The Samus and squishy Metroid amiibo are nearly pre-sold in Australia
If you haven’t preordered the two upcoming Metroid amiibo that will release alongside Metroid: Samus Returns in September and want them. You might need to look into that.
This week we were informed that EB Game is no longer taking preorders for them, and the amiibo have disappeared from the website. They’ve also been removed (or were never on) the JB Hi-Fi site either. With Big W and Target no guarantee to stock amiibo anymore, that leaves only a couple of choices left.
Nintendo has confirmed that the two new amiibo (and the Super Smash Bros series Samus and Zero Suit Samus) lock content behind an amiibo ‘DLC’ gate. While most amiibo unlocks are just cosmetic, the different Samus and Metroid amiibo lock a harder difficulty mode, exclusive artwork and a soundtrack in the game.
Don’t worry! All hope is not lost as The Gamesmen have stock, as do Base.com and Beat the Bomb – for now. International retailers will also be an option, but we’re finding as time goes on the willingness for stores to stock amiibo is decreasing and shipments are smaller. With Nintendo now choosing to actively lock modes and content behind the amiibo that are more than just cosmetic, it’s a little bit of a worry.
Can we talk about how having hard mode as DLC is crap though? They did it with Zelda and now Metroid. If it was like a second quest, sure, by all means. But just hard mode shouldn’t be a payed download or locked behind amiibo.
Not only that, but having it tied to a limited physical item is ridiculous.
Agreed. If BoTW has a weakness it’s that many of the shrines are ‘filler’. There is some pure gold though, like the one where you use cryonis is to manipulate a giant ball across a sloped maze. with I’d love to see a second quest with a completely new set of 120 shrines with more cerebral and involved puzzles; the kind where the solition isn’t immediately obvious the moment you walk in the room.
A $5 Arduino, a $2.30 RFID reader and < $1 per NTAG and the problem is solved. It's sad that Nintendo is forcing people down this route with the limited stock on everything. Makes the justification for piracy (emulation, console mods and Amiibo copying) much easier when you don't have a legitimate alternative. Only thing worse than the lack of stock from Nintendo are the scalpers that're no doubt going to sling these things for stupid margins without any value add. I struggled to even find a physical copy of Mario Kart on Switch, but then I guess they get more profit off digital distribution… I realise Nintendo are playing the long game, they could flood the market with stock and supply demand but it's in their interest to keep the limits as it causes people to panic buy when stock is available or new products are released, but I don't have to like that business model, nor do I feel I should support or reward it.
And considering that the special edition isn’t being released either, Nintendo seems to be displaying an awful lot of contempt toward their Aussie fans.
Creating what is essentially limited release DLC seems like a bold move.
I assume the ‘Hard Mode DLC’ will eventually be available as a Amiibo-Free DLC purchase?
Plenty of JBs still have the amiibos. You just have to go in store.