When doing this, I try and just talk about the game and then the reviews I find without letting my personal opinions show through. I think I failed on this one. Don’t get me wrong, nobody else liked the game either, but I don’t know if anyone else was thinking of this as one of the worst games ever made.

My wife wanted the game for the amiibos so we wound up getting it at Gamestop for about $10. We came home and played a game of it. It’s the only game I’ve played of it and likely the only one I ever will. I may as well have not even been there for how little agency players actually have. Every turn was tap the amiibo and read whatever happened. That’s it! I’ve heard there are minigames from the reviews but I never actually saw any. Not one. This is one Wii U game I won’t mind if it never sees re-release on the Switch.

1/26 – Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s video game of the day.

Today’s game is Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival for the Wii U. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival was released in 2015 as a Mario Party-style spin-off game for the popular Animal Crossing series. Made by NDcube, the makers of the Mario Party games since Mario Party 9, the game has the feel of Mario Party but with the art style of Animal Crossing.

Unlike Mario Party, Amiibo Festival requires the use of Animal Crossing amiibos or amiibo cards. These are the collectible figures sold by Nintendo which can read and send game data to the Wii U, 3DS and Switch consoles. While the game comes with two Animal Crossing amiibos, you will need to buy additional figures to play with four players.

Instead of rolling dice as in the Mario Party games, players scan their amiibo to roll. This determines how many spaces on the board they move. They then are faced with various random events which can result in additional Happy Points or Bells. The player with the most Happy Points at the end is the winner. Bells can be used as currency for certain events.

Unlike Mario Party, mini-games are not played after each round. In fact, there are only eight mini-games in Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival and it’s entirely possible to go through an entire game without playing any of them. The mini-games are luck or trivia based, rather than games of skill.

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival was heavily criticised upon release due to its lack of content and player agency. Games have very little player interaction and there are no additional modes. It was also criticised for making players purchase additional amiibos in order to play with four people, on top of the $60 starting price.

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