Splatoon Amiibo Scheduled to be Restocked in Japan

Yay more Amiibo to sit on the shelf and collect dust, get scalped by some 45 year old living in moms basement, and never be used by people who actually want to use them.

@Zach777 That's basically what collectibles are right?

I hope they add more. Would love Squid Sisters and Judd as amiibo.

@Aromaiden Pretty much. It's nothing new.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same for Europe and the U.S. Those three packs must have been made in such small numbers. I've never seen any splatoon amiibo in the wild or even available online.
The cynic in me thinks that they held back on making them available in stores and online to make more people buy the special edition with the squid amiibo...

@sinalefa Oh my gosh. Yes. I've never bought an amiibo, but if they made those three, then I may just buy them.

The demo was fun but I'm not buying the game unless I know I can get the Amiibo. Its bad enough they lock content behind figures you have to pay extra for but they aren't even trying to keep up with demand. This is ridiculous.

They should have made more for Japan, but since they couldn't even figure out a way to print enough game discs for Japan, well I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/06/splatoon_practically_sold_out_at_launch_in_japan_with_over_100000_amiibo_also_sold

And if the west isn't getting more - I haven't seen any on the shelf since 8AM release day - they really should come up w/ a DLC plan. Maybe $4.99 for each set, $11.99 for all 3? Its one thing to have parts of a game locked away on disc behind a DLC paywall, but to have part of the game locked away on disc behind amiibo they don't sell? That's really not nice of them.

@Aromaiden sadly, yes. It's too bad that game content is locked behind a simple scan of these toys.

@ZachBeacon @rjejr It would be really ridiculous if the locked content was actually significant and gave those who had it a unfair advantage, but in this case its only 1 extra costume per Amiibo and extra challenges, which are basically remakes of the normal single player levels with different weapons.

It's really just a lose-lose situation for Nintendo. They provide some content to those who purchase Amiibos, but then others complain about them locking content. If they don't provide extra content, then those who purchased the Amiibos feel cheated. Splatoon did it right, by providing extra content, but no so much that those who don't have it are missing out. So they are entirely unnecessary, but if you have them they provide you with some added bonuses. Perfect balance.

@sinalefa - I want an actual functioning snow globe amiibo. I've always liked snow globes. (OK, that's probably too expensive, Ill take a solid/hollow one.)

@Aromaiden

Agreed. Unlockable things are not that awesome and are geared towards core gamers, who should not have issues getting these amiibo. The parts I have enjoyed the most are actually the extra minigames.

@rjejr

Encasing an amiibo in a plastic sphere would be the cheapest, easiest option. They made wool amiibo so why not?

@Aromaiden - I agree, Splatoon is the best they've had at the balancing act of making Spaltoon usefull and worth the money to unlock stuff, but it's unnecessary to the game, which is why I didn't buy them. Well that and I'm not a big fan of challenges or going back to redo stuff, I'm not a collector, I'm a 1 time thru the story line kind of guy.

But, big but why this is different, what if you do like challenges, and you want to play the missions, and you want the cool Predator outfit, BUT you can't buy amiibo anywhere b/c they only exist on eBay? What about those people?

I'll even go so far as pretending the content isn't already locked away on the disc we alreay paid for, let's pretend when you touch an amiibo it downloads the content from the eShop, what if people want to spend money to get the DLC, but Ntinedo won't let them b/c they won't manufacture amiibo. That seems mean and unfair and I think a DLC price is appropriate response to the amiibo shortage.

We know over 1 million copies of Spaltoon was told. They did NOT make 1 million each of those 3 amiibo. And they could probably sell 2x that in Japan anyway, they are squid kids, even w/o a game they would have sold.

And then you get the people like @Jaxon who buy every amiibo, b/c amiibo. Gotta make enough for them as well, though Jax has been playing Spaltoon all along, some collectors probably aren't.

A DLC price seems only fair.

@rjejr That does make since. It just comes down to the common issue that Amiibos are exactly the best way to store extra content, since they are collectibles..

