Nintendo’s less popular Amiibo figures already discontinued

Nintendo’s recently release line of near-field-communication enabled Skylander-esque figurines is already dropping some of its less popular statues from a second manufacturing run.

The Amiibo figurines, which work in connection with supported 3DS and Wii U titles, were only released in November and the toys that are not selling so well are already marked for the chop by Nintendo.

Exactly which figurines are being discontinued has not been outlined, but a tweet from Canadian retailer Video Game Plus suggested that the Marth, Animal Crossing Villager and Wii Fit Trainer statues were ’gone forever’.

Discontinuing certain figurines is guaranteed to make them instant collectors items and create a strong second hand market on eBay. Even before it became apparent some were being discontinued, their second hand price in some cases can already hit $70, a strong mark up from the original $12.99 retail price.

’We will aim for certain Amiibo to always be available. These will be for our most popular characters like Mario and Link,’ said a Nintendo spokesperson in a statement to Wired. ’Due to shelf space constraints, other figures likely will not return to the market once they have sold through their initial shipment.’

The initial run of Amiibo statues consisted of 12 of Nintendo’s characters, including Mario, Link, Yoshi Samus and Pikachu. A second wave of figurines is expected in the next couple of weeks.