Collecting amiibo is a full-time obsession for some Nintendo fans, and there will be a great many out there who are kept up at night by the eternal question - should you open the packaging and reduce the value of the figure in order to use it in the manner Nintendo intended?
The reason collectors are faced with such a quandry is because the packaging is designed so that the NFC chip in the toy's base cannot be used while it's still in its box. Some fans have concocted ingenious solutions to counter this problem, but most have left their amiibo well alone, which sadly means the figure never achieves its full potential.
It seems that the guys at Yacht Club Games have taken this on board. The recently-released Shovel Knight amiibo - which Yacht Club produced itself under licence from Nintendo - comes in a box which lacks the "blocking plate" which prevents the NFC transfer, meaning you can scan the amiibo into the game without removing the packaging and dropping the value. Amazingly, Nintendo didn't object to the studio doing this.
David D'Angelo of Yacht Club has been speaking to Polygon about the decision:
We got a lot of feedback from fans before release who wanted to be able to scan the amiibo inside the packaging so they could still use the figure [in-game] while keeping it as a collector's item. We didn't see much issue with their request: while you can stand with a 3DS in store and try to scan it — we didn't think that was actually something people would do due to the nature of the content we were making. We do not plan to change how the amiibo is manufactured.
Will this encourage you to pick up the amiibo if you'd held off so far? Do you hope that this move might convince Nintendo to do the same with its amiibo packaging? Sign off in the comments to share your view.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 33
That's nice of them to do! I unbox all of my amiibo, and Shovel Knight has already been unboxed too, but this must be great news to all you hardcore collectors out there!. The strange thing is that mine was also missing the manual. What was the reason to not include that?
Well at least people have the option to keep it in the box. Not sure how that would drop the price value of it. Unless the price will get slashed in half?
Fair play to them. I knew it wasn't an accident.
That's pretty cool. I'm still gonna unbox mine though.
Yeah I noticed when my Shovel Knight turned up. He is also lacking the paper work that a Nintendo Amiibo comes with. Not that it bothers me as all my Amiibo are still in box.
I have have an extra Pikachu which I opened to test the foil removing method but it still did too much damage to the box for my liking.
One thing that I need to test is does the shovel Knight Amiibo work in the box on a New 3DS. I've found that the New 3DS has a weak NFC reader and couldn't make it's way through the Amiibo box and manual. The Wii U and 3DS NFC Reader unit has no problems.
@Poketendo : Mine didn't include a manual either (I'm from Australia). This probably has to do with the fact that Yacht Club Games are responsible for the manufacturing of the Shovel Knight amiibo, and Nintendo are only responsible for licensing the amiibo NFC chip and branding (such as the standardised packaging). Yacht Club Games probably didn't think to include the manual, or perhaps Nintendo neglected to advise them to include it, or perhaps YCG are not required to include it as their amiibo is not an official Nintendo product strictly speaking (hence why only first party DS games back in the day included the Wi-Fi manual and third party games didn't).
Either way, it's no big deal. Quite frankly, I think it's an unfortunate waste of paper since I throw all of my amiibo manuals away (I've only kept one and disposed of the rest).
A very consumer friendly move that works with this particular amiibo. Just don't expect this to become the norm.
This could hurt sales, although slightly, because some people would have bought 2, 1 for functionality and 1 to keep in the box. I'm sure some people will still buy 2 so they can have one both in and out of box, but for the people that were going to open it purely for functionality, this moves saves them a purchase.
I don't understand the point of keeping them in boxes but nice touch none the less
Amiibos are worthless in a long-run anyway So the only semi-sensible reason to keep them boxed is to "preserve colors and pristine look", but then you would need to keep them in a dark place anyway
I'm an in-box collector. Shovel Knight was the first amiibo I bought two of, because I actually wanted to use it with the game, as it is one of my favorite games. Just my luck that this is the first amiibo where I didn't need to do that. Oh well. lol
Cool, #AmiibosTHEBEST
See you all later - I'm unplugging my Wii U and going round the corner to GAME
Very happy for boxed collectors. I get why Nintendo blocks scanning in he box - many amino features are one time unlocks - but it's nice for certain collectors to be able to use amiibo in their own way.
Glad to hear they're taking fan feedback on board. However unnecessary it may be.
I'm still gonna unbox my Shovel Knight amiibo, but it was still nice of them to do that.
@GauBan North American Amiibo never had any paperwork but a couple PAL imports of mine did.
