Update #2 [Wed 26th May, 2021 08:45 BST]: The dispute with Nintendo has now been resolved, with The 'Unofficial amiibo Handbook' now becoming known as the 'The Unofficial amiibook'.
The Kickstarter page has been reinstated and the project can now proceed as planned.
Update #1 [Mon 17th May, 2021 11:40 BST]: The Kickstarter for The Unofficial amiibo Handbook has been placed on hold following an intellectual property dispute relating to the use of the amiibo font. The project had already finished its run and had surpassed its initial funding total of £3,000, eventually raising an impressive £36,172.
Visting the page at present gives the following message:
The Unofficial amiibo Handbook is the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable.
We've been in touch with Paul Murphy, the man behind the project (as well as magazines such Switch Player and Ninty Fresh), and he has told us that he hopes to resolve the issue and this does not mean the book is cancelled – although he is happy to issue refunds to anyone who wishes to obtain one.
A similar situation occurred back in 2016, when Bitmap Books saw its NES Visual Compendium hit with an IP dispute over its design. This was soon resolved and the crowdfunding campaign was allowed to continue.
Original Story [Mon 12th Apr, 2021 16:00 BST]: If you're looking for a physical accompaniment to our ever-growing amiibo database, look no further than this neat little handbook.
From Ninty Media, the team behind Switch Player Magazine and Ninty Fresh Magazine, this new handbook has already smashed its Kickstarter goal and will be zooming to people's doorsteps later this year. It's being written by Ninty Media head honcho, Paul Murphy, and aims to catalogue each and every figure available – including all the super rare ones that'll cost you a pretty penny on eBay these days:
"With 208 amiibo currently obtainable via commericial means, it's a little compendium showcasing every single one of the little plastic (well, more resin really... some are wool!) recreations of some of the finest video game characters that have ever existed.
Whether you intend to collect every single one, select ones or certain franchises, The Unofficial amiibo Handbook will have you covered, with excerpts for each character packed with information and fun facts. There's even approximate pricing should you wish to purchase them today.
At the time of writing, the project has already raised over £17,000 (significantly more than its initial £3,000 target) with nearly 750 backers getting on board. If that backer number reaches 1,000, the book will also receive a small guide to the Pokémon Rumble U figures as an extra treat for those who pledge their support.
A number of different tier options are also available, granting backers extra rewards such as a poster, PDF downloads, pin badges and more.
Pretty cool, huh? Let us know if you're planning on backing this project with a comment below.
[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 71
If it reaches the goal I will totally pick one up for myself.
This is actually......really cool! An amiibo guide book never crossed my mind
I dunno, this feels like it'll end up the same way my "Beanie Baby 1998 Handbook" will--out-of-date both in price and content. It's still a cool idea, but I think that amiibos still being in production will kind of hinder it
I love the idea but since nintendo is still releasing amiibo, there is a possibility of it being out of date on release. We don't even know when the final two smash characters will get announced.
Backed it day one, Switch Player and Ninty Fresh are great mags and this looks awesome. Sure the quality will be good enough to make backing a volume 2 if/when more amiibo are released an easy decision!
WOAH! Did I do that!?
If so, cheers NintendoLife!
Yeah, it will be outdated the moment more amiibo are announced and released after the release of this book. Don't know if I wanna get it based on that alone, admittedly.
As many have said, this will be out-of-date before it's even released, especially including prices. And out of date by a very small amount too, no where near enough for a volume 2 which is even more frustrating. It would have been much better to make this a volume 1 that covered up to a certain date and then do a volume 2 kickstarter later.
"What amiibo are being included?
All of the figures that are realistically obtainable. That's (currently) 208. We will give passing mention to the NFC cards and to the cereal, but at 200-odd pages and an initial vision, I had to draw the line somewhere. If this project continues at the rate it is, then maybe a future revision would include the cards. Let me do this one first!"
So I don't think you'd need to list every individual amiibo card, there's over 400 for Animal Crossing as it is, but I'd want more than "a nod". I'd want at least a single page on each AC series including the Sanrio and Welcome Amiibo boosters, a page on the Pokken Mewtwo card and a page on the Mario Sports cards. Also...gimme a page on that cereal! It's the most weird and interesting one they did if you're not going to document it properly then what's the point in all of this?
Realistically this book is useless as a guide on how to get the missing amiibo. The answer is eBay and whatever second hand shops your region has. There is no guaranteed way to get any specific one, so it's much better as a book of facts, stats and gallery shots...in which case include the cereal properly!
@PhilMyth
Agree with you completely, random internet stranger!!
Would be nice if it had little NFC chips on the pages that you could store your amibo data to.
@Ogbert The book will be up to date as of time of publishing. In August, then even if Fighters Pass 2 amiibo or anything else are announced, they won't be released, so they won't be included.
So the book should end with all the Fighters Pass 1 amiibo, and all the Monster Hunter Rise amiibo. A good place to stop if you ask me. Would rather that than stop half way through Fighter's Pass 2. And even though the amiibo line is dying off, who is to say when it will end? It might get strung out another decade...!
