North American Retailers Confirm Super Smash Bros. amiibo Exclusives and Pre-Order Times

sighs Guess I'm not getting Greninja then. :/

amiibo Exclusives = very super expensives (sometimes hard to find) ebay/amazon amiibos , thanks NoA, why don´t you follow NoE example where there are no amiibo exclusives retailers?

@alex167 But here in the UK it's still extremely difficult to get amiibo, even some of the 'common' ones are hard to find. I've never seen an uncommon or rare, apart from the Marth I saw at CeX for £25.

Could Nintendo finally stop with these damn exclusive deals? Who even benefits from this? The retailers make fools of themselves through messing up pre-orders, several fans are left out just because there exclusive retailers aren't near them, and everyone keeps complaining about lacking stock!

In this one case, Germany has a lucky draw: no exclusives, mediocre interest, and many stores stock them properly.

Poopitypoopoop. Why 3pm? I'm in class! Darn Gamestop. I also don't have a toys r us.. I gotta be on the dot this time for greninja.

@ThomasBW84 - Any idea on Canada exclusivity? I know we lost Target.

I'm waiting on my Robin. I have the notification ready!

Well, I personally didn't really want greninja or jigglypuff but I feel bad for any body who does because now they're forced to deal with Target and Toys r Us. I'm just glad Robin and Lucina aren't exclusive so they should be easy to get.

Thankfully I don't care about any of the exclusives. I ended up getting a European Lucario and Japanese Rosalina, Shulk and Meta Knight. I thought we would not see any more of this.

I want to get the ness amiibo but unless my Internet starts working I doubt I'll get one trying to buy it off my phone. Also it's 2pm not 3pm. Just called my gamestop and they said 2. I'm in est btw

@ThomasBW84 - Thank you. I'm not shocked, they aren't the best. Though there was a rumor circling about that the closure of Target was going to end exclusivity in Canada but I doubt it. Then again, the Gold Mario were allowed everywhere, not just Waltmart and Rosalina and luma I do believe got to go to other retailers in the end.

@Kaze_Memaryu

"Could Nintendo finally stop with these damn exclusive deals? Who even benefits from this?"

Obvious answer: Nintendo. I'm sure they get an infusion of cash for them.

Secondary beneficiaries: the few legit collectors that manage to snag one.

Though we know the real Winners are the scalpers. I just don't understand why they just don't have an open pre-order window where they take all the pre-orders in that window and then fulfill them, even if they have to backorder for some.

@Inkling i know that happens but besides that situation imagine if you have to buy it in a retailer that is not in your country, I´m not living in the US right now , so for me amiibo like Rosalina is extremely hard to find...i hope Nintendo changes this retail exclusives method

I was actually able to preorder a Jigglypuff!

Well i better get ready then crap.

I really would like Ness. But the website is sold out already. Will have to go to a store later.

Why Nintendo? Why did you make ANOTHER freaking wave of exclusives!?!?

I am impatiently refreshing shop websites in the UK to see if they have listed the new amiibo... ugh this waiting is unbearable...

I just wish Nintendo UK would stock all the amiibo so I could easily buy them without spending a fortune.

I suppose Mew Two or Lucas amiibo will be Game Stop exclusive

Retailer exclusives are the worst idea.

The Jigglypuff preorder button is just grayed out for me. I HATE these exclusives! Absolutely HATE them! Don't get me wrong, I love collectors items, and cra like that.... But when these friggin amiibo figures come in to play, you've got to REALLY fight for them. And I'm getting sick of it.

And God forbid one of my younger siblings wants one (y'know, to PLAY with) they'll never even get a chance! I was lucky that I was able to preorder a Little Mac for my little brother, but Greninja is going to be hard.

I'm not one to boo at Nintendo... Ever really, but where amiibo are concerned, they REALLY need to step up their game. They're making soooooo little stock it makes me want to cry!

