.. For me the rrp is about right, and if they were available for that price I'd more than likely get them all over time.

Right now I've pretty much given up buying them as it's just hassle and not the enjoyable collecting experience that it should be..

If I see the ad again for Code Name Steam that says 'tap Marth, Ike, Robin or Lucina to add them to your squad', i may make an official complaint to Nintendo, asking them not to advertise something unless they can actually sell it to me.

This.... SUCKS

http://store.nintendo.co.uk/nintendo-3ds/code-name-steam.list

(The fact that all the amiibo are sold out that is..)

@HollywoodHogan lol like established IP and characters are the same as that crap? Oh hell no.
But I do agree that many buy Amiibo cause they are hot and trendy, which means opened/used Amiibo will flood the used market in a couple of years.

I still say they release 8 at a time, for a longer period of time. Instead they're flooding the market with new ones every few months.

$80 villager is just stupid lol.

@shigulicious im in the UK not US and thay are not iv been checking Game and Nintendo stor both always out of stock
-
http://m.store.nintendo.co.uk/amiibo/sonic-the-hedgehog-no.26-amiibo/11042644.html
http://www.game.co.uk/en/m/sonic-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-322849?pageSize=40&errorViewName=mProductDisplayErrorView&categoryIdentifier=819608&top_category=
http://www.game.co.uk/en/m/mega-man-amiibo-super-smash-bros-collection-322852?pageSize=40&errorViewName=mProductDisplayErrorView&categoryIdentifier=819608&top_category=
http://m.store.nintendo.co.uk/amiibo/mega-man-no.27-amiibo/11042639.html

I still hope they will just do a rerun of all of them once the smash line is over. Hopefully then I'll have a chance to actually get the newer ones.

good

@hybridseed keep checking toys r us uk and argos. I managed to get them both 2day. And fact u can reserve them if in stock helps. Good luck.

There's ALWAYS amiibo in stock in the Best Buy across the street from where I work. Of course, they're the more common ones, like Mario series characters, Sheik, Pikachu, and Kirby, but there is always some of them on the shelves.

"I'm sure it will give our retail partners some headaches in trying to find enough space on shelf but they are very experienced in this sort of thing..."

He forgot to add, "...from our NES years, where we did the exact same thing as we're doing now for amiibo: artificially limit stock enough so that suppliers and customers will always clamor for more. We will only partially meet demand, so that our clients will continue to grovel and beg us for more; and even eventually be forced to crawl back to us when profits go down, if they are foolish enough to refuse to stock our products in protest."

This was all intentional, definitely a return to the dark side of the "Boutique Era" of gaming in the 80's and 90's... Of course, this time around, Nintendo no longer holds a monopoly. I doubt their (Sith) lightning will strike from the same bottle twice, though.

@Ryu_Niiyama Please God, let this happen! That might be my only chance at getting Vilalger, Pit, or ANY of the Wave 4 amiibos at this point!

There really needs to be a way to get these hard to find amiibos without paying the unreasonable prices being asked for on eBay or Amazon. It would be nice if they could be purchased directly from Nintendo, but the Canada store doesn't have them listed

@HollywoodHogan Oh man, that takes me back to the 90s... Hard to believe people used to pay tens or even hundreds of dollars for those little guys. A sane person from back then would have hoped we could learn our lesson not to get caught up in crazes by now...

Better do, don't want to pay over £30 for a pac man amiibo, both my orders have been cancelled. and they were both under £15 each, ticks me the feck off!!!

So my Ness came today. I'm happy.

@MoonKnight7 Sorry, didn't really mean just pressing a few buttons, just couldn't figure out the right words to say at the moment. You're right though, nintendo isn't meeting the demands of their fans, and this is not good for them. Their fans are the only ones really buying the Wii U, and if they lose more fans, they're going to have another flop system...which could really hurt them. I really hope that they start thinking, or maybe it's time for them to get some new blood into the company to help them out. If they release this NX system too early, that will hurt fans that just bought the Wii U, if they wait later, the system will look horrible at the time due to Sony and Microsoft getting ready to make their next systems. I love nintendo, but it seems that they've been falling out of grace recently, and I really hope they don't become what Sega and Atari became...especially since they're the most loved gaming company...I'm just wondering on how long it will take them to see the big picture in front of them.