The scanning through the box defeat requires surgery of sorts. You make an incision on the base of the packaging where the back card meets the plastic, and use tweezers to remove the foil decal. More recent Amiibos I have purchased use a foil backed paperboard placed underneath the Amiibo base so the tweezer method won't work anymore. Also I noticed newer Amiibo have slimmer packaging too.
I don't see the big deal as I unbox all mine anyway. I believe they look better loose on a shelf than sealed on a wall or pegboard. The point of Amiibo are like real life Smash trophys. All loose too.
Never thought about coming into a store with a New 3DS and scanning an amiibo..... now things make more sense, even if that would be a rare occurrence
It's a nice surprise I may keep it the box now as its more of rare Amiibo being the first none Nintendo Amiibo and from an indie game aswell.
I think this VG-Cats comic says it all!
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=366
I tried to keep my amiibo in their boxes but I have like 30 of them and those boxes are deceptively huge. I basically couldn't find space to keep them all but after I unboxes them I was able to cram them all onto one shelf and actually have space for my other stuff
Good on them since the game uses read and write, you'll have to scan it multiple times to get the most out of it. No harm done.
I doubt Nintendo will do the same since a good amount of their amiibo only needs to be scanned once in certain games (read only), so people can just return them or scan in-store with certain 3ds games.
@ultraraichu But isn't part of the Shovel Knight's amiibo functionality just something you have to scan once to unlock? You wouldn't be able to use the Custom Knight or the Wii U exclusive co-op mode (short of suspiciously bringing in and hooking up your Wii U in a store), but if I had an NFC reader and the 3DS version of the game, I'd certainly scan a Shovel Knight amiibo in the store to unlock the extra relics and challenge stages for absolutely free.
@Poketendo I like your avatar.
@Totaldude911 Thanks, I like yours too
My wife works electronics at Target. She has seen several people come in to scan with their New 3DS each day since they received their shipment. Target employees bought about half the first day and the rest have been sitting on the shelf. This is akin to stealing and it's sad.
@StarDust4Ever
Wouldn't thatake tweezers easier in the case with the paper board foil? Mine always had a Foil sticker and u really couldn't use tweezers.
@StarDust4Ever Checked mine today.
1) Yep my US ones don't have paperwork inside them. Gold & Silver Marios. All my UK and my Japanese Family Robot ones all have paperwork inside.
2) My Shovel Knight does scan in box with everything (New 3DS, Wii U, 3DS NFC adapter & phone I use for n2).
3) However I have tested my opened box Pikachu which I removed the foil from. That doesn't read with my New 3DS if it's in box with the paperwork in the way. But it does read with everything else.
@GamePerson19 the card is placed under the Amiibo and not stuck on the underside of plastic like the foil is. You have to make a cut/rip into the packaging to get to it and would have to move the Amiibo out of the way.
Amiibo does not have any value as they are now common as dirt. They won't have any value in the future as every man and his dog has a sealed collection.
If you are buying amiibo for any other reason than you like them or want to use them you are doing it wrong.
Since everyone will have a boxed Shovel Knight Amiibo and will still use its functions, prices won't raise that much. Just make sure to spread that information as much as possible. We don't need smartass scalpers around.
That Time a Divorced Couple Went to Court to Divide Their Beanie Baby Collection.
https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/BAMaRXCozk_S5_v29MjiMA--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9NDQ2O3E9OTU7dz01OTA-/http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/beanie-babies-divorce.jpg
Flea markets will be overrun with these things for a few dollars each in 10 years. They might retain some value sealed but we'll never get rich off of these. Maybe someones great grandkids will in 100 years but I say play with the things. I opened the ones I bought for my son carefully and kept the boxes for now. I'll probably use them when they eventually end up in the closet.
Really we all will probably hold onto our Amiibo collections for the most part but from what Ive seen Skylanders are already to the point that game stores are getting flooded with them. Its plastic guitars all over again.
My Shovel Knight arrived today. No foil whatsoever but I unboxed it anyway. I scanned it into Yoshi's Wholly World and disappointingly there's no costume to unlock. The game treats it as a generic Yoshi. Weird. I gotta try Super Mario Maker next.
Also I haven't played Shovel Knight in a month of Sundays. I can't wait to check out the enhancements.
Nice. I saw a whole bunch of these at a Best Buy near me, I almost picked one up but then felt it was pointless for me unless I kept in the box. But now everyone will do that, skip for me. But it's a decent figure, the purple base is cool.
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