UPDATE 2: Either this has been the most popular set of Amiibo yet, or individual retailers just received very limited stock, but GameStop issued the statment that "At this time, all Wave 4 amiibo pre-orders are sold out."
Pre-ordering started at noon PST in-store only. Pre-ordering through the web was not made available.
UPDATE: The GameStop website is back online, but none of the Wave 4 Amiibo are currently available. GameStop issued the following statement via Facebook:
"Due to very strong demand for the newest wave of Nintendo’s amiibo figures, GameStop is experiencing some technical issues with our website.
At this time, we are accepting pre-orders of amiibo in stores only while we resolve these issues. We are working aggressively to resolve the technical issues as quickly as possible and expect it to be back online shortly."
The original story appears below.
If you've tried logging on to games retailer GameStop.com this afternoon, you'll have met an unpleasant surprise: the site isn't working.
Following yesterday's Nintendo Direct where the developer announced that some of the newly announced Amiibo would be retailer-specific, GameStop revealed that the figure for cult-favorite Ness would be exclusive to its stores.
Pre-orders were scheduled to go live at noon PST both in-store and online, which is when the overabundance of traffic brought the site down (and which is still down as of press time). Reports also surfaced on Twitter that similar issues were happening in-store.
30 minutes in, GameStop system still down, first guy in line is still standing there.
— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) April 2, 2015
The popularity of the character should come as little surprise, despite the fact that Nintendo only ever released one game in the series in the West. In Japan, where the series is known as Mother, Earthbound was preceded by an NES title and followed by a Super Nintendo game. A recent Earthbound-themed Kickstarter quickly blew through past its initial funding requirement to hit a stretch goal for a fan convention.
It's also worth noting that "less-popular" Amiibo, like The Villager, still sell for over $100 on sites like ebay, while an Amiibo for a gold Mario that was marketed as "limited edition" can be found for around $30 on the same site.
Other retail-specific Amiibo revealed today were Jigglypuff at Target (which accepted and then quickly stopped taking pre-orders), and Greninja, which will go up for pre-order at Toys R Us tomorrow.
People swooning over pieces of plastic.
*watches them from a distance*
I just want Lucino! Is that too much to ask?!!
Looool, "retail specific".
Game shops here just sell all of them, and allow for placeholder pre-orders. Hell, I've already got pre-orders for Mewtwo and Lucas.
This is just Nintendo limiting stock to increase its value.
For everyone getting all riled up about this, I have three words for you:
First.
World.
Problems.
Count your blessings, please. It's just a piece of plastic.
I hate Nintendo so much now for making everything else except new, innovative games that happen to be fun. Nuclear fallout has definitely destroyed their brains because they have become asinine. I approve of Fallout 4 taking place in Japan. Satoru Iwata would be the new Master who has legions of Super Mutant Reggie Fils Aime's.
@greenpolyp Eesh. You are nuts, sir.
@greenpolyp Oh hey, it's tr0ll.
Facts:
The Wii U isn't selling well
A 3D pokemon console game with online features is the most requested game . . ever. . . possibly
Amiibos are selling like crazy.
-- Now, I'm no Alfred Einstein, but it seems to me like there's an easy solution that would make Nintendo a ton of money and perhaps turn the Wii U into the must have Holiday "toy". . . .
RELEASE A FREAKIN' CONSOLE POKEMONE GAME WITH ONLINE FEATURES, AND INCORPORATE AMIIBO!
Seriously, only nintendo could have that IP, that potential, that demand and do NOTHING with it and ignore the consumer. Why is that not a thing? Imagine a pokemon console game with the original 151 pokemon. With some kind of amiibo support for collectors if they choose to purchase them or personalise their pokemon - 151 pokemon amiibo? Do Nintendo not like money or something?
Then they could release another batch of 151 for the next console iteration. And make billions. And finally give us what we've wanted for 15 years!
But Nintendo . . .
@wolfman8325 Fact: You're a tr0ll.
I was actually lucky enough to get my Ness pre-ordered 2 hours after pre-orders opened (was at school), solely because nobody in my general area cares about amiibos. Rosalina release? Me and two other guys. Gold Mario release? Me and seven other people. Ness pre-order? Me and one other guy. So even with the slow systems, I was able to immediately get to the front of the line and pre-order Ness, presumably before people who had been waiting 3 hours at other locations (they all use the same inventory system, so yeah), just because of where I live. I'm only a little nervous for the next two waves just because of location! I'm one of the luckiest amiibo hunters ever xD
P... K... freaking fire.
All i want is charizard and greninja to coomplete my pokemon collection
Whatever happened to unlocking extra's by actually playing the game? I'm sorry but only a fool would actually buy these things.
@greenpolyp some of us are buying them purley to collect. not for the game extras
@greenpolyp one amiibo has features for many different games. some are interactive too so I think its pretty cool.
Guys, we are working on this petition so Nintendo can listen to their fans once more again and understand how some of them are having no chance at all with the amiibo problems! Please, help us with that and pass the word! It is not fair the loyal fans who played their games for decades being manipulated by store or people buying more of 1 to sell them later!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nintendo-we-need-more-amiibos
Gotta love this manipulation of the market.