I was lucky enough to snag a jigglypuff! She's the only one I really want. I was just at the right place at the right time. I don't like how they do the exclusives - it's like Nintendo is trying to make their consumers mad

@JellySplat Sadly the reason why they are making so little stock is because they are afraid to be left holding unsold merch. That's what got them into financial trouble the past few years and they are only just pulling out of it. I invested in Nintendo just around the time the Wii U launched and I was losing money on them the whole time literally up until the day they announced the partnership with DeNA. As of two days ago I am $3,000 up on my investment, which is actually pretty good. So investors right now will only see that Nintendo is finally making the right moves for the first time in literally years, while consumers get burned by lack of stock and scalpers.

Are you kidding me? Is Ness really going to be in Gamestop, aka the place that take 3 hours for me to get to? I'm not even going to count on ordering online because 9 times out of 10 he's going to be sold out! Christ Nintendo why did you make store exclusives? Why can't I just drive to my Walmart (which btw don't even half of the amiibos I want) and get my freaking Ness?

C'mon! The two amiibo i wanted this wave- greninja and especially ness- are retailer exclusive. Maybe I'll find one cheap one day like sonic, but these are retail exclusive, so my hopes aren't high.

@TheLobster

Well, that's a good point of view to have. I'm still pissed about them adding more FREAKING exclusives, but I can understand why they do it. If you care too much about your consumers, you go bankrupt, and that's just how it is.

Jigglypuff is already gone in America. There was absolutely no warning. If you really want it I'd suggest popping on every now and then to see if it comes back.

You know what could work? Nintendo could release all the rare, sold-out amiibo in a restock right along side these. Would make the scalpers think twice, right?

Not a fan of the retail exclusives at all and I'm not even that far from every one of them. It does help keep Nintendo in the retailers good graces, I'm sure. As more and more of the gamers download their games exclusively, these physical products will help keep the hardware on the shelves in a prominent place. Still, the exclusives part is just obnoxious to customers.

@TheLobster
Right about the hardware stock. My hope is that some financial success will give them the ability to be a little more agile in the restocking for the future.

Please make the NFC card variants of Amiibo, widely available already...

Jigglypuff showed up for 7 minutes

Bloody hell, just release enough of the damn things so that people don't have to jump through these idiotic hoops to get them.

Nintendo is punishing their fans. This crap isn't fun. It's a pain in the ass.

This is disgusting NoA. Exploiting the fans like this.

I was really hoping Greninja wouldn't be a retailer exclusive. Ugh.

@Quorthon I agree completely. Nintendo already knows amiibo are a big hit. There's no reason to understock anymore.

Got Lucina and Robin from Best Buy, and they took them down right after.

Im tired of this exclusivity marshmallow.

The one forthcoming one I want—aside from yarn Yoshi and the squid from Splatoon that I'll never get—is Zero Suit Samus. So I'm guessing that will be a Nintendo World Store NYC exclusive in the US.

Dammit. I get paid tomorrow, so I'm not getting Ness, unless a miracle happens for some reason.

@Vineleaf

If Zero Suit Samus in a New York Store exclusive, I'll be seriously pissed off. Samus is too big a character for such a thing, though. I hope.

@Quorthon With the limited editions that have gone to NYC only, I've been waiting for that with amiibo. They're such a surreal company.

Well, I haven't bought a single amiibo, and Nintendo is making it really hard to justify getting into it now...

Trying to get into Gamestop's site. I was excited when it loaded, but disappointed when I got a service unavailable error on the next page.

i've been trying to get one from gamestop.com since noon Pacific time and there is nothing there.

Hahaha - The GameStop website is getting HAMMERED!! Good luck, everyone!

I'm liking this "Service Unavailable" bull.
Thanks for making this such an easy and pleasant experience Nintendo of America and scalpers

I've made it through each of Gamestop's pages and there's nothing new, like Jahasnell said.

I gave up on collecting a lot when the store exclusives went up. Originally I wanted Link, Shulk, and Luigi, but I tossed that out a window once Gamestop claimed Shulk.

Now I am going to settle for the Splatoon with Amiibo package and Yarn Yoshi (i'll import the stupid thing if I must).

Gamestop's site is now "Down for improvements."

I wonder if there was this much rage against Disney, by Disney fans, when the infinity figures had exclusivity in some stores.

