Yes, you'll need amiibo to play Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

With players snatching up amiibo faster than Nintendo can fire up the molds, a full-blown amiibo game was as inevitable as a two-hour line to nab a Ness. Now Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is on its way, replete with adorable mini-games and a board game in the style of Mario Party - with a fraction the strife.

As you can probably guess, you need to accessorize with an amiibo of your own to play this game, though it's not as simple as that. Each mode in the game has its own special amiibo/card requirements, and you're going to have to make sure you're full set if you want to take advantage of all the game has to offer. Check above to see what you'll need for the different modes, and what amount.

That might seem like a lot of extra buy-in to play just one game (notably one that will have no online capabilities, though there's plenty of space for couch co-op), and if amiibo aren't really your thing then you might not want to bother. But if you have an amiibo problem like some of us here at GR, you're already going to own all these amiibo and cards anyway, so what's the difference?

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Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is bringing its cuteness to bear in December 2015.

amiibo figures

Where they're used: the main stage board game, and mini-games

You'll need at least one amiibo to take part in the boardgame, and will have to scan it in at the beginning of the game to start things off. The amiibo is what you use to roll your dice, tapping it on the gamepad and pulling it back when you want to let your dice loose. However, you'll only need one amiibo regardless of how many people are playing; the game supports up to four players who can either load up their own own amiibo or just play as themselves. As long as one amiibo remains, the show can go on.

amiibo cards

Where they're used: Mini-games, quiz show

amiibo won't cut it for every game, and you'll have to get some amiibo cards if you want to play Festival's mini-games as well. Only two cards are required for the quiz show (and you'll tap them on the gamepad in order to buzz in at the right moment), but every other mini-game requires a minimum of three. These are the same cards used in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, so if you already have cards from that, you're golden.

Controllers

Where they're used: Pretty much everywhere

While this may seem like a no-brainer, it's worth knowing that you won't need as many controllers as you're probably thinking. No matter how many humans you have playing along, all amiibo- and card-tapping action happens on the Wii U gamepad (as well as basic things like moving your character around), so any other controllers are pointless. Basically, you'll be passing the gamepad around from person-to-person through the whole game - I think Nintendo might be trying to teach us a lesson in sharing.