Over the last couple of months or so, Nintendo has been reissuing some of their rarest Amiibo from the past, particularly some of those that went scarce almost as soon as they hit shelves in late 2014.  The shelves of Toys R Us and GameStop have started filling up with the likes of Captain Falcon, Shulk, and Fox among others.  Many of these quickly shot up in price, some fetching as much as $90 for a US version at their peak.  One such re-release is Animal Crossing’s Villager (now a Toys R Us exclusive), originally among the very first few Amiibo to be released.  However, it would appear that Nintendo hasn’t exactly replicated the previous version of Villager.  I was lucky enough to find a Villager from 2014 right on the cusp of when all the craziness started. and earlier today I picked up one of these “new” ones from Toys R Us.  Take a look.

Can you tell a difference? My original 2014 Villager is on the left; the new 2015 Villager on the right.

It’s subtle, but once you know about it it’s hard not to notice…let’s get a better view.

Alright, so maybe it isn’t the biggest deal in the world, but it is an interesting detail that’s been changed between the two runs.  In case you’re still unclear, I’ll go ahead and spell it out.  Look at Villager’s forehead.  It’s noticeably larger on he 2015 re-issue.  The figure’s head isn’t actually any bigger or smaller from version to version, but the height of the eyes has been reduced in the re-release, thus increasing the “empty space” (i.e. forehead) between the tops of the eyes and the beginning of the hairline.

It’s nothing that’s going to warrant snatching up both versions by the average fan, but it’s exactly the kind of detail that’s going to drive hardcore collectors nuts – it’s also likely to keep prices of the 2014 Villager a little higher since there are less of them and the difference is easy to immediately spot.

So here’s the big question: why the change?  A simple mistake when the manufacturer’s recalibrated their equipment?  Or a conscious decision by Nintendo to reduce the height of the eyes while keeping the remaining facial features in the same place?  (This little tidbit interests me as well; not only are the eyes smaller, but the face has not been re-centered to account for the increased gap.  It seems that if Nintendo just wanted smaller eyes, they’d re-center the rest of the face in order to compensate.)  At one point I had theorized that any potential re-releases would be package differently, sort of like the difference in having an “original” game and then a “Player’s Choice” or “Greatest Hits” edition.  You get the same thing inside, but the “sanctity” of that first run is still preserved in the packaging.

If this is Nintendo’s deliberate way of distinguishing between the two, we probably ought to start taking a closer look at some of the others as well.  The earliest re-issue dates back to May of this year when Toys R Us stores were sent limited supplies of Marth.  I never had an original Marth, but I was able to snag one of these re-issues.  At the time I was concerned about this very idea – that the re-issue was somehow marked as “different.”  However, at the time at least, I never found anything on the web regarding any differences between the two.  And so far, it doesn’t seem like anyone has found any discrepancies with any of the other current re-releases either, which lends more credence to the “Villager issue” being a simple mistake.

As for me, I don’t think I’ll be buying up a duplicate of every re-released Amiibo, but I will keep my eye out for any other changes.  Hopefully Nintendo will one day offer some insight into the reason behind the obvious differences between Villagers and give us a definitive word on which one is “the right one.”

Have you noticed any other differences between the original and re-issue runs of any Amiibo?  Let us know and point us towards some pics!

Written by The Cubist