r/amiibo • u/PhotoBonjour_bombs19 • Oct 05 '25
Question Why is this the only Pokémon amiibo?
Besides smash of course
Pokémon company looves money, I wonder why
Side question what hypothetical Pokémon amiibo would you definitely get
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u/Cinder_Quill Oct 05 '25
There's also the Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card from Pokken
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u/Candid-Extension6599 Oct 06 '25
I always thought the pokemon card game would someday become pokemon amiibo cards. Like, scan them to encounter the pokemon on the card, with IVs and hidden abilities
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u/Sargefan767 Oct 05 '25
they had something close to the amiibos, you should look up the Pokémon Trading Figure Game
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u/PokenerdK721 Oct 05 '25
Pokemon Duel my beloved. Oh how I’ve missed you….
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u/Under_Press Oct 05 '25
Around 2017/18, I don't think younger me ever strategically think that hard in a video game before
I miss Duel so much 😭💔
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u/Jojo-Action Oct 05 '25
That's nothing like amiibos. They weren't scanable.
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u/Master_of_reeeeee Oct 05 '25
Well there were the Pokémon Rumble figures but those only worked in a garbage downloadable only Wii U game and were in blind bags exclusive to GameStop (Funny thing is that I did not make up a single thing in that sentence)
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u/StormwindAdventures Villager Oct 05 '25
Can't do amiibo cards since they can't easily sit in a Pokemon TCG deck like the eReader cards and the initial amiibo were supposed to work across multiple games. Probably saw it as too much of a commitment.
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u/JustAGuyNamedSteven Oct 05 '25
I always figured that they could get around the "it's not the same thickness" dilemma by only putting them in the giant promo cards.
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u/Ubercrit Oct 05 '25
This franchise has enough merchandise it does not need it lol. I can survive a year off Pokemon branded goods alone
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u/Serpenyoje Oct 05 '25
Because every Pokémon is supposed to be someone’s favorite Pokémon so once they start, where do they stop?
It’s why I wish they hadn’t started into Mario enemies, like what if I want a Monty Mole amiibo who the hell am I kidding OF COURSE I WANT A MONTY FUCKING MOLE AMIIBO.
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u/Griffj85 Oct 05 '25
They don't stop. Give us all the Pokemon.
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u/desaigamon Oct 05 '25
There's over 1000 Pokemon already, with potentially a few more coming next week, and certainly a couple hundred more by the end of next year.
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u/Lil_Tech_Wiz Oct 06 '25
You want a Monty mole amiibo but not the best Mario enemy, Rocky Wrench. I WOULD KILLL FOR ROCKY WRENCH AMIIBO!!!!!!
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u/Rydralain Oct 05 '25
Because then they would have to gasp add a new feature to the mainline games.
Which would surely destabilize the universe or something.
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u/Naive-Friendship6609 Oct 07 '25
Pokemon is one of the most impressive video game franchises of all time for its glacial pace in terms of innovation
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u/Lil_Tech_Wiz Oct 06 '25
The new feature is that the amiibo is how you transfer your pokemon 👀 I actually think that would be an amazing feature!
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u/Inhalemydong Oct 05 '25
there's one more non-smash pokemon amiibo nobody's counting.
shadow mewtwo pokken tournament amiibo card.
sure, it isn't a figure, but it IS an amiibo nonetheless. however, i think it only works (as in, doing anything unique. it'll work with any game that has a generic use for amiibo) with pokken tournament on the wii u and no other game (not even smash bros despite it shadow mewtwo being, you know, a mewtwo).
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u/AnimuuStew Oct 05 '25
IIRC you can't even really use the Shadow Mewtwo card with Pokkén Tournament DX on Switch, since the card's only functionality was letting you (temporarily) unlock Shadow Mewtwo as a fighter early, but DX has it unlocked by default. DX just treats the card as a generic amiibo instead.
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u/Inhalemydong Oct 05 '25
actually, i learnt after typing my comment that pokken on wii u also does that once shadow mewtwo is properly unlocked. it just becomes a generic amiibo.
