When there is a lull in figure releases, you have some time to step back and look at your collection.  Maybe you work on your display, see what figures you need to buy still, etc.  For me, I started thinking about what are my favorite Amiibo now that I’ve collected and reviewed so many on the site.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, nostalgia and sentimentality is a huge part of which ones are my favorite but there were some other factors like the quality of Amiibo that played a big part.  The purpose of this list is not to tell you which five Amiibo you must own or which ones have the highest quality paint application or poses.  Instead, I just wanted to share the figures I love most and hopefully you’ll share some of yours in the comments below too!

Runners Up – Each of these Amiibo just barely made the cut and would probably fall somewhere in my top 10 list.

Pikmin – This is probably the most ambitious Amiibo in terms of scenery on a base.  It captures the cuteness of Pikmin perfectly too!

Pac-Man – I respect Pac-Man a lot as a video game character and I loved playing Ms. Pac-Man as a kid.  The packaging on this Amiibo is just beautiful and I may never open mine up as a result!

Super Mario Odyssey Amiibo – I love the style and sparkle of all three of these Amiibo and my love of Mario almost got one or all of these Amiibo in the top five!

Poochy and Yarn Yoshi – Impossibly cute and the coolest Amiibo texture we’ve seen Nintendo create thus far.  I love the combination of these two and the game they appeared in.

Samus Aran – Another super high quality Amiibo that has come out recently.  This one very nearly made my list because Samus looks so cool and tough.  The base design is also really cool looking and one of the best from Nintendo.

5th – Wolf Link – This figure probably would have been higher on my list if I made it a year or so ago but I think this is a groundbreaking figure.  The level of detail in Midna and the wolf’s sculpt is truly outstanding.  This is a figure that is fun to just look at and admire all of the details.  Midna has a fantastic character design and it is a treat to see her so well realized here as well.  Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a game I really enjoyed on Wii and is one of my favorite Zelda games too.  For these reasons, I still love Wolf Link and it cracks my top 5!

4th – Archer Link – It is funny to see this Amiibo so high on my list and to see two Zelda Amiibo crack the top 5.  I am more of a Mario fan but I think Zelda has gotten the better Amiibos of the two characters.  Archer Link is one of the highest quality figures Nintendo has made in fact.  There are so many fantastic details on Link’s tunic and shield.  The pose is perfect and represents Breath of the Wild really well.  Even the color fade in the arrows is extremely well done and hard not to appreciate.  If Nintendo makes more Amiibo that meet or exceed the quality of Archer Link, it is very likely that we’ll see new Amiibo surpass this one on my list one day.

3rd – Cloud Strife – One of my favorite games of all time is Final Fantasy 7.  It has a lot of weird translations in it and stuff that is dated now (like Cloud cross-dressing) but when I played it in middle school, I thought it was the coolest and most fun games I had ever played.  As silly as the story is, it was still moving and appealing to me back then too.  FF7 was one of the first RPGs I had played too which have gone on to become one of my favorite genres of video games.  While I bought a couple of Final Fantasy VIII toys, I always wanted a Cloud figure and being able to buy an Amiibo one was a dream come true.  The quality is excellent on this figure and Cloud’s personality and look (while updated from FF7) are true to the original.  There are tons of cool characters you’d never expect to be made from Duck Hunt to Pac-Man to Sonic but for me Cloud is my favorite unexpected release.

2nd – Villager, Marth, Wii Fit Trainer – I’m including all three of these together because I basically bought them all at the same time.  When I heard Amiibo were coming out, I didn’t know what to think of them and really didn’t expect to buy any.  I hadn’t collected in figures in ten plus years and it didn’t really dawn on me what they were or how high quality they would be compared to the Star Wars figures I used to collect.  For some reason, I started reading about Amiibo on Thanksgiving and the passion Nintendo fans had for them and the fact that Amiibo were already rare piqued my interest.  Long story short, I went to my local Meijer on Black Friday and sure enough, they had a Wii Fit Trainer and Marth still available so I scooped them up.  I then got on Best Buy’s website and was able to get Villager shipped to my local store.  So just like that I owned the “holy trinity” of Amiibo as they were called back then.  The price and rarity of these three was really high for quite a long time but is much more manageable now.  Despite that, I’m still proud to own them (new and in-box) and I think about my first Amiibo hunting triumph whenever I see them.  That is what hooked me on this hobby and a big reason why I still love collecting Amiibo today!

1st – Gold Mario – I’ve told this story before on the site but I think it needs to be explained again to understand why Gold Mario is king.  I was visiting my brother in NYC at the time that Gold Mario came out and this was during the peak of Amiibo rarity.  You never knew if you could get an Amiibo without camping out at retailers or if there would be any restocks.  Because of the timing of my trip, I knew the only way I could get Gold Mario was to camp out at what is now Nintendo NYC.  So I set my alarm for 5:00 AM to get there plenty early and went to bed.  I ended up waking up at around 3:00 and decided to just go ahead and get ready to head down to the Nintendo store because I was too excited to go back to sleep.  I walk through an eerily quiet New York City and take the subway and get to the Nintendo store and realize the line is shockingly long!  So I get in line and wait and wait and wait.  It was cold, we were not allowed to sit, and my legs began to hurt from all the standing.  The employees from the Nintendo store finally came out to give out a ticket for each of the Super Mario Amiibo that came out that day.  As I saw them getting close to me, I realized that they were quickly running out of Gold Mario tickets.  Luckily, I was one of the last few people to get one!  When I look back on this experience, I realize that I was incredibly lucky I woke up early or I may not have ever gotten this Amiibo!  At the same time, Gold Mario has always been a favorite for me because it was such a struggle to get one.  I really had to earn my Gold Mario and I’m proud of the work I put in to get it.  Not only does the figure look amazing, but Gold Mario has always been kind of rare and sought after so my unopened Mario is the pinnacle of my collection and my favorite Amiibo as a result.

What are your favorite Amiibo and what makes them your favorite?  Is it the quality of the figure, your love of the character or video game franchise, or does rarity play a role like it does for me?  Let us know in the comments below!