Connected!

While New Nintendo 3DS owners have been happily plonking amiibo figures onto the lower screens of their consoles for months now, people who are saddled with older 3DS models have had to watch on in envy - until now.

Nintendo has finally gotten around to releasing the promised 3DS NFC Reader, a device which links to the handheld via an IR connection (told you that IR port would come in handy some day!) and allows you to bring your amiibo toys to life at long last.

But how does it work? How elegant a solution is it? How is it powered? Is it easy to carry around with you? To answer all of these questions and much more besides, we enlisted the aid of Nintendo Life's video expert Alex Olney, who willingly shut himself in a room with a 3DS, NFC Reader and some amiibo products and vowed not to emerge until he had uncovered all of the secrets this unassuming plastic disc contains. Enjoy!