On April 1st, Nintendo confirmed that they will be releasing a set of Amiibo figures based on the upcoming Splatoon videogame on the Nintendo Wii U. The new batch contains Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Squid. So are these figurines worth buying or are you better off skipping them? Let’s take a look at a few factors before you can come up with your own decision regarding whether or not to purchase the Splatoon line of Amiibos.
About Splatoon
First, let’s talk a little bit about Splatoon for those who are not familiar with the latest intellectual property from Nintendo. Although it has a single-player mode, the game is primarily a third-person multiplayer shooter. Instead of following the same tropes, Nintendo decided to add their own unique twists to the TPS genre (just like what Mario Kart did with racers and what Super Smash Bros. did with fighters).
As either the Inkling Boy or Inkling Girl, you can use you ink to paint the environment. Doing so will give you several benefits such as being able to run faster in addition to slowing down your opposition. You can also turn into a squid to swim trough your own ink, reloading you ammunition and allowing you to perform acrobatic moves to reach new areas quickly.
Nintendo has confirmed several multiplayer modes so far, one of which involves your team trying to cover as much area in the entire stage with your team’s ink as possible. The other is offers a King of the Kill variation in that your team has to keep a specific area covered with team’s color for a period of time. Multiplayer can be played by two players locally or online in four versus four battles.
For single-player, you get to play through traditional platforming levels where you fight against octopus enemies and solve puzzles. With that said, Splatoon’s multiplayer mode, which has been receiving a lot of praise for those who have gotten hands-on time with it, should be the primary reason to buy the videogame. If you haven’t already, you can preorder Nintendo’s new IP from Amazon with this page. 
About the Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Squid Amiibos
When Splatton was first announced, a lot of Nintendo fans were quickly drawn to the unique art style of the videogame. As a result, there have been a ton of fan art already created even though the product has not yet been officially released. The Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Squid Amiibos look great and stay faithful to the character designs. You can check out some photos of the three figures below this paragraph.
Functionality
Of course, Nintendo is also offering some incentives if you are planning to buy these figures for more than just looks. When scanned into Splatoon, the figurines will unlock challenges in the single-player mode. For instance, Nintendo recently showed off that you can replay a level by scanning the Inkling Girl Amiibo to create a situation where you can only use the steamroller throughout the stage.
Each of the Splatoon Amiibos will provide 15 challenges which, when completed, will unlock five pieces of gear apiece. You can check out the exclusive gear for all three below this paragraph.
Aside from adding different ways to replaying the same level in the single-player mode and earning the exclusive gear, you won’t be missing much if you decided not to pair the Amiibos with the Splatoon videogame, especially if you are mainly interested in the game’s multiplayer.
Recap
Depending on what you want to get out of the Amiibos and the videogame, you may or may not want to buy the Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Squid figures. If you want them for collectible purposes or want to experience everything in the game, you should definitely check out the figurines. On the other hand, if you are buying Splatoon mostly for multiplayer, then you won’t miss anything important by not buying the Amiibos.
Nintendo will be releasing the Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Squid Amiibo figures on the same day as Splatoon, which is launching on the 29th of May. The Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl figures can be purchased individually or through the three-pack. The Squid Amiibo is exclusive to the bundle. You can purchase the three on Amazon with these next links: Inkling Boy Amiibo, Inkling Girl Amiibo and Splatoon Amiibo Three-Pack.
