Amiibogeddon

Every year around the holidays, there is usually one item that everybody wants to get their hands on.  Last year, it was the PlayStation 4.  A few years ago, it was Activision's Skylanders figures.  History loves to repeat itself as this time it's Nintendo's line of Amiibo figures.  If you have not heard by now, Nintendo's Amiibo figures are selling out across the globe due to limited supplies.  Along with that news, rumors about the discontinuation of certain figures, namely Marth, Wii Fit Trainer and Villager, have sent people into a fervor over the Amiibos as a whole.  People are pre-ordering  every figure, buying multiples to cash in on the demand and relentlessly searching for hard-to-find Amiibos.  The Amiibogeddon name may sound really cheesy, but the magnitude of this ongoing craziness is being felt by Nintendo fans who want to pick up their favourite character or collectors who want to own them all.  While Nintendo is the only one that can fix this situation, they are highly notorious for being slow to restock retailers after the initial shipment of their products.

Despite Nintendo's frustrating practices of building demand for certain products, their handling of this entire situation has left a lot to be desired.  First, they completely underestimated the demand for the Amiibos especially the figures involving characters from franchises with a cult following like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing.  Activision did the exact same thing when Skylanders initially released in 2011.  Since Amiibo is directly inspired by the Skylanders line of games and toys,  it is baffling for Nintendo to not at least learn from Skylander's growing pains.  Second, Nintendo hasn't done anything to dismiss these rumors of discontinuation.  In fact, they have added more fuel to the fire by not giving a definitive "yes" or "no" answer to the question.  All that has been clarified is more popular characters will be in regular stock while certain sold-out figures may be restocked at a later date.  No definition of what characters are deemed popular enough for regular stock, outside of Mario and Link, and no concrete timetable of when these figures will be restocked if ever.  On top of all this wonderful news, the Captain Falcon, Luigi and Pit figures from the second wave of Amiibos have been delayed until further notice.

Not everything surrounding the Amiibos is negative.  As a matter of fact, the figures are really well made and their uses in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors are really cool.  They have a lot of potential that hopefully Nintendo can capitalize on.

The feelings on Nintendo's mishaps surrounding the Amiibogeddon fiasco can be boiled down to one word--frustrating.  These figures were made to capitalize on the toys to life market in order to make back the money lost on poor Wii U sales.  It is puzzling that Nintendo isn't making greater efforts to meet the demand, even with "niche" characters like Marth, Wii Fit Trainer and Villager.  If these figures are making a profit, there should be absolutely no reason to consider discontinuing or limiting the stock for any of them.  While I personally don't believe Nintendo will fix this fiasco before the new year, the longer they wait to actually address the issue, the more they will alienate the Amiibo's target audience.

Launch Station: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

In the last couple of years, crossovers have become more common on Nintendo consoles.  From full-on retail releases such as Pokemon Conquest, Project X Zone and the upcoming Hyrule Warriors to smaller experimental pieces of downloadable content like Nintendo character costumes in Monster Hunter 4 and Bayonetta 2, or special Yoshi's Story and Legend of Zelda stages for Sonic Lost World, crossovers are seeing much more attention in the video game industry now than in generations past especially here in North America.  Continuing this large surge of video game crossovers is Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a brand new 3DS adventure that brings together two franchises that made their names on past Nintendo handhelds.

Transported to the medieval city of Labyrinthia, Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright and company are tasked with solving puzzles and winning court battles in order to help Espella Cantabella, a girl who is wrongly accused of being a witch, prove her innocence and find a way back to their respective universes.  Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is divided into two distinct sections that coincide with each franchises respective gameplay.  The Adventure section of the game will be awfully familiar to Professor Layton fans as you are searching environments for clues and interacting with characters.  Through your interactions with the environments and characters, you open up a multitude of thought-provoking puzzles which earn Picarats, the currency from the Professor Layton games used for unlocking extra puzzles and buying hints, and advance the story.  The other section of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the Witch Trial.  This is the section where Phoenix Wright and the gameplay from the Ace Attorney series takes centre stage.  Using the clues from the Adventure section, Phoenix must cross-examine witnesses and find contradictions in their testimonies in order to pull out the not guilty verdict for Espella.  Although finding contradictions involves the standard pressing for information and presenting of evidence that the Ace Attorney faithful are accustomed to, there are a couple twists to the standard Ace Attorney formula which spice up the proceedings quite a bit.  These twists are the ability to cross-examine multiple witnesses at a time and the addition of presenting magic spells as evidence. After completing the main game, there is additional content such as special episodes and art galleries available for players to download for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney via the Nintendo Network.

When crossing over two completely different franchises, you always wonder how their signature elements such as gameplay, audio and art style will co-exist.  In the careful hands of both Capcom and Level 5, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney looks to strike a careful balance between the unique gameplay, art styles and designs of each franchise in a way that truly compliments one another.  Although it took four long years since its initial announcement to reach North America, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney should be a quality third-party title to keep 3DS owners satisfied until major titles like Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. release this fall.