UPDATED 10:09 EDT / AUGUST 18 2015

NEWS

New ‘Amiiqo’ device lets you spoof Nintendo’s Amiibo data

If you want to unlock all of the exclusive game content that comes with Nintendo Co Ltd.’s Amiibo but don’t have the space in your Malibu Mario Dreamhouse for more figures, then Amiiqo may be the device for you.

Amiibo are Nintendo’s incredibly popular toys-to-life collectibles that use near field communications (NFC) technology to access unique character skins, levels, and other content in certain games for Wii U and 3DS. Depending on how you look at it, they are either cool Nintendo character figures that come with bonus content for some of your games, or they are lame downloadable content saddled with expensive plastic toys that will only take up drawer space.

Either way, gamers who have wanted to check out the Amiibo game content have been forced to buy the figures whether they wanted them or not, but a new device called Amiiqo is about to change that.

Using its companion Android app, Amiiqo is capable of spoofing the data found on Amiibo NFC chips, allowing users to unlock all of the Amiibo content they want without actually having to own them.

The legality of the device seems to fall into the same gray area occupied by game console emulators, which technically require that you own the games whose data you load into them. The makers of Amiiqo don’t really seem to be helping themselves with their description of the device, however, which claims that users can load whatever Amiibo data they want, whether they own it or not.

“With our supplied Android app, you can transfer onto your Amiiqo any Amiibo image you possess,” Amiiqo’s website says. “Whether it comes from your personal backup, from a friend or even if it’s an image downloaded on the internet. The image can be from a ‘blank’ (new, unplayed) figurine but also from a Amiibo that was already levelled up or with power-ups, making it a super effective cheat system.”

Even more risky, Amiiqo will come with 10 preloaded Amiibo figures with storage space for up to 200 total. The makers of Amiiqo are offering pre-orders for the device now, which they are currently selling for $77.53. Whether the device actually ships before they get a letter from Nintendo’s lawyers remains to be seen.

Photo by FaruSantos 

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