Did Wii U Gamepads made before Amiibo have built-in NFC Amiibo Readers?

[SS1o7crazydude]

The Wii U's release date was November 2012 and Amiibo was released in June 2014. So did gamepads made before then include the built-in Amiibo NFC readers (the rectangle thing on the left-hand side of the controller) even though Amiibos didn't exist yet or was it simply just added to a later edition of the Wii U once amiibos were released? If the rectangle (the Amiibo NFC reader) was there on the gamepad before Amiibos were introduced to the public, did people ever wonder what the purpose for it was?

 

[Starry Windy]

I'm quite sure Wii U gamepads have NFC functions even long before amiibo did, because in a year before amiibo's release, Pokémon Rumble U utilizes it to use some NFC figures that are exclusive to the game. In fact, I was surprised when seeing Pokémon Rumble U trailer boasts NFC figures after knowing that amiibos are in stores.

 

[Artisan]

Yes. It was shown in a Nintendo Power magazine way before they were released.

 

[Jisenku]

Wait, they literally planned the Amiibo craze years in advance?!

 

[28142]

Wait, they literally planned the Amiibo craze years in advance?!

They literally created the craze themselves. They manipulated the sales and purposefully under stocked certain amiibos to create a market and a demand early on.

 

[SS1o7crazydude]

They literally created the craze themselves. They manipulated the sales and purposefully under stocked certain amiibos to create a market and a demand early on.

That's smart of them to do such a thing.

 

[28142]

That's smart of them to do such a thing.

eh, smart for them maybe, terrible as hell for consumers though.

1 word to sum it up:

Spoiler

 

[ErixSan]

NFC was a feature available in all models, however I don't think it was planned in advance for the amiibo (otherwise 3DS models would had this feature already before the New models).

I believe the reasoning was to offer other payments methods in Japan, where they use NFC prepaid cards to pay different services, and to follow the craze that was around "Toy-to-life" products (like Skylanders).

There were a precursor for amiibo as well, as there was a Pokémon Rumble game that you were able to buy and collect figures.

 

[Eric Cartman]

The wii u gamepads had nfc functionality long before amiibos were produced. It's pretty interesting that they thought that far ahead but yea. They made amiibo esc things far before the wii u gamepad nfc functionality. Like they would have card readers for gamecube in japan, ect. Nintendo loves collectible things honestly. They were a toy and a playing card company after all so selling amiibos came naturally for them lol.