Amiibo are a hot topic at the moment and are facing severe shortages as Nintendo fans snap them up in their droves. Nintendo has already said that some will eventually be discontinued to make way for new stock in stores. In a recent interview Miyamoto said that if a certain Amiibo figure was discontinued then they can release an Amiibo in card form with the same functionality.

We’re not making promises for certain figures, but the way “amiibo” is designed is that certain games can have “amiibo” specifically for that game. Other games can take advantage of past “amiibo” that developers want to make their game compatible with. In the future, we have the option, if certain “amiibo” figures are no longer available in stores, to release an “amiibo” in card form with the same functionality.