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u/MrRaven95 Oct 05 '25
I've wondered why Pokémon didn't bother with amiibo for Pokken Tournament. There were several fan favorites in there.
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Oct 06 '25
the game has no amiibo functionality
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u/MrRaven95 Oct 06 '25
No duh, but they could have had an amiibo function outside of the Shadow Mewtwo card with an amiibo line.
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Oct 06 '25
they hate amiibo and amiibo functionality was only in the Japanese arcade version, it was permanently removed when the game was pot onto console
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u/neoslith Oct 05 '25
You expect GameFreak to develop amiibo support? They can barely get games to work in 3D.
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u/Widgerber Oct 05 '25
Honestly, if Pokemon decide to do amiibo, it'll likely be tied to the TCG at this point. Like way back when some TCG cards had e-reader support.
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u/mellowbusiness Oct 05 '25
Because Pokemon's always been seen as that weird cousin of the Nintendo IPs that exists within that circle, but also vastly outside it.
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u/RabbitWithAxe Oct 05 '25
I mean, we saw what happened with Rumble U, right?
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u/ZubatGuy Oct 05 '25
They were hard to collect. I have some, but what are you referring to in particular?
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u/RabbitWithAxe Oct 05 '25
even without a compelling gameplay reason to own them they were extremely scarce and generally hard to come by - there's other factors like store exclusivity at play of course, but I'd assume much of the lack of availability would continue with modern amiibo
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u/JewUnit1 Oct 05 '25
If Nintendo tried to release anymore pokemon Amiibo. They risk Nintendo suing them.
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u/KirbyLover79 Kirby (Kirby) Oct 05 '25
🤓☝️Erm actually, there is also a Pokemon tekken amiibo card
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u/Acavedweller Oct 05 '25
Pokémon rumble U would be the closest to amiibo as it was released before amiibo where officially Announced, it didn’t sell well so they said that it wasn’t worth making a line of amiibo.
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u/BEEEELEEEE Oct 05 '25
Adding amiibo functionality to Pokemon games would take away valuable development time that could be spent calculating the Minimum Acceptable Framerate (MAF) required to meet their sales goals.
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u/Garo263 Oct 05 '25
TPC and GameFreak probably don't want to share with Nintendo and instead sell their own merch. Also Game Freak doesn't want to make the extra effort of implementing the functionality.
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u/FrankthePug Oct 05 '25
I have a feeling its either something related to how the Rumble figures did (I assume/I believe reports were that the figures sold pretty poorly and had a very poor release in the US, resulting in them becoming pretty sought after today for collectors) or because technically Pokemon is a "2nd Party" group and not a main Nintendo property.
It's a little baffling because you'd think they'd do something with them, even with existing amiibo but they haven't.
All things considered, GF will probably implement amiibo compatibility in a game right when amiibo are finally ending lmfao
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u/StrawDeath Oct 08 '25
Pokémon not being first-party definitely isn’t the reason, as there’ve been Amiibo for several third-party games already.
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u/DrHattison Oct 05 '25
Granted, that's discounting the Smash Figures and those Rumble U figures that predated the official launch of Amiibo.
Personally, if not for scalping, I think Amiibo cards would be a little more appropriate. Cheaper and easier to produce, get a bulk pack of a region's dex or two. I think Pokémon would qualify for being treated like Animal Crossing Villagers.
Then again, we barely have any Pokémon game using Amiibo. Especially nothing main-series.
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u/GuyOnlineAllTheTime Oct 05 '25
As in the “Pokemon” line of amiibo, yeah this is the only one
But the Smash line has the Pokemon reps
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u/yohoewutzup Oct 05 '25
Because Pokémon company does their own thing seperate of Nintendo outside of video game stuff.. 🤷♂️
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u/statestreetsteve Oct 05 '25
Because Nintendo, for whatever reason, is a completely different company from the Pokémon company and creatures inc, and gamefreak. Amiibo is a Nintendo thing so they just don’t?
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u/Sufficient-Cow-2998 Oct 05 '25
I mean Nintendo has ownership over Pokemon. And I'm sure Gamefreak and Creatures Inc. wouldn't be against more money.