I see GameStops site is hosed atm. A hard look can screw up targets site. Good thing I'm not too keen on Ness. Tho if this was Ganondorf or ZSS Id be going nuts.

I would hope ~6 months into amiibo insanity Nintnedo has realized what they've done and are making enough to keep up with demand. The lack of king Dedede restock however makes me skeptical.

If I wasn't at work right now I would of been at a Gamestop right now _{(or Nintendo world since they had it earlier).}. Wish they released the pre-orders Friday instead since that's my day off but all fair ish in love and amiibo.

Hope they still have in-store pre-order by time I get off of else it's Wave 3 all over again.

I was 3rd in line to preorder amiibo at my local Gamestop but their system crashed. I couldn't stand in line anymore and had to leave but it was still down when I was walking out.

I had been trying Gamestop since the pre-orders were supposed to be up, however, even when I did make it through, the new ones weren't even listed. Much like how amiibo has been handled from the the get-go, no one knows what going on. Now the site is down for maintenance.

Gamestop's site is working fine for me, but there's no Ness listed anywhere.

I'm done buying Amiibo's. I don't have the time to waste sitting here pressing refresh to see when pre-orders open only for them to be sold out in 10 seconds. I'm not going to play Nintendo's game anymore. I have better things to do with my time and money. In the beginning I really did think this would be something fun and interesting to collect. Now its just frustration and aggravation. I might consider getting those Amiibo Cards to unlock in game items, but only if they are cheap and plentiful. Been thinking about selling the figures I do own.

Of course the gamestop website is down.

People are already selling Ness preorderss for like $50 on ebay. bleh

Well...that's it...I'm not gettin' Ness...crap.

Yeah amiibo is getting out of hand. Apparently, according to Twitter, people have been standing in line for over an hour now with crashing servers mostly to blame. I'm gonna try my own gamestop once I finish at work, but I'm certainly not getting my hopes up. This is getting ridiculous now. I doubt I will get any, because like most of us on here, we have to work for a living.

That's it. I'm quitting my jobs and becoming an amiibo scalper. Apparently it is good money since they won't let NORMAL people buy the darn things!

I'm just amazed that Nintendo agreed to make Ness an exclusive. It's just my opinion and observation, of course, but from the look of things Ness would clearly be the most popular Amiibo in that wave. (At least, that was my initial thought when the wave was announced yesterday.) You'd think that Nintendo would have been able to sell him widely and make more money than GS could possibly have promised.

Like others, I've been trying and failing to get to a page on GameStop. I have only one Amiibo so far--I'm not a collector--but Ness would be a nice one to acquire. Very frustrating and off-putting.

I walked back to Gamestop 50 minutes later. The lady behind the counter tells me everything has sold out....Oh but it appears we still have Ness. So, I said I'll take one. And then their system crashed.....again.

I waited ten minutes and then said I would have to come back when I'm off work.

someone please tell me why no one has reported gamestop restocking shulk amiibos in may?

Went into my local Gamestop about a half hour ago.. Saw a decent sized line.. Left...

No words...

Let's just hope they don't pull this same exclusive garbage with the Yarn Yoshi Amiibos. Now, I'll DEFINITELY want at least the Green (classic) and Blue Yoshi figures. If I have to do this again with no assurance of a Green Yoshi, well...it won't be pretty.

Ness SOLD OUT.

Wallet:ready
Body:ready
empty handed

Has anyone actually been able to get onto the Gamestop webpage?

I went to my local GameStop. Only three people were there to preorder including me as I live in a small town. I was the only one not wanting frigging everything. Our store has three computers. At first we were only using one and of course the servers were slammed and it was taking forever, like five minutes to load a page. Eventually they broke down and decided to use a second computer but leave one open so they could check regular customers out. Finally it was taking so long they cracked and used the third computer for the Amiibo too. Luckily they had nobody in the store wanting to buy anything. I was not the first person they started but I was the first person done and it took an hour and three minutes total to get my order in. I preordered Ness, Pac-man, Charizard, and the Splatoon 3-pack. There was no idea when the other two were going to finish up when I left.

Guys, the preorder bundle of all 6 at gamestop is all out.