As for the amiibo cards, yeah he initially said he wasn't including them, but I asked if he would do a gallery of them all as a stretch goal and he said he would so get backing y'all!
This is pretty dumb. They come out with new amiibo on the regular so this book would become outdated pretty quickly. Seems to be the regular with handbooks nowadays anyways.
@Subtle24 Realistically how many more amiibo are we going to get after the second fighter pass though? Maybe more Splatoon ones when 3 hits? They've massively slowed down since their launch, so we'll get 6 more for sure then who knows? It could be many years before there's remotely enough to justify a volume 2.
To me it would make more sense to do the first volume covering the first, say 150 amiibo, then a volume 2 covering the rest later, when more are out. Or maybe make it even more granular, doing a few volumes of 100 or even 50.
Then to make the books more substantial, make the content more substantial. From the promotional images it's a single front-on shot of each amiibo in it's packaging and some text. No turnarounds, details like the symbols and patterns on the stands for the different sets, screenshots of them in-game, maybe even interviews from devs and collectors. Don't get me wrong it's a big undertaking but if you're doing a guide this to me feels the bare minimum you should be doing.
Backed this straight away. Being 127 amiibo deep, this seems like something I need, plus Ninty Fresh is the best gaming magazine since the mid 00s
only be nice to own when amiibo isn't a thing anymore which probably won't be until years later when l'm in heaven.
Even if it becomes outdated, I NEED THIS!
As others have pointed out, this will get dated quick. Would’ve picked it up otherwise (even though the 10+ emails I’ve received about this have soured me somewhat).
Will it be updated when Nintendo releases new amiibos next year? 😝
Maybe this should be a website. 😝
I'd love this years from now, once Nintendo has fully ended production. I'd want a complete collection shown
The number of 208 is wrong. There are only 202 available. The 6 that the creator is also counting are the braclets from Super Mario World Theme Park. Those are clearly no actual amiibo. If not you should also count the Super Mario Cereal one (which amiibo.life lists as a card)
I appreciate the idea of adding the Pokémon Rumble U list of NFC figures considering the fact that those were technically the very first amiibo that got released before Nintendo decided to rename their NFC figures as "amiibos"
I joined it for historic and collectors value to have. I got most of the Amiibos except the other set which I forgot now but I did get all the previous Monster Stories Amiibos that were only in Japan and BoxBoy that is missing. But I think having all those plus current is about 300+ going.
I feel the ideal for something like this would be cover the figures from launch in late 2014 until July 21st, 2017 (when the last amiibo of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and the first Splatoon 2 amiibo were released) in a volume 1.
Then in volume 2 start from September 2017 (the launch of the Metroid: Samus Returns amiibo) until March 2021 (when Banjo-Kazooie, Terry and Byleth from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Monster Hunter Rise amiibo were released) were.
After that, a Volume 3 that could include the remaining figures and all the cards plus other Special amiibo that may have been ommited in the past volumes like the Super Mario Cereal, the Gold Mega Man from Mega Man 11 and the Super Nintendo World bracelets.
/BelatedComment
@ryancraddock
The project has been hit with an intellectual property dispute and has been removed from the public while it is being resolved. I will post a screenshot.
@CactusMan true. According to copyright laws, they can even feature the Amiibo font inside, so if they keep their PDF and print an extra cover, its done. 100% Allowed.
Maybe instead of Nintendo blocking this, maybe they should make it "Official", some of these Kickstarters are doing what Nintendo should be doing.
I didn't realise how tiny the book was! The pictures of the amiibo will be smaller than the amiibo themselves...
Imagine Nintendo's legal team being so petty that they shut a Kickstarter down because of a font.
Hopefully the kickstarter is released and if not, just another reason to show how outdated and draconian Nintendo's legal practices are.
“Stretch goal #8” - $500,000
Covers lawyers fees to defeat Nintendo in court so you can actually receive the book.
Buncha sherlock Holmes in here ey...
Yes, a book focusing on a regularly released product will be out of date soon, that is how time works.
We are still discovering new things about the world and coming up with new words too, so I've passed your concerns onto the publishers of encyclopedias and dictionaries as well.
If they provide for a downloadable ebook that is updated with the release of new amiibo, then I'm onboard!
Once again, something Nintendo should've done in the first place but for some reason never did. I swear, fans always have all these great ideas, but they never come to light because of Nintendo's strict standards on intellectual property.
Hopefully there's also a game compatibility list that is updated when needed.
@ModdedInkling well, the reason is that £36,172 Is not enough for Nintendo... 😁
It is nice that they put Banjo & Kazooie on the cover.
Could they just change the font?.
Us a different font and the colours in a different arrangement, Nintendo seem happy with the name.... just a suggestion..
I backed this. Hopefully with a few "easy" fixes it will continue on and ship this summer.