Okay...how about some restocks in America? Along with the Squid amiibo being released on its own here, while you're at it.

Cool, that's good for the people who couldn't get them yet. However, I dislike how amiibo are used in this game. Extra missions are too important to be locked on disk until someone pays for the amiibo to unlock it. Without the extra missions, single player feels a bit short in Splatoon.

@rjejr I agree. A cheaper DLC alternative would be a good way to unlock the missions for those who aren't interested in amiibo.

@rjejr @Aromaiden
Well, I thought Amiibo cards were going to be the solution, but then Animal Crossing cards were announced in addition to Animal Crossing statues and they are totally different functionality right?

I think Nintendo actually wants to start meeting demand better with the Amiibo statues, honestly. The problem is it will probably only accomplish this in Japan.

Cards alternative Amiibo could be great, and even though the first thought might be they'd cannibalize sales of the statutes, I actually think they'd assuage bitterness towards them and sell just as many or more statues. In fact... many collectors would probably want both but the cards could take up little space and not be much of a bother if they don't sell for awhile.

Win-win unless I'm missing something big.

Anyway, I really like my Splatoon Amiibo (and the challenges and rewards) and anyone who wanted them on the first day or even couple of days would have no problem at my local Target. It's a different story now, though. :/

So, paid DLC to match what Amiibo unlocks could work, too, but wouldn't it be fine to pick up some cards? Not sure what they can be priced at or how they'd do it, but stock should be much easier to pull off, not to mention re-stocking would be far easier because ramping up for a line of cards that sold out quick would be way easier than getting manufacturing to make a completely different statue.

@sinelefa Squid Sisters and Judd would be great, but what about the octolings? So much potential there. Maybe there will be a Splatoon board game coming. ;P

@aaronsullivan I would definitely buy an Octoling amiibo. They are without a doubt my favorite characters in the game.

@aaronsullivan

Still botching my username I see

I agree about the Octolings, but I did not want to list every character. I would then have to throw the shop keepers there and Cap. Cuttlefish.

@sinalefa Aw nuts. If it's any consolation I think I say it in my mind correctly. lol. Plus the consonants in are in the right order now.

Oh no, there really is a full set of new characters. They are all well designed, too. I do think the ancillary characters are unfortunately a bit of a nuisance in play sometimes. Especially the shopkeepers and sisters. It would be nice to see that smoothed over in a patch. Sometimes I just want to be in and out and not wait for text. As much as I enjoy the Splatoon gibberish I can't help but feel some fun voice work could speed things up and let me shop around while I listen.

But, yeah, give me a good excuse to buy the whole set of amiibo characters and I might just do that.

I'm getting pretty tired of amiibo...

Just admit you can't meet demand and release Amiibo cards (and in higher quantities- cheaper to make and sell) for those of us who can't or won't buy the Amiibo figures.

It would be neat if amiibo cards became the next baseball/PokéMon cards. Maybe Nintendo could sell them in foil-wrapped booster packs, and offer characters in different rarities, like the Collectacards in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.

@allav866 - That would be good for collectors, but I doubt people would want to have to buy 8 packs of cards to find the 3 inkling amiibo ones.

They sell both amiibo and DLC for for SSB, why not Spaltoon? It's such a different game and situtation than things like Kirby, Yoshi and Captain Toad if they want to make cards out of the squid, and octolings and Spyke (should have an amiibo) and those litte bluheaded jellyfish guys that's fine, but the missions and challenges should be unlockable for money. Knowing Nintneod they would overprice them for what you get, $9.99 each or $24.99 for all 3, but until Splatoon amiibo are available "wherever toys are sold" gamers should still have that option. That squid is almost impossible to find in the US.

@Aromaiden

@rjejr covered it. Disc-locked content is annoying but it is sadly the way the industry is heading. The ridiculous part is that, even if you want to pay to unlock content, you can't because you can't buy the fugures

@Aromaiden = "the best way to store extra content"

We own a about 70 Skylanders, and they store a lot of stuff over 4 games, so I get that amiibo do more than DLC can, but I don't think the squid amiibo store anything, they're just a key, so we don't really need them, we just need a key or code, nothing is stored on them. If they did store stuff W-L record, kdr, gear - that might make them worth owning. Do you even have to tap them more than once or is it just once to unlock and then play whenever you want? Would be nice if they took you right back to whatever challenge/level you left off.