Ours managed two orders of four that wanted it, and it took and hour and a half to do so.

You may have luck getting Ness or Charizard and the like, but Lucina and Robin are both out.

You may also have significantly better luck getting the Splatoon 3 pack, I had no problems bar the website traffic.

Also, this was all in store only. They disabled online preorders so you had to go in a physical store to do it.

I felt sad when two people in a row tried to pay in cash for something unrelated but with the site being slow they couldn't do anything. (For some reason paying in cash at gamestop requires a connection to the site, I assume for verification and register accounting purposes?)

This was in North America, by the way.

Okay...Nintendo hasn't just dropped the ball with handling amiibos...the ball has fallen out of the their hand and plummeted to Earth's surface from space.

@NintendoFan64 To be fair a lot of this wasn't Nintendo's fault. The general consensus on the ground at my GameStop was that it wasn't Nintendo who had dropped the ball, but GameStop, whose servers weren't prepared for an entire country all trying to get toys at the same time.

I only need my guy Pac-Man from this wave. I don't think I'll preorder as I've seen Sonic and Megaman in stock at my Gamestop.

Finally got onto Gamestop, and I don't see Ness...just gonna be optimistic and hope more stock comes between now and May 29th.

What a frustrating day on the Internet for Nintendo fans. I've been trying since yesterday to get onto Club Nintendo to redeem my Platinum reward with zero luck. And now today I've been refreshing my pages for almost three hours just to get Ness... Rage.

I'm happy and lucky. Got a Ness. Also found a Toad that was a return at Toys R Us.

A little information from Gamestop - first, I was one of 4 who got the 6 piece bundle pack for my son, took 1 1/2 hours but I got it. Second, according to an email the clerk read to us in the store, there is a set number to be released at 3 pm, then later in the day they will release the rest on the website.
As for those complaining about Nintendo not getting you enough Amiibo's, low supply drives demand and is good for business whether you like it or not it is a smart move on Nintendo's part.

I'm a bit bummed that I didn't manage to get to preorder Ness because I had work until about an hour after the preorders went up. they were already sold out by the time I was off. Ah well, maybe I'll have better luck online I guess

This is freakin nuts, Ness Amiibo already sold out!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I couldn't get my Lucina and Robin amiibo!!! I went to GameStop, and they sold out right before I got there.

Those are the only ones I truly cared about this wave. I did get a Ness though, so not a complete loss... But still really depressing...

Lost coins on Club Nintendo and now can't get my Ness Amiibo at Gamestop.

F*** this!!!

GameStop has a post up about the problems with the website.

https://www.facebook.com/GameStop/posts/1010806118939314

In short, it's still coming for online pre-orders but the overwhelming demand has nailed their website for now. I'm guessing they'll stealth-add the exclusive Amiibo at any time and those with the lucky refresh button fingers will win the chance to buy them.

just found that out the hard way and called my local gamestop but they said they had sold out far before I called and will miss out again until they post again for pre orders. Ty for limited supplies.

Ness was in my cart several times and I could not complete the transaction once.

Officially DONE with amiibo. I'll go give that money to Sony now.

According to the FB page all Wave 4 Amiibo were sold out. Since the website never came online I can only guess they sold out at the retail level. Looks like no Ness for now, but here's hoping they make extra runs.

I went back a 3rd time and ended up preordering Ness and Pacman!!!

Poor Gamestop.
I showed up early, 20 minutes before the pre-order start time.
The salesman tried to check my purchase out for over an hour before it finally went through, and I was the first person in line for amiibo things. Yikes!

GAH! Why couldn't you tell us this FOUR HOURS EARLIER! I check Nintendolife EVERY DAY at 6 AM! GAHH!! There goes my only chance to get these amiibos!

It was a bloodbath out there today. I may never be the same again...

why

I had to work an extra two hours today, and all preorders were filled within an hour, so when you take that into account, I didn't get any of them, but what I almost got today was heat exhaustion/shock or something in the air, I don't know, but everyday I go to work, I am exposed to all the germs, since I have to get carts outside, and bring them back inside (and my legz thank me for the exercise, 15,000 steps a day to stand a chance!), there is a red mark on my arm because of this, it is highly contagious from what I can tell, but it's nice that I get something from today x3

................And Jigglypuff is target exclusive? >: Y THEN PREPARE TO GET JIGGLY WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Guess the exclusivity benefits me this time since I only want Greninja and I'm usually still wide awake at midnight. Just an hour and a half to go before I go Brock Lesnar beast mode and F5 that page into oblivion.

