A lot has been said lately about the quality of Nintendo DLC and how they are doing DLC right. The amount of content you get for the price is pretty incredible. Lets look at the Mario Kart 8 DLC: $11.99 gets you 16 new tracks, and 6 playable characters*edit* as well as 8 new karts. Jesus Nintendo, that comes close to doubling the content of my game for a little over 1/6th the price. Totally worth the money in my opinion and to be honest, I have no idea what Nintendo was thinking. This particular DLC should have been at least $20, not that I'm complaining. 

Now lets look at the Hyrule Warriors DLC: $20.00 gets you 3 playable characters, 8 outfits, 3 adventure mode maps(which are huge), Epona, 5 story episodes, 2 new weapons, and two new game modes(whatever that means). Once again, holy crap Nintendo, thats a lot of content for the price. Sure DLC costs less to make due to it reusing assests that have already been devolped, but damn how are they turning a profit on DLC?

So this brings me to Amiibo. In case you didn't know, Amiibo are figurines of varying size of famous Nintendo characters such as Mario, Link, Bowser, Kirby, and Samus. They use NFC technology to unlock different things in different games, as well as generally looking amazing on a shelf with other gaming collectables(currently Samus is staring down Bowser while Groot bobs his head as Claptrap runs away screaming). Some examples of extra in game content you get by using your Amiibo are: AI training partners in Smash4, weapons and items in Hyrule Warriors, once a day power up's in Kirby, themed racing suits in MK8, extra game boards in MP10. 

Notice a difference? With the exception of Hyrule Warriors(maybe MP10 as well), the content you get from Amiibo's versus DLC is lacking, at best. The content you get from Amiibo is really, nothing. So what are you really paying for? The toy. Of course the toy, duh. But wait, then why are Amiibo removing features from games and putting these things behind a paywall? Don't believe me? Amiibo functionality was present in Smash 4 at launch, as well as Captain Toad. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Kind of like on-disc DLC(*cough*Capcom). 

Don't get me wrong, I love Amiibo and their concept, but are they DLC in physical form, or are they just cool collectables that have the addtional benefit of a little extra content for a game you already own or are going to buy? Personally I fall somewhere inbetween. I'd love to be able to scan my Marth Amiibo into MK8 and race as him, or my Mario one and unlock a new kart, but at the same time, I also love just having the great looking figurines on my shelf.

Let me know how you all feel about Amiibo and Nintendo DLC, looking forward to some of the responses. 

Its Nintendo and you get an avereage figure so its ok -_-

Well, I used to think that the same way until I realized than one amiibo works for multiple games, so eventually the content unlocked by the use of Amiibos will, altogether, match the amount of content an average Nintendo DLC has.

Nintendo just wanted some skylanders/ infinity money.

I feel like Nintendo is trying every type of DLC there is to see which one fits best... Like you have the "Expansion Pack" method with Super Luigi U, you have the "Value" Method with MK8, you have the "Micro-Transaction" method with Rusty's Baseball, you have the "Free-2-Play" method with Submarine Wars, "Season Pass" method with Mario Golf (I believe) and the list goes on. And I think once they find out which one works best for them and the consumer, they will hopefully stick to that one and leave the rest behind

With that being said, I really don't think Amiibo's are On-Disc DLC cause with On-Disc DLC, the content is already made and is locked within the disc which is certainly not the case for Amiibos. Many of the Amiibo features that are coming out are coming out as updates to the game later rather than DLC being premade and locked away and the content you are getting isn't really a big deal so its no where close to being as bad.

On top of that, I think the way that Nintendo is handling the Amiibo is odd but great. They are making sure that the content the amiibo's provide aren't essential to the game so when a person buys a game, they don't feel cheated but at the sametime, since Amiibo's work with so many games, the value in them is in quantity.

Cause the thing is, if Nintendo made Amiibos have things that are considered "must have" content, people would yell anti-consumer but if Nintendo has them working on very little games with very little content, then they wouldn't be worth it so instead, Nintendo has very little content but it works on so many games that eventually, Amiibos will be worth it so people are buying them for a) Collection and b) Future Potential. And sure, there are some people that still yell "anti-consumer" but thats mostly cause that they either don't understand it or they just want to be negative against Nintendo but thankfully, they are the minority

And you'll also still have a figurine itself.

I didn't even think about some of those examples. Solid insight for sure. Do you think that they might choose at least two types to proceede forward with? I forget the name of it but Pokemon candy crush is coming to the 3DS, maybe its a sign that they like the micro-transaction model.

Well, its hard to tell what their next step is but I think they will continue to try out various DLC methods through the wiiU and 3ds's life since both will have plenty of games coming out that has a lot of room for DLC. Heck, Hyrule Warriors had that "Pre-Order Bonus" DLC going on and SSB has that "Buy both and get a character free for limited time" thing going on as well. So idk, I think they are still experiementing and we will see more methods of DLC in the future and I wouldn't really take Pokemon Candy Crush Edition as a sign of them prefering it but rather a way for them to see how it does cause both Rusty and Submarine Wars are veryyyyyyy niche titles so I think they want to see what happens when they put a Pokemon spin-off infront of it.

It will be cool to see where it goes though, I am hoping they do more MK8 deals since that came with a Free game for a limited time and kickass DLC on top of that

I'm very quickly falling in love with Amiibos. I can't afford to collect all of them, and I don't have the time nor patience to hunt them all down. So I'm happy that they aren't essential to get the most out of a game, but if I happen to have the figure and the game, I get a little extra. Which is lovely.

To be honest, it just doesn't bother me if it's on disk or not either.

You could make a similar argument that multiplayer features require the 'physical DLC' of extra controllers to enjoy. That's, of course, nonsense. But some features in games do need you to buy something extra to get the full value of the game, be it memory cards, extra controllers, or expansion packs. Amiibo are, to me, classed in the same category. Rather than 'physical DLC'.

I think of Amiibo as a content platform that supplements my games. So like, I buy the Link Ammibo, right? I get several costumes across several games, a new weapon in HW, and a computer that learns with me in Smash Wii U and can train me to tournament level play. Seriously, Amiibos have been entered in tournaments and some do really well, and eventually a lot tend to surpass their owners. It's some damn good AI. Not bad content to have, worth the price alone, and wouldn't even make sense without the Amiibo. How are you going to take an Amiibo to a friend, or even enter a tournament as some have, if it's stored on the disk or the system? But whatever. So my Link Amiibo, when Zelda U comes out, will get substantial new content, you can be sure, and I already paid for it. Buying an Amiibo, then, is like buying more than a season pass of DLC for a game, hell it's even more than a pass for all relevant DLC for the Wii U. Link alone gets me tons of Zelda related DLC for as long as he remains functional, going beyond generations, beyond platforms. I'll have certain Zelda DLC paid for even if Nintendo went third party! Amiibo is a unique content platform, that allows you to buy a figure from your favorite franchise and get supplemental content for any future game in the franchise released on any system Nintendo releases the franchise on.

That's so long as they keep supporting it, and they fucking better or so help me...