Nintendo recently revealed its next two waves of Nintendo Amiibo figurines for the spring season. The great news is that in April, Nintendo plans to release the fourth wave of Amiibo figurines, based around the Super Smash Bros. character roster. This wave brings Robin from Fire Emblem: Awakening; Lucina from Fire Emblem: Awakening; Charizard from Pokemon; Wario from the Super Mario Bros.; Charizard from Pokemon; Ness from Earthbound; and of course, the eponymous Pac-Man from the Pac-Man franchise.

However, that is far from all. In March of this year, Nintendo will release a new wave of Amiibo figurines with Mario Party 10. This new wave of Amiibo figurines features variants of existing Amiibo characters. Nintendo dubbed the earlier waves the “Super Smash Bros. series.” The new wave due out in March is dubbed the “Super Mario series.” The March wave branches the line outside of the Super Smash Bros. character roster. Nintendo is now making Amiibos based on video games other than Super Smash Bros. This is a great move that I have wanted to see Nintendo make with Amiibo for a while, and it is a positive step for the brand.

The potential for the Amiibo line is tremendous. Earlier, my thoughts were that Nintendo was only scratching the surface of that potential by only focusing on Super Smash Bros. Nintendo could have easily taken this craze further by having Amiibo made for other games besides Super Smash Bros. The Mario Party 10 series is a great way to start out. Perhaps this means that Nintendo might even consider releasing a wave of Amiibos for the Wii U’s upcoming The Legend of Zelda game.

The existence of Amiibo figurines based on the third-party characters who make appearances in Super Smash Bros. instills confidence among fans that Nintendo is willing to experiment outside of its usual first-party comfort zone. Amiibo is a license to print money. With that in mind, I hope Nintendo and other third-party developers are willing to discuss business in the Amiibo future. At the very least, it is fantastic to gett an Amiibo version of Pac-Man.

With regards to the other characters, I am happy to see Wario finally get his own Amiibo figurine. However, I am not crazy about his current design for the game. Since Nintendo is making a Super Mario Bros. series of Amiibo figurines outside of Smash Bros., hopefully that means at some point, Wario could get another Amiibo that utilizes his more classic design. Another awesome addition to the franchise  is the Amiibo for Charizard.

The Super Mario series of Amiibo figurines hits the shelves on March 20 with the release of Mario Party 10. The new wave of Super Smash Bros. Amiibos are due out on April 24.


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Jeffrey Harris
Jeffrey Harris, a pop-culture, entertainment, and video game journalist and aficionado, resides in Los Angeles. He is a staff writer for games, movies/TV, MMA and Wrestling and contributor to Popgeeks.net and Toonzone.net. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin's Radio, TV, Film program.
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