I stood in line for lucina for two hours at gamestop today, and only one person in line got their preorder in the computer because of the heavy traffic. I had to leave for work after that, so who knows if anyone else got a preorder before everything sold out. I sure didn't get mine. This will undoubtedly happen again. I am just going to save money and import Palutena and Dark Pit. Screw this.

Toys R Us are trolling. Refresh. 21 results. Refresh again. 22 results. No Greninja. Refresh again. 21 results. Refresh. 22 results. Still no Greninja.

I am not amused.

Yeah I was expecting Greninja to be on the site by now. Another amiibo I wont be getting. At least I did manage to get Lucario.

Crap, they're totally dragging their feet with this. Thank Jesus (literally) for Good Friday, I can actually afford to stay up until they do put him up there. However, I'm quite tired from moving all day so I'm not sure if my body is up an all nighter.

I got to my GameStop and they said he was all ordered up, Ness was gone

GUYS! It is currently 6:30 AM. I went to bed at 1 AM. Apparentily, between the times of 1 AM and 6 AM, ToysRUs had Wave 4 amiibos in stock and sold out within those five hours of sleep I had. I want to cry... ;(

Yep, tried after midnight and just now, 6:00 am, when I woke up to try and grab Greninja, the one Amiibo my daughter wanted, and it's already sold out. Thank you Nintendo, Toys 'R Us, and greedy resellers. Now I get to break the news to my daughter. You know what? Forget Amiibo, we are done. I had all of 4 and I'm not buying anymore. I just bought DK on the Target sale and he's going back. Until they fix this garbage I'm not buying anymore.

@Obito_Sigma

Yeah I can confirm that. This is getting nuts now. I do not have time to sit around clicking refresh on 4 different store's websites. Some of us need normal lives because of the jobs we have. I've about had it with these things...

Woah woah wait a second, Wave 4 was originally slated for April 24th. So now the date's been pushed back? Or is this just for America?

This amiibo sh*t is getting way too frustrating... Like I don't even live in the us, and the only amiibos available are Diddy Kong, Peach Luigi, DK, and pikachu, and mario... And they cost 30$... Thanks nintendo😑

Well Ill be. Went to bed at 1am. just got up to see no more amiibo on the site. Even freaking Charizard got bought up. Screw this. I say boycott amiibo. Nobody buys any until nintendo fixes this or until gamestop starts selling them used.

I stayed up till 3 FREAKING 30 LAST NIGHT and toys r us still didn't have them stocked. Wake up this morning at 8...... "PREORDERS SOLD OUT"

DAMMIT!

@Orcide

"As for those complaining about Nintendo not getting you enough Amiibo's, low supply drives demand and is good for business whether you like it or not it is a smart move on Nintendo's part."

@Quorthon and I had a lenghty discussion about this a month or two ago, and I was leaning a bit on your current side at the time. After this nonsense yesterday, I have dramatically switched sides, and let me tell you why:

I was willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. I understand that you may want to limit some stock to try and build hype. The exact same thing happens when consoles launch. Not that we like it, but I understand the mentality. They want the "sold out" headlines. I also understand that these things take time to make. That said, I have to sharply disagree with you. This is not "good business", look how pissed off everyone is. Look at Facebook and Twitter and NintendoLife. Everyone is mad as hell. This is wave 4, it shouldn't be this difficult to find these things, as Nintendo has had ample time to adjust for demand. We shouldn't have to spam four different websites only for them to sell out in mere seconds. We can't even find them on store shelves on the actual launch day, because the pre-orders take all of the extras. Some of us work, you know, and we shouldn't be punished for pushing society forward.

