By Spike, Regular Contributor
Some amiibo are just hard to find. Whether they had small releases in the US or simply sold out quickly, resellers wind up being the only way to obtain a lot of amiibo. I’m going to go over the top 6 amiibo I think have a shot at being rereleased- of course, nothing is confirmed until Nintendo confirms it and all that.
The Super Smash Bros line and Animal Crossing amiibo cards are all but guaranteed to rerelease, by the way. A good chunk of the Smash Bros amiibo have rereleased already, and, if I remember correctly, Animal Crossing cards are confirmed to be rereleasing in Japan mid 2021.
Without further ado, let’s get to the list, from least to most likely.
6- Pokemon amiibo. With the open world Pokemon game affectionately dubbed “Breath of the Pokemon” by fans on the way, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine it will have some sort of amiibo functionality- perhaps a few cosmetic items or small refills on Pokeballs. It would be an interesting way to get those Pichus and Squirtles off of shelves, and give fans a reason to buy all four Pokemon Trainer amiibo.
There’re two major issues, though. First of all, most of the Pokemon amiibo are in the Super Smash Bros line and have already seen rereleases. Pikachu, Lucario, Charizard, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Greninja have all seen rereleases already, while Pokemon Trainer, Squirtle, Pichu, Ivysaur, and Incineroar were all released in rather large numbers quite recently.
That leaves the Shadow Mewtwo Pokken card, Detective Pikachu, and the Pokemon Rumble capsule proto-amiibo things, none of which are, at least in my opinion, likely to be rereleased. I’d be astounded if any got rereleased outside of a new Pokken/Detective Pikachu game or a sudden gacha craze.
Second, most of the Pokemon amiibo are shelf warmers. Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, Ivysaur, Squirtle, and Incineroar all got overproduced to the point that you can find them just about anywhere that carries amiibo. Pikachu, Greninja, and Charizard rereleases can still be found at Target, Gamestop, and Best Buy respectively with a little luck. The re-releases of Lucario, Jigglypuff, and Mewtwo all dropped their prices enormously on the secondary market.
I just don’t see Nintendo risking more shelf warmers, honestly. If we see rereleases, they’ll probably be small.
I could definitely see some sort of Pokemon amiibo cards, though. Pokemon cards are a hot commodity right now, and Nintendo could tap that market a bit.
5- Monster Hunter amiibo. Monster Hunter amiibo are some of the rarest amiibo across the board. They regularly sell at prices upwards of forty to fifty USD, and there’s definitely demand for them, with good reason- they’re also some of the coolest looking amiibo out there.
With Monster Hunter Rise releasing in just a few days, I doubt we’ll see any sudden announcement of amiibo rereleases there- but Monster Hunter Stories 2 releases this summer, so there could be a few re-releases in store.
4- The Mii Fighters
The Mii Fighter amiibo are also some of the most expensive amiibo out there. Released only as a Toys R Us exclusive three pack in the US, they were, even at retail, extremely pricey- so they sat. When Toys R Us closed down, assumedly remaining stock was destroyed or bought up and now sits in warehouses, because, unlike the Ryu and Lucas amiibo that reentered the market via GameStop and Five Below, whatever stock of the Mii Fighters remained has yet to be seen.
With a new Miitopia scheduled to release on the Switch soon, there’s a great opportunity for Nintendo to cash in on the high demand for a-Mii-bo. Perhaps even add a new Mii or two to the amiibo line-up? It’ll be interesting to see.
3- Splatoon
While some Splatoon amiibo, such as the blue Inkling Boy or orange Inkling Girl, are so common you can get them for below retail (GameStop runs sales on them every few months), others, such as the pink Octolings, Callie/Marie, and Pearl/Marina are ridiculously expensive. With Splatoon 3 announced recently, it’s a great time to release them again.
The only issue I see is that some Splatoon amiibo, like the below retail ones mentioned above, are shelf warmers and sold terribly after the re-release. The Splatoon line is, almost without exception, made up of shelf warmers and the grails of the amiibo world, so hopefully Nintendo focuses on the ones that need reprints when considering re-releases… because if they focus on the shelf warmers, Splatoon re-releases are an unlikely possibility.
2- Breath of the Wild amiibo
Breath of the Wild 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games from Nintendo in a while- and for good reason. Breath of the Wild itself was amazing, and with the lack of news over the last few years (there’s still no release date, though rumors of a holiday season 2021 release abound online), fans are likely to chomp at the bit for every morsel of information.
The Breath of the Wild amiibo aren’t terribly expensive (other than the Guardian), but most of them are somewhere around 25-30 USD. The Champions have already been re-released alongside Age of Calamity and can be found for about retail, but the rest of the BOTW gang are notably difficult to find in the wild.
With Breath of the Wild 2 on the way, it’s difficult to imagine there not being any amiibo functionality. Hopefully the original Breath of the Wild set will be released again, either alongside it or in advance. They’d be sure to do well either way.
1- Skyward Sword Link
Skyward Sword is getting a rerelease of its own on the Switch, and the amiibo for it is a pretty low hanging fruit for Nintendo. Even though there are somewhere around a dozen Links (Smash Bros, Rider, Archer, Majora’s Mask, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link’s Awakening off the top of my head), they all sold pretty well. Most of them hold around $30 on the secondary market for new in box, and there’s definitely demand for them. It’s an easy re-release for Nintendo that would sell for sure.
Well, there you have it. I can’t wait to be proven right (or wrong, that’s cool too, so long as they do eventually re-release) on a few of these, but until next time.
-Spike
Amiibo Doctor 