With it being one of the next big home console releases, Star Fox Zero is on the tips of the tongues of many at the moment - especially with yesterday's Nintendo Direct revealing further detail about what the game has to offer. However, some were left disheartened at the lack of a Star Fox amiibo series to enter Nintendo's toys-to-life family - although a Kirby amiibo series was later announced during the Direct.
Talking with Mike Flutter from Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that he and his team wanted to produce an amiibo for Star Fox Zero, taking the form of a transforming Arwing.
We were working on a couple of ideas for the game for well over a year. There was one point where we had an Arwing amiibo that would transform into the Walker. But it was really tough to execute that in the normal amiibo size and in a way that met with product-safety standards. We had to give up on it. For now, it's only going to work with Fox and Falco from the Super Smash Bros. series.
A real shame in this writer's eyes, but the reasoning behind it seems logical. However, Miyamoto-san did go on and express his interest in still turning this idea into a reality.
At some point, if we don't have to do it at amiibo size, it might be nice to have that Arwing that can transform into a walker.
Regarding amiibo compatibility though, all we know at the moment is that the Fox amiibo unlocks the SNES-style Arwing, which includes its classic lasers, bombs and Corneria music from the original Star Fox game. Who knows what the Falco amiibo will unlock - perhaps a Landmaster of some sort?
Would you have liked to have seen an Arwing-to-Walker amiibo as Miyamoto-san described? It could've been a neat little addition to Nintendo's current amiibo lineup, offering some company to Mr. Game & Watch's NFC figure in the uniqueness department.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 50
That would certainly corroborate the Arwing Mystery Costume in Super Mario Maker.
Why can't they just put an amiibo chip in a larger figure - like the big Yarn Yoshi?
Could still come to life as a die-cast collectable. Whip one up for a price tag of approx £80 mad and you'll have a customer. You can even include a little amiibo equipment pack containing the chip that can be removed for scanning and then re-equipped; like a targeting or cargo pod.
Reminds me of how the skull kid released with Majora's Mask 3D was originally intended to be an amiibo
@gcunit they figure so many of their players are already going into debt just buying the regular amiibo. if they ever came out with play-arts kai sized premium amiibo's, we'd have to take up a life of crime.
...Didn't they say this a while back? I'm 100% sure I've seen this before, although it might not have been on this site.
@gcunit The Yarn Yoshi was a plush. The Arwing was probably intended to be a hard figurine, which given it's design and functions, would not be up to safety and quality standards.
Robots in disguise... wait wrong series.
I'd be worried about the sharp edges. If they are going to do this it would have to be an adult collector's item. Kids would run the risk of hurting themselves. Nintendo has done well with no civil class action lawsuits in a while.
Ideally the ROB amiibo should be incorporated as well.
But that's not going to happen, is it?
Would've been an instant buy for me, I love collecting amiibos. I am more than halfway done collecting smash bros series
I'm not a huge Amiibo fan but I'd buy up the whole Star Fox cast and an Arwing, even if it didn't transform. Bit disappointed they're re-doing 3 Kirby characters instead of new ones.
@3792M I'm sure I saw this too!
Pass those designs on to Jakks Pacific Co. I'm sure they'd love to look into the concept!
Yeah this news is only 9 months old: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/06/nintendo_is_thinking_about_making_a_transformable_star_fox_arwing_amiibo
I do buy a few amiibos, mainly of the characters that I play and every single one from Fire Emblem!
I noticed the lack of this while watching the ND yesterday. I really wasn't expecting the transforming one, but I was expecting a non-transforming air-wing since they were talking about it 9 months ago, as @Loui stated above. If they could make that cool TP HD wolf Link amibo, I think they could have made an airwing. They gave DK and Bowser to Skylanders, and they basically have a functioning toys to life air-wing. It's not an exact match, but NFC vehicles are a thing.
Well that's a bit poor really.... Trust Nintendo to take a high profit item people are waiting to give you money for, shoe-horn in a gimmick that THEY want, and then cancel the whole damn thing because they couldn't make their idea safe in time to sell!!
