Amiibo: The good, the bad and the ugly

Splatoon looks awesome!

But enough about my hype for this game. Let's get to the topic I want to talk about.

In this weeks Nintendo direct some of the Amiibo features of other games got revealed and I'm pretty torn about it.

When Amiibo was announced I couldn't really grasp the concept of the figures. How would they add value to our games without being hidden DLC. But their usage in Smash Bros. calmed me. It made sense, added value and wasn't mandatory.

So on Wednesday the specified the Amiibo support of two other games. Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors. And while Mario Kart 8 falls into the Smash category, although not as good, the problem lies with Hyrule Warriors. In Mario Kart 8 the supported Amiibos unlock costumes for your Mii. It's a nice feature to give your driver a little more personality, and added value for any Amiibo owner. But I wouldn't buy a figure just because of that. It follows the principle of enhancing the game without being mandatory.

In Hyrule Warriors on the other hand Amiibos are hidden DLC. All these fears and bad thoughts I had after the first introduction to the concept reemerged. It's only one game so far, which is not to bad, but we need to let Nintendo know that we're not okay with this or it will expand to more games. If you own a Zelda or Link Amiibo it will unlock an extra weapon for the related character. Different weapons make a huge difference in Hyrule Warriors. You have an entirely different moveset, which turns the character basically into a brand new one. So adding a new weapon, which can only be obtained by buying Amiibos, is the worst this concept could become. DLC. Fans who want to enjoy the whole of Hyrule Warriors now need to buy the Link Amiibo. Nintendo just blatantly lied to us with their their statement that Amiibo will enhance gameplay, but not be DLC.

In the last couple of months Nintendo has been on a roll with DLC. They've done everything right, which you can do right with this concept. Because of that it hurts me to see them doing this. If we don't want Amiibos to become hidden DLC, we, as fans, need to protest against this. Let Nintendo know over the Miiverse. Write them. The spinner should be included without the need to buy an Amiibo. Instead the Amiibos could fulfill their original purpose of enhancing the game without being mandatory. I read the idea of summoning a ghostly helper through the figurines. Or offer special costumes with them. There are many possibilities, but don't make the mandatory DLC. This will probably generate short therm profits, but by doing that you erode the customers trust into your products.

Let's all hope that this is a one time slip up and that there is NOT more to come.

Also the ugly:

picture source:NintendoEverything

and as always

thanks for reading