Some interesting details are emerging from Japan right now, with the Nintendo Investor Briefing and Q&A underway. The presentation by Satoru Iwata has been uploaded to Nintendo Japan’s website, so if you read Japanese, perhaps it’s best if you head over there to read all the details for yourself!
But we’ll summarize here. The report is more focused on sales patterns than new products or the details of core strategies (like we’ve seen in the past), but there’s a very notable announcement about amiibo and how it may work with the Wii U Virtual Console in the near future.
Later this year (but not too far from now), there will be free software released on the Wii U. You’ll tap an amiibo on your GamePad and choose from a selection presented of NES / SNES game titles. Further amiibo taps will change up the playable selection, and you’ll only have certain sections of these game titles available to play for a limited time. You’ll basically be cycling through different parts of game experiences, like a modified version of NES Remix.
What it sounds like to us is a way for players to experience different retro game titles for free, enticing them to purchase the full game for the Virtual Console. Whether the different amiibos used will bring up different selections is another aspect that remains to be seen, but if this moves forward, we’re sure there will be some variety dependent on the character.
Also notable from the report is an acknowledgement that amiibo demand has surpassed supply in many cases, and that they’ll be manufacturing more stock as they have the ability to do so. But as with any manufacturing process, one certainly can’t expect that all rare or very popular figures will be rereleased.