Who makes these decisions, it's just terrible management overall!?!?!
Eh, isn't this really old news? Like from last e3? Strange.
Edit: ah, I see people already commented on this. Very strange to run the exact same story again 9 months later.
Just like IGN, lol, I kid, I kid.
The arwing would have been cool, but I'm most disappointed at the lack of Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare amiibos.
@readyletsgo Call this an update of Nintendo not being able to do it anymore hence its absence in yesterday's Direct
Yes! Please! Just 'Super-Size' the Amiibo.
Am I the only one who would settle for a Peppy and Slippy amiibo?
The less Amiibos the better.
@ULTRA-64 Are you really that desperate to have a piece of the game locked away for you? Whatever the potential functionality of the amiibo, it's likely now included in the game anyway. Product specific amiibo normally come attached with something fairly significant to make them 'worth' their single functionality.
Personally I think the amiibo use in this title is very discreet and tasteful. No title-specific, single-use amiibo to include in the 'bonus pack' at a hiked up price; no significant piece of gameplay locked away; just a charming visual bonus, and extra value for those who already own the Smash Bros Star Fox amiibo.
The number of amiibo is already staggering, and the financial outlay necessary to purchase them even more so. I'm glad to see Nintendo strengthening the uses of the existing figures in relatively tasteful ways, rather than tying every new feature to a pricey new piece of plastic.
I'm still waiting on the Doll model kit Nintendo.
i remmember this being mentiond befor a while back. Id get one if it came out lol.
I appreciate that they didn't just force another amiibo into a new release if it wasn't perfect. That said, an Arwing would be sweet. Agree that I'd prefer Slippy and Peppy (and General Pepper!) to another Kirby/MetaKnight/DeDeDe.
@Maxz don't worry, I'm not some amiibo collecting maniac
I'm not really into the whole amiibo thing TBH, if there is nothing worthwhile to be unlocked I won't buy. And even at their best they're stretching the idea of value....
My point was the mismanagement of resources and decision making in general regarding amiibo. The features that were linked to the arwing are dumped into the fox amiibo and nobody loses but why bother to do all the work to make a movable model arwing then just scrap it!?! It will have cost money and time to get that far and they bundle an amiibo with everything so it's strange to do nothing new at all....
@3792M This was first talked about at E3 2015, during the Nintendo Direct, I think.
Things to see in the future maybe.
The news back then is that they were going to try to implement it. The news now is they decided they couldn't do it for now.
@ULTRA-64 I don't really begrudge them experimenting with ideas, and I don't think they lose face in deciding that some ideas don't make the cut.
Having said that, I'd rather not speak too soon as Mr. Miyamoto has stated in an interview that there is still some unannounced amiibo functionality. Of course, he could simply be referring to Falco (who has been confirmed to do SOMETHING), but it could allude to something else. All we know for now is that a transformable Arwing amiibo is not on its way. That leaves the gate pretty wide open.
The less that one dude comments on this site the better....anyyyway
I mean, this is a bit suprising they didn't figure something out, even if it had to be made bigger, like maybe the size of a Transformer or something.
This is incredibly old news. They mentioned this months ago.
Seems really cool so that's a shame, should have consulted hasbro on the transformer toys.
@Maxz
I agree with you on adding value to existing figures. It's a solid move, no doubt.
Where I don't agree, is when you say "piece of the game locked away". To date I have not seen a single instance of amiibo content being something that would have been included had amiibo not existed, it's all been little extra modes, extra features, extra characters, extra stuff.
Now, if you're terribly OCD and insist on owning every bit of content, then yes this can certainly pose a problem. But with season passes, pre order bonuses and DLC, chances are this was already a huge problem to begin with.
@rjejr
That Wolf Link amiibo is IMMACULATE is it not?!! I opened mine today and was like woah! This craftsmanship is superb! Could easily pass as equal to GameStop's $70 figures.
