Nintendo characters can now come to life in many new forms as amiibo figures. These figures are interactive and have the ability to communicate with specially designed games that support amiibo, simply by tapping them on the Wii U GamePad.

Amiibo can interact with amiibo-compatible games when the player taps them on the Wii U GamePad, reading data to the games and saving data to the figure. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, players can battle with or against the amiibo figures they own while evolving them at the same time. They can then transfer them to another Wii U console and showcase how they have trained and customized their own amiibo figures.

Different games that support amiibo will use them in different ways. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will be the first game to use amiibo.

Games such as Mario Party 10, Mario Kart 8, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Yoshi's Woolly World are also expected to support amiibo.