There’s no denying that 2015 was a huge year for Nintendo’s amiibo, and 2016 appears to be no different.
According to Scott Moffitt, Nintendo executive vice president of sales and marketing, “New amiibo figures and functionality will keep surprising fans in 2016.” What Nintendo has up its sleeve, we’ll have to wait and see, but fans of amiibo should get excited.
2016 is a year that many new compatible amiibo games and figures will be released. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2106 Olympic Games kick off 2016, while figures from the Super Smash Bros. series will see releases later this year. We can bet that this is just a small sample of what Nintendo has in store for the rest of 2016.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Fans who purchase a physical copy of Twilight Princess HD, will be happy to know that the beautiful Wolf Link amiibo figure is bundled with every copy. The amiibo will unlock the challenging Cave of Shadows dungeon. This will be a unique dungeon linked to the amiibo and can only be played through using the figure. After players complete the Cave of Shadows, they can store their leftover hearts to the amiibo and then use them again inside the Cave of Shadows to replenish life. In addition to the Wolf Link amiibo, the other amiibo from The Legend of Zelda will be compatible with the game. Link and Toon Link will replenish arrows, Zelda and Sheik will refill the player’s hearts, and Ganondorf will make Link take double damage.
More details about the functionality of the Wolf Link amiibo will be announced as the release date of the game approaches and also how it is compatible with the new Legend of Zelda coming out later this year.
Smash Bros. DLC Amiibo
Ryu, Roy and Famicom R.O.B. will be coming out in March and are already available for pre-order at select retailers. News on when the Cloud, Corrin and Bayonetta amiibo will be released has not been confirmed, but we can expect them to release sometime in the near future.
Animal Crossing
Starting March 18th, a new line of Animal Crossing amiibo will hit store shelves. Characters such as Timmy & Tommy, Kapp’n and Rover will be made available. We speculate that they will bundled together similar to the three pack of Cyrus, K.K. and Reese. In addition to them, Digby will also be made available as a stand-alone figure.
The next wave of Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards also launches in March and will bring the total of available amiibo cards to 300.
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which is scheduled to release on March 18th, for $39.99 will be compatible with both Mario and Sonic amiibo figures. By tapping either amiibo to the GamePad, players can improve Mario and Sonic’s outfits with that character’s power.
Pokémon
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Pokémon, some of the collectible Pokémon amiibo will be made available again for purchase at retailers. Expect to see Pokémon like Charizard, Jigglypuff, Greninja and Lucario on store shelves again in late February.
Star Fox Zero
Not many details about how amiibo will interact with the upcoming Star Fox game have been revealed, but we can expect that both Fox and Falco will provide fans with additional in-game content. Star Fox Zero has an official release date of April 22nd for the Wii U, and more details about amiibo functionality will be revealed at a later time.
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Written by Frank Costagliola
Frank is a journalism student at the College of Staten Island and knew he wanted to write and talk about video games since high school. If Frank isn't on campus, he's probably gaming, spending time with his friends, at the gym, or trying to hunt down a rare amiibo out in the wild.
