Amiibo

Amiibo (Japanese: アミーボ, Hepburn: Amībo, stylized as amiibo) is Nintendo's wireless communications and storage protocol, for use between compatible Toys-to-Life items and the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U gaming platforms. It was launched in November 2014 in the form of system software updates and a series of Amiibo-enabled figurines, colloquially abbreviated as "amiibo figurines" or simply "amiibo". These figurines are similar in form and functionality to that of the Skylanders and Disney Infinity series. The platform was preannounced to potentially accommodate any form of toy, specifically including general plans for future card games. These toys use near field communication (NFC) to interact with supported video game software, potentially allowing data to be transferred in and out of games and across multiple platforms.

Amiibo can be used directly with the Wii U GamePad and New Nintendo 3DS series, while an adapter for the rest of the Nintendo 3DS series was released on September 25, 2015 along with the Nintendo 3DS game Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. As of December 31, 2015, Nintendo reports that 31 million Amiibo figures have been sold, along with 21.50 million Amiibo cards from the Animal Crossing series.