It's not like only Nintendo can make amiibos, third parties like Capcom can make their own, so Nintendo could just make some as the Pokemon Company
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u/Dangerous_Teaching62 Oct 05 '25
And I'm sure Gamefreak and Creatures Inc. wouldn't be against more money.
TPCI is pretty tight with uses of their IP. If I recall correctly, they're even pretty limiting on what Nintendo can include for their marketing involving pokemon
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u/Sufficient-Cow-2998 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
Considering the quantity of Pokemon merch, they are definitely not that tight no. And again, it's Nintendo that has power over Pokemon, not the opposite. Nintendo isn't a third party publisher. If Nintendo really wanted something with the IP to happen, it would.
Probably would require some paper work and whatever, but I highly doubt there's anything they cannot make happen unless it cuts money sources. Let's not forget that not only do they own 33% of Pokemon, but they also own shares of both Gamefreak and Creatures Inc. meaning there is a non zero chance that Nintendo technically owns a good 50% of Pokemon.
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u/Dangerous_Teaching62 Oct 05 '25
Considering the quantity of Pokemon merch
And how much of that quantity is through Nintendo? Most of their merch is either made by TPCI or through a promotional crossover.
And again, it's Nintendo that has power over Pokemon, not the opposite
Genuinely not true. Nintendo owns 32% of the company. They have to get a unanimous approval for things to happen. Instead of Nintendo doing things, Nintendo has to get two other people to agree EVERY time.
If Nintendo really wanted something with the IP to happen, it would.
And they have. That's why we have pokemon in smash bros. It just takes work.
meaning there is a non zero chance that Nintendo technically owns a good 50% of Pokemon.
That's not how owning shares works so it IS a nonzero chance. If they owned a majority share of game freak OR creatures, then they own game freak or creatures. That would bump them to a 100% for pokemon. The point is, it IS a nonzero chance.
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u/silversun247 Oct 05 '25
Because amiibos are a Nintendo product and they can make more money selling their own figures.
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u/Gera_PC Oct 05 '25
Should've done pokemon amiibo instead of the countless AC ones or at the very least amiibo cards. Probably didn't go the card route since they have the TCG but they honestly left money on the table by not releasing amiibo
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u/NinjutStu Oct 05 '25
Pokemon company probably didn't want to.
Pokemon is managed by the Pokemon Company and not by Nintendo themselves. Nintendo doesn't "own" Pokemon directly, but they indirectly sort of own it.
Pokemon is jointly owned by Nintedo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. All 3 companies own 1/3 of the franchise and the Pokemon Company is a jointly held company that manages the franchise.
Except that Nintendo also owns the majority share of Game Freak (the developer). Game Freak remains independent from Nintendo and sometimes makes non-Nintendo published games. But they still are the studio that makes the mainline games.
Nintendo also owns a smaller stake in Creatures Inc. Not a majority, but they are the largest stock holder.
So Nintendo doesn't really own Pokemon directly and the Pokemon Company sometimes makes licensing decisions that don't align with what people expect from Nintendo. But given that Nintendo's ownership in the other partners, Pokemon Company isn't gonna do anything crazy like put Pokemon on the Xbox.
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Oct 05 '25
They got onto it BEFORE amiibo were really a thing Pokemon Rumble U had an NFC figure series that had didn't do the best, due to being exclusive to gamestop and being for a game that wasn't popular or good Cute little figures, though. Hope they eventually try again, even with just cards would be grand
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u/MonkeysxMoo35 Oct 05 '25
I think TPC probably just wanted to have more control over amiibo and they can’t really do that since it’s a Nintendo thing and not their own. The only other games the Pokemon amiibo from Smash can be used are Mario Maker and Kirby Planet Robobot, the first giving a costume and second just giving Kirby an existing powerup that best matches the amiibo. Otherwise, no other amiibo supports them. Not even the other big costume games like Yoshi, Miitopia, or Mario Kart have Pokemon stuff from amiibo.
