Amiibo, games, systems, difficulties..
Honestly, I'm so conflicted with Nintendo these days. The Switch is probably the best console I've owned in terms of utility, and Breath of the Wild was a game that rekindled some long-lost feelings of exploring in a game with a childlike sense of wonder and curiosity.
Then, you try to be a Nintendo fan. I had dismissed amiibo off the bat thinking they couldn't be good at the price they were being sold at. Somewhat ignorant I know, but when I was enjoying BoTW on release I was walking around one of the shops near me and saw the Smash Link amiibo. I had some sense that it was meant to be rare to find, and Link has been a staple of gaming for me since ALttP and OoT. So, on a punt I picked it up, and you know what - pretty neat. Nice detail, decent size and at the very least somewhat presentable.
The usual thing happened, I said that it would just be Zelda related ones. So I got the 8 Bit Link and Ganondorf. Then my friend went to Japan and picked me up a Skyward Sword amiibo, and sent a shot of the others on the list. There was One-Eyed Rathalos and Rider girl, and it was pretty big. So, he picked that up for me too. Then I really found I enjoyed Splatoon 2, and now I have the new boy and squid.
That's where I'm at now. Though as much as I like the ones I have, all but two are up there for ones that I would have gone for had I had a choice. The one I want the most is Toon Link. Not even the Wind Waker one, just the Smash one. Except to get one in a box to ensure its condition is good, I'd have to pay £45. Now this is a drop in the bucket in terms of the price others go for, but it's still almost 450% of what I should be paying, and more expensive than the game it's from.
All I want to do is buy some small statues, that aren't a dream but something manufactured and sold, to remind me of the good times I've had with Nintendo games over the years. I can't though, because for some reason any character with any semblance of popularity just isn't available, at all. No "ah sucks I just missed the last one, I'll get the store to order one". No, just not available.
Now one of the best (imo) looking amiibos releases with the Metroid one, but hey it's sold out before it's even being sold. That's another one I'll never see in real life or available online to buy at the point in time where it's supposedly released. Except with this one, it means you'll never get the chance to play an entire difficulty of the game it's supposedly releasing with. The game will be available, the £10 plastic model that ties in with it to unlock the full game? No hope. Luckily there are ways around it, but there shouldn't have to be. Not for something that's teased as a way to celebrate the franchise, and certainly not for a significant part of the game.
Now the SNES Classic. Another opportunity to celebrate the times you've had with Nintendo in the past, but not only with games you've played, but with Starfox 2 and Earthbound too. Fucking awesome, if you're one of the few that managed to get there in 15 seconds before they sold out. Slow internet connection? Haha, fuck you.
I want to play Earthbound. I want to play Starfox 2. I want to play Fusion Mode in the upcoming Metroid. At what point do these grand reveals just become a sick joke with the knowledge of past availability issues. What's the point in creating it if it's just going to be yet another thing you end up denying your fans? Oh, right.
(TL;DR)
Nintendo persistently tease us with ways to engage with them, but rarely give us the opportunity. It was bad with the NES classic and normal amiibo, but now they've moved on to doing the same but with parts of games, and games themselves. At some point I wish they wouldn't bother. The early scratchings of this were written on the walls of My Nintendo way back when. Its been a slow and arduous evolution to where we are now, but the nature of it is the same.