Scalpers are a huge factor in this, but Nintendo needs to realize the current model they are running isn't acceptable anymore, not by wave 4. For a company that is really struggling to strike black ink again, this is just plain stupid because they are going to loose out on a lot of sales. Look how many people on here said, "I'm done, I don't want them anymore." That's not the language you want to hear. I get what you're saying, I do, but let me drive the point home:

They just announced Olimar in the last Nintendo Direct. I freaking love the Pikmin series. In all honestly, Pikmin 3 was the driving force behind me getting a Wii U in the summer of 2013, when Nintendo posted their worst quarter ever for the system. I am now dreading when he gets released. Want to know why? Because I know I won't get him. To be frank, I would rather they just not have made him, then to make him, and fall into the hands of scalpers. I will never pay more than 20 bucks for these stupid things, so I just won't have him.

To me, there's something deeply wrong with this. A lot of fans, are being punished because we live normal lives, because some of us work, because some of us can't spam company websites all day. This isn't normal anymore, and it's become more of a pain in the ass, and people are starting to hate these things. "Good business" you say? I don't think so.

I think I'm going to take a break from amiibo. I'll import the past store exclusives since I never even saw those. But I don't see the point in paying 60 bucks for a 13 dollar figure when most of that money can go to a new game.

Yo, @JaxonH you seemed to have gotten most if not all of the previous runs. Any luck this time around?

@MoonKnight7 Don't feel bad, I was at GameStop yesterday as they went on sale and had to wait two hours while only the first two people were able to get anything. I got nothing either because they were all sold out. The date was likely pushed back on wave 4 to allow more stock. So we may yet have a few more chances to buy ahead of time and maybe on release day. If not hopefully scalpers will be less greedy.

I have every Amiibo to date icluding gold Mario and Mario series now except Lucario, but now not any of wave 4.

Just wanted Greninja. Stupid store exclusives.

@Nico07

I wouldn't bank on scalpers being less greedy. We just need to not give in to them, plain and simple.

I feel your pain man, that sounds like a nightmare. I'm sorry to hear you couldn't get any. I went to GameStop yesterday after I finished work, and could only score Pac-Man. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about that, but I was a merely seconds away from getting Ness. The guy added him to the cart, but sold out before he could process it.

I now have to accept that I will never get Ness, which is fine, they are just toys after all. That said, I feel this is doing more harm than good, even if there is another run for more, I imagine the same thing will happen all over again. My co-worker just told me he's going to take off from work next time. That is just plain ridiculous, as people shouldn't have to do that. Nintendo simply punishing their fans now.

@JellySplat

TRU released them around that time. Guess you were like me and mistakenly believed the links would actually show up on the amiibo page and not under the much more vague nintendo results. I went to bed livid.

WAIT I need Ness

@LoveSugoi

Yeah, that's bull crap. I'm going to see if I can pop in to TRU today and buy a physical preorder voucher, but probably won't have much luck.

I just wanted Lucina and Robin....

For those upset about how Nintendo is treating the Amiibo "shortage" (ie. pre-ordering), you should call Nintendo's Customer Service number: 1-800-255-3700. Select 5 (promotions or general game/console questions) and then 4 (console or game (ie. Amiibo) availability).

I spent the last 30 minutes on the phone with a customer service rep and explained my dissatisfaction of only getting 2 of the 8 Wave 4 Amiibos (coming from someone who wants to collect them all) and finding out most were sold out before I even knew they were for sale (coming from someone who reads the buzz all the time, everyday about new Nintendo product). The rep stated that even he has been frustrated getting Amiibos. He doesn't go out of his way to get them but would collect more if he saw more in store.

I understand there are logistics to overcome: how much to stock, how much space to sell in store, what other product to take away to make the space and more. We're on Wave 4. Nintendo has had the opportunity (ie. time, sales) to re-evaluate how they distribute these and how the process works. Nintendo could have changed the way pre-orders work: instead of creating x number of units and then selling pre-orders, they could take the pre-orders and adjust units. Retailers could pre-authorize credit cards for sale and people would only need to pick-up. It takes the risk out of overproducing when you have these two procedures in place. Not only that but this information could be kept in case the production run fell short - the items would be backordered, just like how a lot of things used to work years ago. You would still get your product; it'll just take a little longer.