I kinda hope that Nintendo makes deals with the other toys to life brands and adds amiibo support to them as a Nintendo exclusive. Nintendo doesn't need to create the adventure just allow there characters to partake. So a Lego version of Mario, Captain Falcon in Lego, or an infinity style version of them in Disney.

@MadAdam81 There are not 'plenty of places', that's a lie. I agree this shortage is probably selling more amiibo than they would otherwise, but it still stinks.

Yeah,YOU CANT GET AMIIBO IN THE UK FOR SMASH STAKES!

Please! I want Shulk amiibo!! I couldn't get it last time... they SOLD OUT! =(

I pre-ordered my Ike amiibo from Gamestop back on December 29th and still have yet to receive it. The best they can tell me is "sometime in May". It's not like my not having an Ike amiibo is negatively impacting my life, but it's pretty pathetic that an amiibo pre-ordered, and promised for February, isn't arriving until maybe May. Pathetic on both Gamestop and Nintendo' s part.

I still keep hoping a wild Rosalina will fall into my lap some day, luckily with Mario Party 10 I think that variation is/will be a little more common than the 'best buy exclusive' Sm4sh Rosalina figure.

Then it's just the wait for Zero Suit Samus, and my team is complete.

@aaronsullivan - If you're still in the market for ugly Marvel Disney Infinity toys Amazon has the Spiderman and Gaurdians of the Galaxy playsets for $19.99 each.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWHIZPI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

My kid wanted these so they've been in my cart forever, prices change every few days but this is the lowest I've seen them recently. We still haven't even touched the Lone Ranger set so probably won't get these at this time. Even my video game addicted family plays a lot less when the weather gets nicer and we can all go outside. Finally. And the Mets

@rjejr
Thanks already have guardians. It sits unopened and hiding until they are interested enough :/. At least I got a decent sale price on it.
Sales seem coordinated across retailers:
Target
$17.49 for guardians set
$14.99 Spider-Man

My kids loving outdoors now too. Mario Kart tracks and Kirby Rainbow Curse doing a little battle with it as they both arrived for birthday this weekend.

@aaronsullivan - I only saw the Target ad after I messaged you and thought to myself "guess I shouldn't have bothered". My kid's birthdays are Sept and Jan so over the holidays - both Hanukah and Christmas for them - we pile up the backlog and it gets slow over the spring and summer. Which could actually boost Splatoon sales in a "what else is there?" sort of way. [Partly sarcasm, partly truth.] Also why I'm currently playing Last of Us and Xenoblade on Wii (U). We did race 3-player all the new MK8 DLC tracks, they were fun, but tried out 200cc in VS Race mode and none of us are that good.

So DI 3.0 at E3 this year you think? I think Skylanders migrated from the NY toy fair to there last year so I guess there staying.

I wonder if years from now there'll be some sort of homebrew amiibo editor like the dreamcasts chao editor.

@Kami2Kami

I know bro, I know.

If I could at LEAST get Robin, then I'd be fine.... But after those two are out, (assuming I get them) my collection will stop. I just want those two, nothing else.

@AshFoxX

Dang, I'd trade you my Rosalina if you had a Lucina or Robin. Honestly, most of my figures I bought because In was trying to collect. But I would be very willing to trade for certain figures if it were possible.

@JellySplat My Robin came late (arrived on Saturday), well at least it came XD, now I need Lucina... Have you seen how much they're going for on Amazon from scalpers? in the region of £40-£50 !! What the heck!

@McoobabWATP

I know, it makes me sick! I technically still have a chance at both of them, because Best Buy her in the US have them listed, they just aren't for sale yet online. Hopefully, I am able to snag Robin and Lucina.

Wish me luck! Lol!

I still have a few Amiibos i'd like to purchase but there isnt any stock, i refuse to pay the prices some people eon Ebay are asking. So hope Nintendo do reprint alot of these!!

@Rhydas lucky! I couldn't find any Ness amiibo... /cry

@AyeHaley To be fair, I preordered him in January on the day he was first put up online. But I'm sure you'll find one eventually. Just hold out!

"Although, if you search around, you can still find some of the more hard-to-find Amiibo sitting on shelves." Is he for real lol