Activate Amiibo Features in Games

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

There are 3 steps to activating the amiibo feature in Breath of the Wild:

Step 1

To unlock the amiibo rune, you will need to complete at least one shrine on the tutorial level, Great Plateau. This usually happens around 45 minutes into the game. 

Note that some rewards do not spawn until Link is off Great Plateau. Some even better rewards require completing at least one divine beast.

Step 2

Enable amiibo functionality in the game settings:

Step 3

Select and use the amiibo rune:

Important notes:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

There are 3 steps to activating the amiibo feature in Breath of the Wild:

Step 1

To unlock the amiibo ability, you will need to complete at least one shrine on the tutorial level, Great Sky Island. This usually happens around 30 minutes into the game. 

Note that some rewards do not spawn until Link is off the Great Sky Island.

Step 2

Enable amiibo functionality in the game settings:

Step 3

Select and use the amiibo ability:

Important notes:

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

To use the amiibo feature in Super Smash Bros

Splatoon 3

Steps

Additional Notes

Each compatible amiibo unlocks a specific set of gear and abilities. You can find details about each reward online or in the amiibo packaging.

Some amiibo, like the Deep Cut trio, unlock multiple gear pieces across multiple scans. You'll need to scan them repeatedly to get all the rewards.

You can scan the same amiibo once per day to get a random ability ticket and occasional snacks for Judd.

If you encounter issues, ensure your amiibo is compatible with Splatoon 3 and your game is updated to the latest version.

More Resources

Full list of Splatoon 3 amiibo rewards: https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/splatoon-3-amiibo-unlocks-and-rewards-full-list

Video guide on unlocking Deep Cut amiibo rewards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfpphd6Ghcc

Animal Crossing New Horizons

Amiibo can be used in two different ways in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Harvey’s Island lets you use amiibo for photo ops while camping allows you to scan amiibo and invite new villagers to your island. Read on to learn more about how to unlock any of these features.

Inviting Villagers to Campsite

Camping allows randomly chosen villagers to appear on your island, which in turn gives you the option of inviting those villagers to live on your island. However, if you have amiibo cards, you can use them to request specific villagers at your campsite. To be more precise, the character represented on the map is invited to your island. Note that you can only really use Animal Crossing amiibo cards here. None of the characters transformed into amiibo figures can be invited to the campsite.

You will need to complete several steps to build a campsite. Here’s what you need to do to unlock the campsite and invite villagers to your island using amiibo:

Harvey Island Villager Photopia

If you’ve played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you might remember a hippie dog named Harvey as one of the special villagers. After a few days of play, this dog will randomly appear on your island. Make sure you talk to him, and he’ll invite you to visit his island. The great thing is that the airport allows you to fly for free. No Nook Miles ticket required.

Instead of searching for gear, bugs, and fish, Harvey’s Island only allows you to enter Harvey’s house. Once inside, you can set up a scene in one of its rooms and snap photos with your favorite villagers. That is, as long as you have a matching amiibo to invite them. You can place different pieces of furniture, change the lighting in the room, and position your favorite Animal Crossing villagers in different places before taking photos with them.

However, it should be noted that not all amiibo work with New Horizons. So far the game has warned me that Reese, Cyrus and Rover minifigures cannot be invited to Photopia. I don’t know if that means these characters never appear in New Horizons or if that means you have to wait until they are unlocked. I’ll update when I learn more.

If you scan an in-game character’s amiibo figure or card on Harvey’s Island, a poster depicting that character will be available for purchase at NookStop in Resident Services. It even works for characters that I couldn’t invite into Photopia. All you need to do is go to the kiosk, select Nook Shopping, then press R to view all the available posters. Use these awesome pictures to spice up the rooms in your home.

Other Games

For all other games, just google "how to use amiibo feature in <game name>".