There is another solution and maybe DeNA will be able to help them with this aspect: catch up to the 21st century. If I want to buy a video game console, I can do so from nearly anywhere on any connected device. I could go to Sony or Microsoft's websites and purchase brand new, in-box consoles. Nintendo only offers refurbished items that have come back to them; not even, in-stock, in-the-store-now, brand new items! I tried making myself very clear to the Nintendo service rep that, if Nintendo actually created a website to purchase any/all of their products, regardless of price (MSRP so as not to upset retailers) and product availability (item is sold out, backordered, but will be back by x-date), people will buy things from them! When someone has to go out of their way, REALLY deviate from their normal life to find a new-in-store Nintendo item (stay up to 3am to purchase an Amiibo, drive through a snow storm to get Rosalina, visit a store because chaos reigns on a website that is temporarily shut down), this is unhealthy to that business and the people that participate in its ventures.

Nintendo's been in the game for a long time. I'm a pretty loyal fan, as I think most people on this site are. They need to re-evaluate how they interact with their fans, the people that actually spend money on their product and not just try to appease their stock holders. I WANT to open my wallet more to Nintendo, but they just don't seem to want my money.

@shazeobock

Truth, man, truth. Kudos to you, cause you get it, and are singing my tune.

This whole amiibo thing has become an insulting venture. I don't know if you saw my post earlier (#113), but I'm already heartbroken that I will not get Olimar. Sure it hasn't come out yet, but I know I won't get him. It doesn't have to be this way. Nintendo needs to change this process quickly, otherwise this whole amiibo thing is going to go down as great idea, but with beyond terrible execution, to the point that long time fans can't even get their favorite character. If that happens, what a wasted opportunity, for both Nintendo and their fans.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to a Nintendo rep, I myself will probably email them about this over the weekend. Strength in numbers is the only way to make them fully realize how it's just poor business planning.

@MoonKnight7 I had planned on just using my hour lunch break yesterday, but it ended up being two hours. When you consider that time is money if you take off work you are giving up money so it's almost a lose lose situation attempting to pre-order in store or buying from scalpers. Either way costs you above and beyond the retail value. I was just surprised that none were available by the time I was able to attempt to place an instore order at around 3 p.m. MST.

@Nico07

Ugh, man, your story just gets worse. I'm sorry to hear that. This is why it's become an insulting venture. People are losing time and money on it, only made worse if they give in to scalpers. Any level-headed business knows that they need to avoid this, so I sincerely hope Nintendo quickly adjusts. I'm not going to remain optimistic about it though, and I'm sure my only satisfaction is going to be typing "Olimar amiibo" into google and looking at pictures.

I imagine people will grow very tired of it, and quickly if it's not corrected soon.

@MoonKnight7

I read your post from earlier and, with my own frustrations, is what help spur me to call Nintendo. They need to hear from their fans, from the people "live on location" so to speak, this is why I did it and I'm hoping more do as well!

Everything regarding the Amiibos has been frustrating and it doesn't have to be that way. A recent article that Nintendo released shows that they have numbers, who sells the best, who sells the least, even sales numbers from regions! If I remember correctly, 70% of all Amiibo sales are in the US. I'm not a sales and marketing expert (I only took one marketing class in college), but those kind of numbers would be telling me, that we REALLY need to feed this base more Amiibos.

You're right with the wasted opportunity for both Nintendo and their fans. Being a Nintendo fan is full of it's ups and downs. It seems for every brilliant idea they come up with lately, there's been two that just bring you down. I love Nintendo and have been extremely supportive of them for years, pumping quarters into arcade games to firing up the NES and growing up with the Game Boy. It seemed like Nintendo was extremely connected to the fans at the time, likely just trying to figure out what to make next; they produced, we bought and connected with them more and more (brand impressions): watches, books, party supplies, clothing, bath materials, anything you can imagine! As they got larger, gaming became more than just a niche hobby and as technology progressed, they seem to have become less and less in tune with their actual customers. This isn't to say they haven't done a great job at branding themselves; we all still love their characters and their games! Nintendo just seems to have lost connection and have missed a lot of valuable opportunities.

i cant remember where i saw it but NoA said it would address amiibo exclusivity after the current contracts was up, I suspect that means the initial smash waves. None of the upcoming Amiibo ranges (outside of the Limited Edition Gold Mario) seem to have store exclusives. I dont think anybody will limited editions being exclusive to stores

@shazeobock

Well I'm happy that I provided a positive influence, despite me complaining for paragraphs, haha.

