UPDATE 2: Either this has been the most popular set of Amiibo yet, or individual retailers just received very limited stock, but GameStop issued the statment that “At this time, all Wave 4 amiibo pre-orders are sold out.”
Pre-ordering started at noon PST in-store only. Pre-ordering through the web was not made available.
UPDATE: The GameStop website is back online, but none of the Wave 4 Amiibo are currently available. GameStop issued the following statement via Facebook:
“Due to very strong demand for the newest wave of Nintendo’s amiibo figures, GameStop is experiencing some technical issues with our website.
At this time, we are accepting pre-orders of amiibo in stores only while we resolve these issues. We are working aggressively to resolve the technical issues as quickly as possible and expect it to be back online shortly.”
The original story appears below.
If you’ve tried logging on to games retailer GameStop.com this afternoon, you’ll have met an unpleasant surprise: the site isn’t working.
Following yesterday’s Nintendo Direct where the developer announced that some of the newly announced Amiibo would be retailer-specific, GameStop revealed that the figure for cult-favorite Ness would be exclusive to its stores.
Pre-orders were scheduled to go live at noon PST both in-store and online, which is when the overabundance of traffic brought the site down (and which is still down as of press time). Reports also surfaced on Twitter that similar issues were happening in-store.
30 minutes in, GameStop system still down, first guy in line is still standing there.
— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) April 2, 2015
The popularity of the character should come as little surprise, despite the fact that Nintendo only ever released one game in the series in the West. In Japan, where the series is known as Mother, Earthbound was preceded by an NES title and followed by a Super Nintendo game. A recent Earthbound-themed Kickstarter quickly blew through past its initial funding requirement to hit a stretch goal for a fan convention.
It’s also worth noting that “less-popular” Amiibo, like The Villager, still sell for over $100 on sites like ebay, while an Amiibo for a gold Mario that was marketed as “limited edition” can be found for around $30 on the same site.
Other retail-specific Amiibo revealed today were Jigglypuff at Target (which accepted and then quickly stopped taking pre-orders), and Greninja, which will go up for pre-order at Toys R Us tomorrow.
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