Super Smash Bros. Wii U Will Use NFC Toys Like Skylanders

[Steven Bogos]

Super Smash Bros. Wii U Will Use NFC Toys Like Skylanders

Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo's flagship franchises, so it makes sense to introduce NFC with it.

Stephan Bole, managing director of Nintendo France, has just announced that the upcoming Super Smash Bros. title for Wii U will utilize near-field communication toys, somewhat similar to Skylanders and Disney Infinity. Nintendo announced that it was planning such a system of figurines [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134318-Nintendo-to-Release-Completely-New-Hardware-in-2015] earlier in the year, and now it's looking like its flagship Wii U title will utilize it.

"E3 will be an opportunity to show the use of NFC technology on Nintendo consoles. NFC will be used in the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.," Bole told French newspaper Le Figaro [http://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/2014/05/22/01007-20140522ARTFIG00230-mario-kart-8-va-relancer-les-ventes-de-la-wii-u.php] in an interview.

From what we know of Nintendo's figurine platform (NFP) plans, it will support training and upgrading in-game versions of figures of various Nintendo characters; and support multiple games on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo said at the time that it plans to release the first NFP-compatible titles on Wii U by the end of the year, which coincides with Super Smash Bros. Wii U release.

Bole specifically said that only the Wii U version would use NFC, which also falls in line with what Nintendo said earlier, in that the NFC technology wouldn't be utilized on the 3DS until 2015.

Source: Polygon [http://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/2014/05/22/01007-20140522ARTFIG00230-mario-kart-8-va-relancer-les-ventes-de-la-wii-u.php]

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[nightmare_gorilla]

yeah this seems like a great way to add the cost of 7 or 8 $15 figurines to a $60 video game.... not super thrilled but I only own a 3ds so i'm only playing it on there.

 

[FancyNick]

So... what does this add to the game? No, seriously. This just seems like a way to add additional costs to a game. If they start locking character's behind this sort of gimmick than it's just going to piss people off.

 

[Arfreid]

So... what does this add to the game? No, seriously. This just seems like a way to add additional costs to a game. If they start locking character's behind this sort of gimmick than it's just going to piss people off.

I don't think they will, it will most likely just add costumes, they are experimenting with this and I am sure they will release a good game, figurines or not.

 

[Yopaz]

So... what does this add to the game? No, seriously. This just seems like a way to add additional costs to a game. If they start locking character's behind this sort of gimmick than it's just going to piss people off.

A level of frustration? Microtransactions targeting gullible kids? Money in the bank? Wait, that last one isn't about the game...

Yeah, I agree with you. I have been waiting for this game and I am still looking forward to it, but this is a steaming pile of bullshit if I ever saw one. I consider this worse than the standard microtransactions because of the way it's engineered towards kids and making them nag at their parents until they cave in.

 

[Rad Party God]

I can't see how they'll implement toys on Smash Bros., beyond special costumes and the like, but... I think it kinda makes sense, Smash has always been about miniatures fighting each other and the figurines theme has been retained throughout the entire series (collectible trophies, assist trophies and such).

So yeah, even if I get ahold of the game itself (and console) someday, I wouldn't use it in the slightest, but it's still a pretty neat idea.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Nintendo ruining a successful franchise by trying to make some income off a new idea by shoehorning it in. all this is going to do is alienate existing fans and exclude potential new ones.

Nintendo theme song:
Er'ry Drain I'm Circlin'
Er'ry Drain I'm Circlin'...

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Oh I can see this going down well with the Nintendo Defense Force.

 

[Adzma]

So you're locking characters behind pay walls now? And not just any pay walls, but toys?

That's a shame. I would have bought Smash Bros. I guess my money is better spent elsewhere.

 

[Steven Bogos]

So you're locking characters behind pay walls now? And not just any pay walls, but toys?

That's a shame. I would have bought Smash Bros. I guess my money is better spent elsewhere.

Way to jump to conclusions there my friend.

 

[Bellvedere]

I actually really liked the concept of the toys in Skylanders. From my understanding there was only a small amount of content that required extra toys and you only needed one of each type rather than all of them to get it. It seemed to me, to be more like being able to play with your real-life toys in a game than it did needing to buy toys to play a game. 10 year old me would have loved that.

