In scarcely a year Nintendo has restocked more than 100 amiibo figures, flooding the market with new packaging versions of our favorite NFC figures. This avalanche of amiibo leaves us some curiosities that I want to share with all of you.
As some of you know, the main difference is in the back of the cardboard, having a new minimalist design, finding three options, one for each region. So, let’s start this review.
About the International variants, this is the only change, and like the previous concept for this region, they keep the same layout in the front of the cardboard. But in my humble opinion, this simple modification makes them very collectible too.
However, the new North American releases recover the original design of the first editions from 2014, changing the red ribbon with the Nintendo logo. Maybe, and just a thought, this update was made thinking about the 10th anniversary of amiibo.
On the other hand, for those amiibo figures which have been launched since 2017 in North America with the English-Japanese packaging, they were reprinted without including the Japanese typing in the front of the cardboard, adding more coveted figures in our wishlist.
Besides, Nintendo introduces a new detail in some amiibos, such as Bowser (Wedding Outfit) and Pikmin, finding a white circle surrounded the recommended age text, becoming those variants in a must-have for enthusiastic collectors.
The question is, if Peach and Mario in wedding outfits would have the same artwork in the short term too, because the new ones have the same image than their predecessors.
The new Japanese versions present two new designs. The first one, same as the US variants, recovers the original packaging from 2014, bringing back the stylish Super Smash Bros. Japanese logo in some cardboards.
The second one has the same concept than the English-Japanese version from 2017, erasing the recommended age in the front.
But this massive rerun also shows us a few amiibos that conserve their previous cardboard designs from the last reprint, such as Roy, Ike, Robin, Chrom and Shulk.
I am sure that those characters would be released with the Compatible Software/Games cardboard in the future, considering that Ganondorf and Zelda from “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” have been recently restocked with the new minimalist artwork.
Finally, and bearing in mind the amiibo packs, I want to highlight one of my favorites, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Champions set, which for those who do not know, is the only one in the amiibo’s catalog that has a completely different layout.
Those new reprints are very welcome to our collections as well, even considering the minimalist design at the back, so, if you did not catch them in the past, it is time to add them to your collection, before it would be an impossible task to get one in mint condition.
This restock confirms the importance of amiibo, and if we have a look to the past, Nintendo did the same strategy before the launch of Nintendo Switch, so everything points out that amiibo would play a relevant role with the long-awaited Nintendo Switch successor.
In the meantime, I am sure that we will have new surprising announcements in the following weeks, particularly thinking about the imminent launch of “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom “, and the possibility of seeing new Zelda amiibo figures.
I invite all of you to know the Amiibo Price Guide experience and let me know if you’d like to know more in the comments below. You can also visit our blog where you will find curious facts about amiibo and Nintendo. Join the revolution, join APG.
Javier Serrano
Great overview!