Amiibo

[dronology]

This week Nintendo unveiled a particularly charming amiibo that'll tie in to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, and it's arguably one of the most handsome figures yet. It's also caused a bit of a storm on social media and in comments sections here on the site, with plenty of vitriol to go around. The source of the argument is simple - a quality of life (QoL) feature will seemingly only be available by scanning this particular amiibo. Rather than relying on heading to a save statue or jumping on a Loftwing to transition from the skies to the ground and vice versa, the figure will save you a little time and hassle by allowing you to transport at will.

The reaction has certainly been quite tasty; varied viewpoints are understandable, but the passion behind many of the views expressed has perhaps been surprising. It's hard to disagree that it's naughty in this day and age to lock a feature behind a collectible figurine, but then the counterpoint is simple - that's what amiibo do, haven't you noticed?

The strange thing is that this is not particularly close to being Nintendo's most cynical application of the amiibo NFC technology. In the earlier years of the range there were entire games centred around the figures — who remembers Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival? — and the hard-to-find Wolf Link literally locked away a whole challenge dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD; if you couldn't get one of the bundle copies at the time, tough luck. In the original Splatoon the figures were needed to access specific challenge missions (and related gear), so there have been examples where on-disc gameplay content has been locked behind scanning a toy.

Talking Point: amiibo Have Always Been Physical DLC, Skyward Sword HD Is No Different