Let's have a solo release of the squid outside of Japan, okay? I'm prepared to hang fire on an import with that hope in mind.

Glad I pre-ordered my 3-pack at the launch of Wave 4. <3

Now give us some Callie & Marie Amiibo! And, why not, DJ Octario?

@JaniN84: Now why would they do that just to lose a big incentive for people to buy the Splatoon Amiibo? At least so soon.

A Jelonzo amiibo = take my money.

I was very glad to get the 3-pack at launch - the only one in probably 100 miles. That's not hyperbole.

The problem is that by the time they get the aiimbos restocked for Splatoon in North America the Nintendo NX may be out and people won't be interested them anymore, lol. Though Capn Cuttlefish, Judd, and squid sisters seem like good aiimbos. Even the shop keeps would be good aiimbos.

If they ever released a shopkeeper Amiibo, it better be Annie. I'm an Annie fanboy.

@rjejr You have to tap the amiibos everytime in order to play the challenges (after a restart of the game, during the same session you only need to tap it once)
Any gear that was unlocked after passing the challenges will be always available without the use of the amiibos.

I manage to get the splatoon + squid amiibo box and the boy and girl at a supermarket (all game stores were sold out) the day they were released. They had only one box + amiibo left and 4 or 5 boy/girl amiibos.
This is the only place I´ve been able to find amiibo since then, I got the latest wave there too after being unable to pre-order online (Samus, palutena, dark pit and ganondorf) they had at least 10 of each. Unfortunatlely they didnt have any yarn yoshies, those were impossible to find anywhere.

For those who live in Spain try go find them at "Supermercados Alcampo" most people don´t go to buy there

I think special Amibo cards would solve this. I would understand selling packs of Amibo cards blindly would work for random characters, but as the Splatoon Amibos unlock very specific content, then they could sell them in shops just like eShop cards. Mabey have a deal like £5 each or a pack of all three cards for a tenner. Then eveybody who wants the DLC without an Amibo can pay to unlock it, just as if they had bought any other DLC.

Amibo wise, all I want is the girl but I would like to unlock all the content. So I would happily pack to get a piece of card that would unlock those features than have to hunt down and buy another two figures.

Callie and Marie amiibo when?

And how about a restock in the US. I really want that inkling girl amiibo.

I GOT THE GREEN SQUID AMIIBO! I GOT THE GREEN SQUID AMIIBO!
HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAAAA...

So its the first rare Amiibo I've been able to get that I wanted. It was the last triple pack at Gamestop. I REALLY wanted Shulk but sadly, I never will (under $40 anyway).

Ok Nintendo, everyone should be able to get the green squid so restock them already. 1 million copies of Splatoon basically guarantees you'll get your money for restocking those Amiibos. (While you're at it, another run of Shulks please?)

@elstif - "You have to tap the amiibos everytime in order to play the challenges"

Hey, thanks for that. So it's actually worse than DLC where you would just pay once to unlock it, you need to actually have your amiibo near the Gamepad if you wanted to play the challenges.

I understand how that works, we have plenty of Skyladners toys, but I'm kind of surprised it isn't just a 1 time unlock, that youhav eto keep doing it every time you play.

As for the rest of your comment - the US never got the squid box set, which kind of annoyed me, I would have purchased that. But they never sold the squid separtly either,just in the 3 pack, but they sold the boy and girl separtly, which I think is why they were available, no point buying them separtly if you need to buy the 3 pack for the squid. Just more Nintnedo amiibo nonsense.

hmmm there are still triple packs here in stores in El Taco Grande. They haven't flown off the shelves as quickly as the yarn yoshi amiibo.

@ZachBeacon You're missing out on an awesome game just because the Amiibo? TBH they're not really worth it game wise since the missions are the same with different weapons.