@JaxonH I've been saying since the first time I saw it that's the best amiibo by far. Ganandorf before that. I feel pretty confident they'll sell it separately at some point. Maybe around the Zelda U launch along w/ Tinkle. I just feel like she's here to stay. Maybe they'll add her to "Link's Crossbow Training HD"?
I also liked the new Kirby line, even if it was 3 reskins they all just seemed so happy.
@JaxonH Well yeah, the best I can do is 'assert' that (for example) Splatoon would have come with the extra modes and minigames as standard if amiibo hasn't existed, or that the Mega Mario power-up would have been included in SMM, or that the Twilight Princess bonus would never have needed unlocking.
But there's no real evidence either way as to what content would exist in an amiibo-free world and what wouldn't. Perhaps the Splatoon content DOES only exist because amiibo exist, or perhaps amiibo are the reason why the features aren't accessible to everybody out of the box.
It would be dishonest of me to pretend I have any sort of concrete knowledge on the subject. In fact, I imagine amiibo are now such a part of Nintendo's business strategy that even game developers probably struggle to think in amiibo-free terms.
What I am glad about is that for this game (as things seem), I won't have the option of buying a '95% version' for RRP, or a '100% version' with toy for 25% extra. I'd really like to play the Splatoon mini-games. Really really. But I've no interest in the figurines (I have too much clutter as it is), and the cost of the three figures actually exceeds the cost of the game itself.
That content is stuff I wish I had, but can't justify paying for. Contrastingly, I think the SNES skin thing is cute as buttons, and a charming little touch, but that's it; a touch. I'm happy to miss out on a touch. I like the idea of toys with bells and whistles that keep on sprucing up new titles in subtle ways. I'm just not really a fan of the single-use amiibo whose only purpose is to hang onto a single piece of a single game, so I'm glad that doesn't SEEM to be the case here.
I wonder if they ever considered to produce amiibos of the main public figures in the company. Miyamoto, Iwata, Reggie, Shibata, Sakurai...
Probably it's on the way right now. Shipping late this year.
@Maxz
I saw the Splatoon 3 pack on sale everywhere just a few days ago. $19.99 for all 3? That's a steal, if you're interested...
Otherwise I might suggest borrowing them from a friend or acquaintance, and getting the squid mini games that way. You'd have to know someone who collects amiibo though.
That would've been so cool! I think we could've at least gotten an exclusive Arwing/Walker amiibo 2 pack.
@JaxonH I'm afraid I stuck in the little old Brittown, which makes things awkward, but thank you for the tip! On the UK version on Amazon, the game is only £25/$35 (which I can't quite believe, given that RRP is normally between £40-£50), but the triple-pack is a heftier £30/$43.
I only know one other person who owns a Wii U, but the only amiibo they own is Luigi.
So I guess I'm back to writing slightly resentful sounding posts in comment sections.
But seriously, thank you for your advice. I don't really like moaning about Splatoon because 1) it's one of my favourite games I've played in years, 2) It was very cheap to begin with, and 3) the majority of the extra content has been given away so openly, and I really appreciate that.
@Ryu_Niiyama
Ha! That was my first thought too. ^-^
@Detective_TeeJay The news back then is that they were going to try to implement it. The news now is they decided they couldn't do it for now. That's the difference.
Would have been cool maybe if Zero does really well and the NX also, could get another StarFox game bundle with a transforming Arwing.
Shame. I remenergie Miyamoto mentioning this idea a while ago, last year I believe.
Really weird that they're putting out a Kirby amiibo line, but not a Star Fox one, especially considering there's only one new kirby character in that line. Kirby, Dedede and Meta Knight already have an amiibo from the Smash Bros. line. :/ I'd have loved a Slippy or Arwing amiibo.
That would have been awesome, to bad it didn't happen
@Tempestryke I swear every time I see your avatar I feel like they are having a DJ battle rather than trying to play a game. Too much Warioware I guess.
@Ryu_Niiyama
XD That would be cute.
We already knew this!
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