I don't even know what an amiibo is !
@Allicrombie I feel ya
I agree, what's the point in only releasing so many, when you have that asshole that buys like 5 of them, clears the shelves then resells them for like $100 because the store won't be getting anymore in. The entire point is to unlock different things in the games, not keep them in cases just to sell for 5 times the price. Nintendo was great on releasing them, but horrible on only releasing so many! And then also only releasing certain ones to certain stores. Like I have to literally run around town trying to preorder all these different ones just for them to tell me, "Ohh we reached our limit 30 minutes to an hour after accepting preorders. Like are you kidding me? Looks like I'm just gonna start buying the Japanese and EU versions for the internet. This is just down right crazy!
@lillbrandiikins They should really limit it to one per customer. They're still go out of stock, but at least more people get them, as opposed to staying in amazon/ebay listing limbo.
This whole amiibo thing is getting out of hands. It's actually disgusting, I mean if you don't have any of those amiibos then there's no way for you to unlock or enjoy that extra content, even if it's not that substantial. If Nintendo wants people to enjoy amiibos then they have to at least make enough of them to go around. These short runs of amiibos just don't make any sense!
@jflkdjs doesn't matter. people still buy them. it's DLC. The only difference is Nintendo enthusiasts don't mind bending down on their knees even though they are being milked.
I understand the concept of amiibo, I just don't get it... These little plastic figurines have yet to add any substantial content to any games thus far, and I don't see them adding anything substantial in the future either.
Nintendo has people scrambling to find these things to the point of scalpers making 3, 4, even 5 times what they are "worth". and at the end of the day, they don't do anything but sit on a shelf collecting dust.
How can your players actually find Amiibos to unlock content and leveling xp if they cannot even find them to use? Simple easy way to fix this problem they have is to sell them directly from Nintendo. You see an Amiibo you want , but cannot find you order it through Nintendo's website and the manufacturer then ships them to your door. That solves their "shelf space" problem and the scalpers all at once.
@JasPlun WOW! Brilliant idea! I'm with you :)
This has to do more with the scalpers hunting them for resale than actual collectors buying them.
This is why I quit collecting amiibo's. And I'm even the type of collector who enjoys the thrill of the hunt, but amiibo's are too much hassle and headache.
I understand Amiibios can be cool for collectors...but is this really the direction Nintendo is taking? selling more junk and accessories instead of actually releasing interesting content, new games and getting 3rd party support?
for anybody who's not following the Nintendo ''wave'', this is probably giving them more reasons to steer clear from it.
@xolivierx Exactly my sentiments :/
People really buy this stuff?
@cboye18 Yep and pay quite some cash for some...
@cboye18 Yes, I am one of them. I do not really know why either. It's a good question to ask, feels like materialism to me, but these things are just so freaking cute. As for what they do, nothing. Barely anything with my games. Which makes it even more dumb, when I could be buying more games or something better and more useful.
@ACMC85 @cboye18 it's cool stuff but a few years down the road you'll be like : why the heck did I buy this junk....and you'll either sell it or throw it away because let's face it, it is junk...it's basically a memory card
Nintendo, please don't go back on your word and make the DLC characters for Smash Bros. free. Look at the money that you're making now. Free DLC characters for Smash Bros = mores copies of the 60$ game sold.
I want Disney to make take advantage of them for the Nintendo versions of Disney Xinfinity.
I just want Mega Man and Donkey Kong. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?
@techmasterusa $100 for both.
@techmasterusa Megman is easy to find and so id Donkey Kong. Target has a lot of Donkey Kong and Mega Man is easy to find at Game Stop. You can also find Sonic fairly easy.
@techmasterusa Try Toys R Us. Found them both there for like $10-$13. And also was running a special buy one get on 40% off. Just don't expect to find any of the rarer ones.
I still have no idea what these do. GOOGLE!
An Amiibo, is a Japanese translation error. In English it actually translates into "Beanie Babbies"
@owlcoholic you're joking...
@dylandr Look at my face, does it look sane too you?
@owlcoholic @dylandr It looks like a bundy so, yes
@dylandr Cabbage Patch Kids!
@owlcoholic @dylandr LOL!
TRU sold out a few hours ago. Lucina and Robin were gone in less than a minute but I was able to get two more of each.
*updated count*
4x Lucina, 4x Robin, 1x Pac man, 1x Wario, 1x Greninja, 1x Ness, 2x Jigglypuff, 1x Charizard
Good day, waiting to order some on Amazon now.
How did you get 4? I was at GameStop when they started taking pre-orders at 12:pm PT, I was the fourth person in line & I couldn't get Robin or Lucina because the website kept crashing, it took over an hour to get an order through even the guy upfront couldn't get one FireEmblem Amiibo. I was able to get Ness & the rest of wave 4 so it wasn't a total loss I guess but the people behind me didn't even get that!
@Legend002 So why do you need 4 of the same amiibo is the real question? It's people like you that make it impossible for people who want to collect them to even get one. I work for Gamestop and got to my store 40 minutes early, and kindly waited for customers to buy there amiibos before I got mine. The least people like you could do is buy 1 and leave enough stock for collectors..