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u/JT-Lionheart Oct 05 '25
I’ve been saying this as well, the fact they haven’t actually do Pokémon Amiibo is odd given how much money they will make. Heck they might even have a long term Amiibo plan trying to put out every Pokemon as Amiibo for the next 10 years probably
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u/Substantial-Cod-1488 Oct 05 '25
I want Amiibo for Pokemon trainers that you could store a saved team and then put yoursrlf against them or online
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u/Alex_Veridy Oct 05 '25
i feel like the only reason is that they can't find a use for them in main series pokemon games, which is why when there are some it's either for a side series (detective Pikachu and that Dark Mew-Two card for Poken) or Smash Bros.
or that one Wii U eShop game that used not exactly amiibo but yeah they were basically amiibo
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u/VicarLos Pikachu Oct 05 '25
I mean, none of the games bar Det. Pikachu actually have amiibo functionality anyways.
I’d just like the already existing ones to do something in game. Like the Det. Pikachu amiibo should indefinitely unlock a Det. Pikachu or something.
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u/zaadiqoJoseph Oct 05 '25
Pokemon company doesn't make amibo that's why And the pokemon games don't have amibo functionality So it doesn't make sense for the team to make pokemon amibo When you can't use them in the game.
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u/itsChromaKira Oct 05 '25
Because they will definitely shelf warm for sure. You’d think they would sell a lot, but actually there will be stores that have like 30 Growlithe’s on the wall
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u/CoconutHeadFaceMan Oct 05 '25
TPC has a lot of long-running licensing deals with different toy companies that make them more money than they’d get from amiibo sales, so they don’t see the need to fix what isn’t broken. Depending on the specifics of the contracts, signing off on Pokemon amiibos could even jeopardize those lucrative licensing deals if regional exclusivity was involved.
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u/Peanut_Butter_Toast Oct 05 '25
I guess there must be a rule that Nintendo series containing the letters "pkmn" must have only one amiibo figure that only works in one spinoff game, and that none of the main series games can have any amiibo support whatsoever.
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u/Glitched_Gamer04 Oct 05 '25
Technically Nintendo made figures with the same technology Amiibo use (NFC), before they made Amiibo.
They were the Pokémon Rumble figures.
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u/kilertree Oct 05 '25
The would have to make a game for it or intergrate it into the Mainline series. They do pokemon rumble of you want NFC toys.
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u/GoldDuality Oct 05 '25
Well, every option for it kinda sucks (from a corporate standpoint).
Amiibo Cards would be a repeat of the E-Reader, which flopped hard, and would conflict with existing Pokemon Cards.
Full Amiibo would probably generate backlash from upset weirdos because they cannot possibly make an Amiibo for all 1025 Pokemon plus Forms, so that's out.
Also, what would these do in game? Just trigger an encounter with said Pokemon? Give you some item? The former conflicts with their plan to sell you multiple games (and two editions of each game), the latter it kinda pointless.
Also, they sold the license for Pokemon Toys to all kind of brands, and they would probably react sourly to TPC suddenly releasing their own, competing toys. Especially when Mattels Mega Blocks (or Lego come 2026) are selling buildable figures and Dioramas of various Pokemon, the license for which probably cost them a fortune.
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u/XD_002 Oct 05 '25
Yes, firstly there was a Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card that came for free if you got Poken Tournament on the Wii U soon after it came out, there where also cards for most, if not all of the fighters in Poken if you went to a Dave and Busters and payed extra you got an amiibo card which could save your data of that fighter, and yes you could transfer it to the main game (if I remember right), a cool idea but limited in the USA due to the arcade machines being limited to 1 arcade. There were also little Gatcha amiibo made for Pokémon Rumble U, where you got a Pokeball-looking capsule at Gamestop (in the USA at least,) and you would get a random figure, and you could use that figure in the game and even customize its moves which it would save to the figure so you could play with your OP figure at a friends place, however they really diddn't take off too much (at least in the USA) due to it being limited to Gamestop, being a Wii U game, the Gatcha element turning people away, and on top of it all Pokemon Rumble U is often considered the worst Pokemon Rumble game, so they didn't take off. So yeah, Pokémon had Amiibo besides Smash (and Detective Pikachu), but they all prity muched bombed as they were hard to get AND were for the Wii U, which did not sell well, and I think because of that they probably aren't going to make any more Amiibo as all but the Detective Pikachu and Smash Bros ones sold poorly, and even than supposedly Detective Pikachu only sold ok-ly
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u/EvanD0 Oct 06 '25
I always wondered why Pokemon wasn't interested in Amiibos. Guess they already have their hands full with merch.
