How to Buy Amiibo for Kids

by Doc, Owner, Founder, Former Child

Kids are finicky. End of article.

Which Amiibo Do Kids Want?

No, I’m kidding. There’s actual strategies that I’ve used when deciding which categories of amiibo to buy for kids. If you’re not sure that they want actual figures, you’re in luck – there’s a lot of types of amiibo that are significantly cheaper than the figures. Start with things called “Amiibo Cards” and “Powersaves for Amiibo“, because those offer identical functionality as amiibo figures. Better to save money, no?

Let’s suppose they just have to have the actual figures. This is what the figure looks like:

Figures typically run you $16, if you buy them from big-box stores. However, 99% of the time you won’t be able to find the amiibo character your kids want in a store, so you’ll have to buy it secondhand. This is where stuff gets really pricey. Secondhand amiibo figures tend to run about $25, bare minimum, and some of the most expensive ones (that your kids will actually use) come up to $80.

If you’re seeing that $80 price tag and freaking out, that’s okay. These “amiibo coins” are a much better deal, and this Amazon Affiliate listing is a much better option, and it includes every Smash Bros-compatible amiibo. We get a cut from Amazon for this link.

Which character do they want?

Suppose your kid wants the brand-new Byleth amiibo (pictured above), but only wants to use them in Smash Bros, and doesn’t care about the actual figure. In this case, you’re only needing to buy a “Byleth amiibo card”. Just punch that into Amazon (after using the link above, please and thank you) or Etsy, and see if it’s up for sale.

What if they say they want Bowser Jr., and Bowser, and Mario, and Pikachu, and Joker, and nothing else because they have the rest? Then you’ll need to find a different type of amiibo card listing: one where you can “pick your own”, “pick and choose”, “customize” or similar wording, is the one you’re looking for. After all, those five amiibo are all included in the Amazon Affiliate link above, but you probably don’t want to spend the $60 that listing currently goes for – you only want to buy those five. So find listings that let you determine the quantity and specific ones on Amazon and Etsy.

Strategies specifically for Animal Crossing amiibo cards

Animal Crossing amiibo cards are absolutely an exception to this – there’s hundreds of them, and you have to make sure to get the exactly right card or it won’t work. If they want a Wolfgang amiibo card and you get a Coco amiibo card… that’s not Wolfgang. Cue the pouting.

This is where things get tricky. Animal Crossing amiibo cards are much cheaper, but there’s also a lot less quantity of each type. You’ll probably need to go for counterfeit amiibo cards in this case – don’t worry, if the art is the same kids can’t usually tell. Be sure to look up what the actual amiibo card looks like beforehand, and then confirm that the listing is identical to the real product.

Good luck out there, parent.