Can't say I find the news they'll be in smash bros particularly exciting though since adult me doesn't really want cheap toys to play with in a game. I've no objection to DLC characters, not that I really go for that kind of thing anyway but I think it would be pretty lousy for those that do want that stuff to have to pay extra for toys they don't want. Hope for them there's another way to get that stuff.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

I can't wait for the irony of all the people who bashed Skylanders to oblivion defending this because it's Nintendo doing it now.
OT: I'm going to say about this the same thing I said about Skylanders and Disney Infinity, if I were ten years old this would be the coolest thing ever, unfortunately I am twenty years old and couldn't care less. As long as the core game is still proper Smash Bros. with a full character roster and this is all just cosmetic or personal preference stuff then I have absolutely no problem with it.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Hm. I'm not opposed to this so long as it doesn't lock the character roster behind a pay wall. If it's for some kind of cosmetic extras or something, then fine. Hell, I might even buy into that despite being a freaking adult. Still, I am a little worried.

I personally think that the Skylanders model was pretty ingenious, if not a little unscrupulous.

 

[Rellik San]

I'm surprised... I'd have expected this to be coming out for Pokemon first, after all 700+ characters, blind packs at $4 being the only way to get shiny and legendary Pokémon. Exclusive signature edition starter Pokemon with unique colouring/move set.

I would have thought that would be the obvious starting point.

Also and I know I'm horribly misogynistic for saying this: Bunny Ears Samus makes me feel tingly in places. :/

 

[blizzaradragon]

I'm going to go against the current common opinion and say I'm cautiously optimistic for this. There are multiple ways that Nintendo can handle this, rather than what everyone is jumping towards saying it'll lock the roster behind a paywall(seriously, they'd have to be brain-dead to have a version with the entire roster available and another where you'd need to buy toys to get the full roster). That being said, one thing I could see them doing is essentially use the toys to contain character data for things such as customized movesets like they've shown you can do. Imagine being able to go to a friend's house to play, and all you'd need to do is bring this little figure to have your favorite character customized how you want all ready to go to battle it out with your friends. Or imagine something like an RPG mode where your smash characters actually level up and gain stats or new moves that you can swap in, and the figure contains all that info. After all there is going to be a Wii-U exclusive mode announced to coincide with the Smash Run mode exclusively for 3DS, so I could see something like this that makes good use of the figures happening. They could even do something like patch it in for the 3DS version when NFC usage gets added, so you can easily move the character you've been working on to the 3DS version or something.

 

[Fasckira]

I, er, I quite like the idea... its a bit of fun for those who like to get invested in it, it provides some additional gaming collectables to go on the shelf once Im bored with the game and from a kids perspective it'll be a hoot.

Thinking way ahead here, but it'd be kind of neat if we could 3d print our own models, scan them in and give them stats in a pre-game stage then play with them. Meh, ignore me, not had a coffee yet this morning.

 

[SilverBullets000]

Oh...well, fuck, I don't like that. One of the things I always enjoy about Nintendo games is the fact that they're normally complete experiences with little to no hoops to jump through (Pokemon being an exception by way of sequels). Small things like costumes won't bother me so much, but that's assuming they don't release new characters/items/stages/packs/finishing moves/etc. later and have them act as DLC figurines (man, that was weird to type).

I don't know. I'm still on board because it's Smash Brothers and I enjoy the games, but this really bugs the shit out of me. I guess I'm just pessimistic about the issue, but I just don't see anything good coming out of this.

 

[That Eeyore]

I'd like to take a minute to remind everyone that we still don't know much about what Nintendo is doing.

I think doing the Skylanders thing by locking the characters behind a paywall is stupid. Like, profoundly stupid. I mean, lots of characters in past game were hidden, yeah, but you could always get them if you were willing to put in the effort, and you didn't have to pay a dime or keep track of a toy that you can easily lose (seriously, how many toys have you bought in your lifetime, and how many of those can you locate today?).

Nintendo usually has a pretty good idea how players feel when it comes to some of the newer practices in the industry, such as the whole used game thing.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

hmmm... this... feels like the kind of thing that Nintendo Direct would have mentioned before now. Though it does explain the gap between 3DS and WiiU versions...
I'm going to wait before passing judgement but I can't say I'm super thrilled at the prospect right now.