Nintendo’s NFC figures mentioned briefly in the past were fully revealed at E3 2014 in their Nintendo Direct and further explained in a video from Nintendo’s Treehouse. Titled “amiibo”, these figures of popular Nintendo characters will work with a variety of titles in different ways depending on the game it is used in. The first title to use this feature will be Super Smash Bros for Wii U, and the figures will be launched along with the game.

Figures for Mario, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer were shown.

The figures can receive information as well as send it via NFC, and the figures will store your costume of choice for the character, custom move sets for characters, as well as stats that will be increased by battling players with your amiibo figure.

Super Smash Bros will be the first amiibo compatible game, but many are said to follow. Mario Kart 8 will be updated to work with amiibo upon its release, Yoshi’s Wooly World, and Mario Party 10 will also work with the figures in some capacity. The Wii U is not the only system that will be using the new figure system, as it was announced that a 3DS accessory that allows the system to use amiibo is planned to be released by next year. This would allow for players to train their Super Smash Bros character of choice on the go with their amiibo figure and then bring their stats and customized character to the console version later.

Proposed 3DS amiibo portal.

A few figures shown to be released upon the launch of amiibo were Mario, Link, Samus, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and Peach, and it was said that new figures are currently being created and worked on.

As more details and photos are released in the next 3 days, we’ll keep you posted.

Check out all of Nerd Bacon’s E3 2014 coverage right here.