The worst thing this generation? No, wrong on two counts.

First, as others have pointed out, their has been plenty of worse business practices this generation so far.

Second, and I don't think anyone else mentioned this yet, but it didn't even start this generation. Amiibo are Nintendo's copycat version of Activision's Skylanders. Skylanders started last generation. Not this one.

Pedantic Man...AWAY!!!

Hey, who else do you know that sells DLC in a well made, Nintendo figurine? Plus, other companies have been doing this long before Nintendo. People just put a lot of pressure and press on Nintendo because they're well...Nintendo.

I don't know enough about this particular instance, but if it was true, my opinion of it wouldn't be much different than the usual types of DLC. I've played other games where content that was typically present was suddenly locked away, and it annoyed me in those cases too.

In recent memory, Tales of Xillia comes to mind (not recently I guess, but I just beat it last year). Past games generally had a collection of costumes you could unlock for completing miscellaneous sidequests. Xillia had a few, and offered little accessories to make up for it, but more the most part costumes were sold as DLC. It's something I found annoying, but just put up with at the time. I always liked having an assortment of costumes to show off my in-game achievements while going through multiple playthroughs, so having them locked away behind a paywall was a disappointment to me.

So I guess it's not something I'll defend...but I wouldn't lambast Nintendo for it either, as there are plenty of similar examples out there. Personally, I like having the physical figure more than just a digital ticket. I only have two amiibos, one of which was bundled with a game, but so far I haven't really felt like I'm missing out on anything for not purchasing certain figures, or have gained much extra with the figures I have. Just a neat bonus...so far.

Yea, I wouldn't mind they were just collectibles figures but having to buy them just to have content is annoying. They better not put them in Zelda U.

I don't give a shit about plastic figurines, I just want access to all the content in the game I payed full price for.

Nintendo is now doing the very thing we all vilified other companies for doing for years. This is on-disc DLC gated off behind a paywall, and it's unacceptable no matter who does it, whether it's Nintendo, or Capcom, or Konami, whoever.

Skylanders pretty much started this whole thing.  Nintendo saw how successful it was, saw how it could easily fit in with their very popular mascot characters, and copied how it worked.  You want to blame someone for this, blame Activision.  And blame them for starting it last generation.

Don't even try and deny it.  Even Disney Infinity beat them to market.

And what I am telling you, is that acting like Skylanders doesn't exist completely kills your argument.

simple to get over this amiibo - if you don't like DLC/micro transactions and figurine toys, don't buy it. it is DLC on a toy and that is how Nintendo wanted to market it. a design done by Nintendo and the cretors of Skylanders, and others.

while other publishers have its own way of DLC, it is basically similar.

the plus is you'll have a toy, if you don't like it then just don't buy it.

don't support DLC/micro transactions as well.

maybe junk but at least you get a toy out of the DLC...compare to other company like MS and the other you get nada. IMO

"Don't like it, don't buy it" doesn't solve the problem for people who are being denied access to stuff on the game disc they paid for unless they buy an additional plastic toy.

For example, as a big fan of the SNES Starfox, I would love to play the newly announced retro mode where the Arwing, its lasers/bombs, and the music/sound effects are ripped from the SNES original. That content will be on the disc that I will spend $80 on. But I'll be denied access to it unless I then go and buy a plastic toy. That's shit.