Don't hold your breath. I backed another project which got hit with a copyright dispute but kickstarter are just holding the money and doing nothing they should be doing to resolve it or refund it.
I wonder if it would be worth it for them to get their project officially licensed by Nintendo.
Imagine if Nintendo spent as much time making games as they do suing their fans. We'd be in the middle of a lush rain forest and not the Mojave desert we find ourselves in now.
@Ambassador_Kong yep the Nintendo lawyers really should spend more time developing games.
In any case, they pretty much have to go after things like this, turning a blind eye isn't really an option.
Having backed all three issues of Ninty Fresh so far, this is absolutely dismal. Nintendo needs to stop suing fans and start making games.
So this is just a book with photos of amiibo that’ll be obsolete as soon as newer amiibo are released?
@ukaskew yes because god forbid they want to protect their IP!
This could have been avoided if they simply applied for the IP before starting the Kickstarter. Also, do people here think that the Legal team for Nintendo are also employed in the Game Development teams?
I just backed the 4th issue of NintyFresh. Great magazine. Murphy really keeps backers posted with updates. I'm sure he'll do right by people however this turns out.
@Northwind what I meant though is that the book will be obsolete as once it’s published and more amiibo get released the book won’t show them all
Maybe stop trying to make money off of other people's IP without permission? Sorry, no pity.
Do these people never learn from all the past disputes from Nintendo?
@SeantheDon29 It's not petty, it's brand identity. It's not just Nintendo, every major brand does it to protect their IP and branding. Especially when it's a bespoke font made specifically for them.
Font licenses are crazy expensive, if they're even for sale at all. They're a thing someone very skilled has to make just like anything else. That person (or people) probably made this font under the employment of Nintendo (given they use it elsewhere like on NintendoLand for WiiU), meaning Nintendo own it. Meaning using it is no different than using Mario himself.
Wait, is that the actual size of the book??????
sigh.... i hope it succeeds
"The Unofficial amiibook" is a better name IMO and sounds like something Nintendo would use
Another day another Nintendo life comments section where people think they know it all. How is this any different from any other games magazine or book.... it’s reviewing and giving a guide... Nintendo clearly got hung up on a few words or fonts but seriously it’s made no difference and just wasted everyone’s time.
Just because Nintendo try and enforce something you don’t all need to become lapdogs and praise them and say others are using the “ips to profit”- that is the case no more than “play” magazine or any independent review/YouTube channel and Bet you use plenty of those. They make content based on other peoples IP and make money.
Have a day off.
They clearly changed a few words and fonts to please the overlords and they still make their money.
Only one that lost money here was Nintendo- classic case of members of staff making themselves look busy.
I don't really like the look of this book at all. Even if it wasn't the case that it's instantly outdated as soon as a new amiibo comes out, how small is that thing? The image above showing inside, there's a lot of text on each page which will be hard ro read. If the pictures of the amiibo in the above are anything to go by, they look like the stock photos Nintendo uses. I'm surprised Nintendo are happy they're using those to be honest instead of taking their own pictures. And those overlays to make it look like they're a in box, the banner with their name is fine, but why add a plastic box when there's no card back to it? I personally use amiibo.life to track my collection, and that gives you useful information about what games you can use each amiibo in and what they do.
“amiibook” is a fitting name. I like it.
That's actually a pretty creative name. Surprised they didn't come up with this to begin with.
The AMoffIIcial BOok. Yes, I suck at this.😎
The new title is way better.
Good, how about updates? When new amiibos are released. Will the updates become available digitally?
It's back up and running, but you cant back it anymore
So basically a whole lot of fuss over nothing.
Lesson for the day kids:
Don't mess with Nintendo's Noun's!
Welp. The books ain't gonna be worth it if it was released halfway through the Switch's lifecycle.
I’m surprised so many people are obsessed that more will be released. Most guides and collection type books have same issue. They will be a part 2 in a few years. It’s £10 it’s not like it’s a £100 book - it’s a glorified magazine and a bit of fun.
@Krysus amiibo book vs amibook...
In the end it's the same thing, only the second is not trademarked (yet) by Nintendo!
Glad to see this is back online with a slightly altered name. Books like these can be fun to have. Heck, even I am considering it.
Finally...thought it was a goner. And to those saying it would come later really is that the best you can say. To those with small mindsets Amiibos have far more value then your comments. They represent some for FanBase and Collectors and have value/resale value. Something those talking trash about Amiibo will never realize in their lifespan. As to the book we have 300+ and yet no publisher or person has done a uptodate one til now and this is the whining you can only do. Why don't you make one and see how not easy it is to take on such a project.
All it would have taken is for the people making the book to have just spoken to Nintendo BEFORE they made the Kickstarter and all of this drama wouldn't have happened. How hard is it to ask permission before using someone's IP?
thank goodness
Glad the creator got his Kickstarter back, but I never understood the appeal of this book. Amiibo prices fluctuate wildly depending on whether or not they're in print, and new Amiibo are still coming out every year. A premium app would be a much better avenue for something like this.
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