Fans of Nintendo’s Amiibo series seem to have mixed feelings about collecting the figures. Many of the Smash Bros. Amiibo have been scarce in number, resulting in fans scrambling to pre-order their favorites, with many being unable to do so.
So when it was discovered over two months ago that a limited number of gold and silver Mario Amiibo were in the works from Nintendo, it came as no surprise that the gold Amiibo sold out online within minutes. There’s been no news of the silver Amiibo since, but a recent discovery may have unveiled the figure’s release date.
Redditor ValtriusXIII, an employee at the Fred Meyer retail superstore chain, discovered that the silver Mario Amiibo was programmed into the store’s point of sale system with a release date of May 29th. This date coincides with the release of wave 4, which was already set to release the Smash Bros. fighters Charizard, Greninja, Jigglypuff, Lucina, Ness, Pac-Man, Robin, and Wario in Amiibo form.
After ValtriusXIII posted this discovery on Reddit, Target employees stepped forward and verified that the silver Mario Amiibo was also listed in their systems with the same date. However, Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us employees couldn't find a listing on their systems.
This may be good news for fans determined to buy this limited-release Amiibo. The presence of its sales information on two different retail chains’ computers probably indicates that it won’t be exclusive to one store. Considering that the Gamestop-exclusive Ness amiibo crashed Gamestop’s servers for hours, not limiting it to one store should help to level the playing field for pre-orders. If Wal-Mart has the silver Mario Amiibo, it may be even easier, as they did reserve some of their gold Amiibo stock for in-store, non-pre-order customers.
Nintendo has previously announced that it might consider manufacturing additional Amiibo to satisfy demand, but they’ve also stated from the start that some Amiibo were always intended to be a one-time offering. While limiting production may be driving demand up somewhat, it’s rather surprising that Nintendo is choosing to disappoint fans rather than capitalizing on the massive demand. Additionally, the idea of Amiibo cards replacing discontinued figures probably isn’t any comfort to fans who wanted the collectible toys to display in their homes.
However, for the collectors who have managed to get their hands on all the amiibo they wanted, knowing supply is so short may just make their victory feel even sweeter.