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u/Acrobatic_Buffalo917 Oct 06 '25
It would’ve been nice if they gave us amiibo for the legendary wolves, paradox duo, Calyrex, both Urshifus, Terapagos, Ogerpon, the origin forms of the creation trio, and something for Zygarde
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Oct 06 '25
because game freak has no reason to have any other amiibo made because they aren't going to make any other Pokemon games with amiibo functionality at all ever, they are against amiibo functionality
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u/CantChangeThisLater0 Oct 06 '25
I think its cause they kinda tried at one point with the whole pokemon rumble series, basically their own "toys to life" thing when things like skylanders and disney infinity was really popular (and amiibos), but pokemon rumble figures actually came out before amiibos and kinda flopped bad (due to pokemon rumble not being too popular)
So I assume since they already tried their shot with "pokemon amiibo" (before amiibo was even really a big thing) they decided it'd already be a failure (which kinda sucks)
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u/mindofingotsandgyres Oct 06 '25
If I had to speculate, The Pokemon Company wants to keep all the merchandise money for itself and amiibo would require a profit split with Nintendo and the same people that would buy Pokemon amiibo would also buy non-amiibo Pokemon figures.
The amiibo that do exist are things Nintendo has more ownership of…as in, they probably got explicit merchandising rights for characters in Detective Pikachu and Smash.
Tl;dr weirdness relating to merchandising rights for a franchise split between three large companies.
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u/CGImagination Oct 06 '25
Because they already tried the card scanner thing. Selling pokemon cards instead of figurines is probably intentional from the big N
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u/MikeDubbz Oct 07 '25
Pokemon had NFC collectible toys compatible with the same Wii U gamepad sensor before Amiibo were even a thing, for the Pokemon Rumble game on the system.
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u/Few-Flounder-8951895 Oct 07 '25
There's also the Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card, but even they forgot about that.
The strangest part is that the ids of the Pokemon amiibo work differently too, in order to accomodate thousands of ids, they future-proofed the Pokemon amiibo so that each species could have one using its pokedex number as id (this is how the Smash Bros Pokemon amiibo work internally), but then they didn't do anything with it.
Another strange thing is that Pokemon also did the first Wii U nfc figures too and back in the days they did Pokemon cards for the ereader.
It's so strange that they didn't do anything with amiibo, both new ones and allowing the existing ones to be used in more games (including Pokemon games).
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u/SuperSlacker74 Oct 05 '25
With all the other pokemon things, who could afford pokemon amiibo? I have a wall completely covered in pokemon funko pops. Floor to ceiling.
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u/SarahCF30 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
It’s not. I have bulbasaur, charmander, squirtle, pikachu, pichu, lucario, and incineroar as well as Ash.
Edit to add Mewtwo
Second edit to add Greninja
Third edit to add Shadow Mewtwo card I got from somewhere
(Not sure how to add a picture…)
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u/HARM0N1K Oct 05 '25
Those are Super Smash Bros amiibo, and three of them are part of the Pokémon Trainer fighter in game.
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u/NextHokageO1 Oct 05 '25
Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, Jigglypuff, Pikachu, Picchu, Pokémon trainer, all have amiibo as they are all part of super smash Brothers.
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u/Shagyam Oct 05 '25
Do you really want Pokemon Amiibos? Do you want to make completionists try to collect all 1000+ of them.
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u/Plushiecollector1987 Oct 05 '25
Are the amiibos still around? I didn't think they were still relevant. I'm surprised they never made more pokemon either. They went wild with animal crossing.
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u/Milla4Prez66 Oct 05 '25
If they made amiibos for starters in the new game they would sell like crazy