Today I just thought I'd give a mention to probably the best Nintendo Switch controller I've gotten so far, a third party pro controller called the Amiipad. This controller has over 800+ Amiibo figures digitally stored inside to be able to scan at any time. Going to the official website to update the controller will give you access to every single Amiibo ever released, making it an easy convenience to not have to pay for any rare Amiibo, let alone not having to clutter up a shelf. It also includes HD rumble and gyro control. The price might be a bit steep ($50) but it's very much worth it. Here's a video demonstrating its use with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Hey Ben, remember the excitement when amiibos were introduced?

i really do miss the days when "toys to life" was still kind of brand new, skylanders set things off around 2011, then disney tried their own thing with disney infinity. even though i was already in my adulthood it was a neat novelty to collect these to put onto a shelf. i do have some that i could do without taking up space on my shelf, but the ones i did like i was proud to have, even if their use was very little in the games they were in (scan a smash bros. amiibo, then just put it right back on the shelf) but i grew to like them, despite the profit they made off of them.

it's unfortunate though how it went for disney, when disney infinity first came out, they didn't have enough figures in stock, then after a few months, they had too many showing up in stores, then as its follow up games were happening, they didn't make enough sales and just ended with a poof. there was going to be a fourth game in the works, with an all new story mode allowing different disney characters to interact during scenes, whereas previously the only way to have different universe characters interacting was in the "toybox" mode where you create your own world.

The concept is a sound one. Game characters have desirable qualities both in, and out of, the games themselves. When presented as tangible objects, other values can increase their desirability. The gaming world is just as ready to intrude into the real world as back in 2011 - but the target audience has to care. All us 20th century types are easy but tody's kids have other interessts. Something tells me that the gamer demographics is older than many game developers would prefer. Grabing the young crowd is waay harder than just a few decades ago, in my opinion. Amiibo as collectables, OK by me, but I'm not the target for all this!

funny story, my stepdad actually came by to visit and thought the figures came straight out of a flea market being those fast food kids meal toys that were in bags i will admit though that the novelty has long warn off on actually using them, just another reason why i bought the controller, the other reason was because of how ridiculous in price certain ones were. there's a very rare one that sold like maybe under a hundred copies, and now on ebay it's around $600. sadly, i think nintendo quickly got into the toys to life trend because they slowly became money hungry after their prior japanese president, satoru iwata was showing health problems

Ha, I hear ya, Ben!

A sound concept can be ruined by poor execution, especially when money becomes the only goal. Amiibo can still bridge the worlds of gaming and RL, but not at investor sums of money. Greed ruins everybody's fun and the amiibo will never receive any additional perks to make them fun to collect in general.

Betcha that's why controller embedded amllbo is the way to go now.

in general though it did bring back memories of die cast cars i used to collect, and micro machines among monsters in my pocket figures. i'm just in that grey area where i don't know if it's normal to still be collecting toys while i'm a mid 30s adult, i guess i'm still just a kid at heart given my autism. it's like trading in video games, you might end up liking something so much that you regret giving it up. i even admit that i bought the nintendo labo kits, as they were more than just games, but it was also nintendo going back to their roots, making novelty products that were like toys before they got into the gaming industry, and also made for neat experimental interactive products.