Muddled retailer exclusives return
I don’t know if Nintendo is trying to ensure the survival of amiibo after the figures started to decline a tad, sales-wise (seeing hundreds of Animal Crossing toys on the shelves not selling was probably not a great feeling), but they’re back to their old tricks again.
Ever since April of 2015’s dreaded Wave 4 pre-order debacle, which was the ultimate culmination of poor planning, we’ve been relatively safe from bullshit. Pretty much every single figure since then has been widely available, even the few characters that were exclusive like Roy (which was up at GameStop for days on end for pre-order, and could be picked up in-store). But after the initial excitement of the unveiling of Bayonetta, Cloud, and Corrin, capped with the brief “oh they’re exclusive” statement in passing, there’s another layer of nonsense.
As it turns out, Cloud “Player 2” and Twilight Princess Link are both GameStop exclusives, and you cannot pick them up in-store at the moment if you order online (like pretty much every other retailer allows you to, including GameStop in the past). Translation: if you want them both, you’ll need to pay shipping, which at minimum is around the cost of another figure. Go to your store locally if that’s an option.
Amazon retains its fickleness when it comes to pre-ordering, as Skyward Sword Link and Corrin “Player 2” are both exclusives, and only have placeholders at this time. I’m sure that like their previous exclusives they’ll go on sale and sell out in five minutes. The base incarnations of all three Smash characters do not seem to be exclusive, and the fate of Bayonetta “Player 2” and Majora’s Mask Link are unknown.
It’s sad to see Nintendo screw up this badly again after they had it under control for so long. These upcoming waves are so convoluted you’ll probably need a spreadsheet to figure out how to pick everything up. I’ll try to help in the meantime by keeping this list updated.
