Nintendo's Amiibo figures use near field communication (NFC) to work. Know what else uses NFC? A lot of public transport ticketing systems.


yollych here took this video not long after picking up some of the first Amiibo figures in Russia. In it, we can see the Samus Amiibo able to open the gates at a Metro station.

Now, one of two possible things has happened here:

The Samus figure has code in it that somehow, coincidentally, plays nice with Moscow's Metro ticketing system.

yollych has modified the Amiibo, whether by cracking open the case and swapping out the chip or via some hasty programming, to broadcast ticketing information instead of Nintendo information.


Either of those things (though the latter seems more likely) is awesome. Id' much rather have Link or Yoshi be responsible for my public transport payments than some piece of boring-ass plastic.

And while people are freaking out about this application, who's to say it's not just as impressive going the other way around? Maybe London's Oyster cards can play a mean AC Villager in Smash...

Apparently amiibo opens Moscow Metro ticket gate... [Reddit]