A lot of what you said makes complete and total sense. I do believe a better way to handle it is, as you said, getting a number for preorders, THEN making the correct amount. It is a much better way to handle it. Even if it takes more time, so be it. I would rather Nintendo takes adequate time to get proper shipments in order, then just doing this half-ass approach and only making a limited amount, and shrugging when they sell out in 5 seconds.

Again, thanks for calling them. It's exactly what needs to happen to send a clear message to them.

I will probably buy a few more amiibos if there is something I really like in other lines but I am done with the Smash ones for now. I refuse to pay scalpers and even spending a lot of time on the computer I manage to miss most pre orders. Collecting these things at this point is more who is willing to pay scalpers or who is willing to wait around to pounce like a hawk on pre orders.

I'll get a Splatoon pack. The amiibo I really wanted were Captain Falcon and Ness, I got the former.

Is anyone stupid enough to still be collecting these? The materialism is killing us. The stress and monetary cost isn't worth it. I'm done and will be selling off my collection over time. Suck it, Iwata.

@Shyguyanonymous YES.

I wish I didn't want to buy these so badly because it has become the most frustrating experience to simply try and purchase one for myself. Especially when you find out preorders sell out in less than 10 minutes, only to see them on eBay later that day at a significant markup. Some of us work, have school and can't go to a store at 9am or watch online at every hour of the day. They need to come up with a better system than this if Nintendo actually cares about their product getting into the hands of fans instead of opportunistic middlemen.

@MoonKnight7
@shazeobock

After my frustration having to work so hard to get all the Wave 2 amiibo, I called both Nintendo and Best Buy to voice my concerns over the preorder system currently in place. I agree calling and emailing customer service to voice our concerns is the only way to have a chance at getting them to change. I suggested to them doing something like they did with Europe's release of the New 3DS, where they allowed some Club Nintendo members the chance to preorder before the general public. To me this was a decent way of making sure loyal Nintendo fans at least had a chance to get their hands on an item that was likely to be in high demand. I would have appreciated a chance like that to preorder the Majora's Mask New 3DS that I wasn't able to get because it sold out as quickly as these new amiibo. Anyway, I hope they can use the new membership service replacing Club Nintendo to do something like that for future waves of amiibo.

@ccanfield1

Thanks for calling them as well. I had just written to Nintendo yesterday, because I really feel like the fans of these characters are getting taken advantage of. People were posting jigglypuff pre-order codes on ebay merely minutes after it sold out on Target. It seems that the only place for exclusive characters isn't Target, Toys R Us, and GameStop, but eBay, and eBay alone.

The Club Nintendo thing is good idea, however, anyone can make a Club Nintendo account so I don't know how solid it would be in execution, but I agree, something different needs to happen. Really anything would be better at this point.

Like @shazeobock said, it is a much better idea to throw up pre-orders first so they can get a better idea of how many to make, have a set window for people to pre-order, and then have a closing date. Then they can mass-produce them. It may take more time, but I would rather they take their time and get this right then what happened the last few days.

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, but by wave 4 they know these things are a smash hit. Hell Charizard is one of the most popular characters ever. What happened to Iwata saying more popular characters will be more readily available? It's starting to turn into more of a cluster with each wave. This was by far the worst chapter for amiibo so far, and we certainly shouldn't be regressing as more time passes.

If you're interested I found a rather humorous article from Destructoid that really drives the point home as to just how bad it was this time around.

http://www.destructoid.com/review-wave-4-amiibo-shopping-289958.phtml

So has anyone been able to find a wild Rosalina in the MP10 range of figures? I'd be happy with the Sm4sh figure too but it's impossible to find, I figured the MP10 issue would be more common.