It’s been years since Smash Bros.‘s Marth and Roy first drew attention to the Fire Emblem franchise, which until then had been predominantly supported by its Japanese audience.

But now that the tactical RPG series has exploded in the U.S., it can’t be un-exploded, and to get the next installment Fire Emblem Fates we’ll happily jump through whatever meticulous, calculated hoops Nintendo tells us to.

But now, the company known for its gimmicky games surprises us with a new gimmick! Three versions of the same game! (Maybe not a “new” gimmick to Pokemon fans, but done in a new way.)

Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation all involve the same characters and world, and both start the same. However, the three different games all diverge around an early and significant decision of the main character. And each of the three options unfolds three entirely different games, each showing a unique perspective of the same story.

You are a young warrior in the Nohr kingdom. While on your first mission, you are captured by the opposing Hoshido family, who drop this bombshell on you: you were born a Hoshido, but kidnapped and raised by the Nohr.

So here’s your decision: fight for your blood relatives (Birthright), fight for your adopted family (Conquest), or fight for neither (Revelation). Birthright is geared for new players, Conquest for experts, and Revelation as a nice middle-ground.

Which one will you choose?

Ha! Trick question! Choosing only one is for noobs and people who only have a few months to live. True gamers — the ones with the patience to play Fire Emblem in the first place — won’t be satisfied until they’ve played all three. That’s where the Special Edition comes in: all three games come in one cartridge, with special achievements for playing all three.

And the true Fire Emblem fans won’t be disappointed, as the latest installment continues the franchise’s legacy of moving forward and never back. Better features, better graphics, better story.

Fates introduces a lot of new features. First, there’s the new concealed weapon, which can debuff enemy stats. Next is a town-building side-game, not uncommon to RPG games. There’s also a “Dragon’s Vein” features, which provides new options to altering battles, and the “Phoenix Mode” where dead players are resurrected the following turn (only available in Normal Mode). Plus, as expected, a few new classes, weapons, and skills.

Coming from the highly successful Awakening installment, the game keeps the children feature, where you can creates new, playable characters depending on whom you hook up with whom in your team.

The game also enlisted the help of Shin Kibayashi, an award-winning manga and film writer, to spruce up the game’s story and plot in response to criticism about the previous games’ writing. It’s an effective solution, and this game’s dialogue really stands out.

So, will you like the newest Fire Emblem game? If you liked the previous games, you’ll probably like these one… but there are only three ways to find out for sure.

Shut Up and Take My Money: Fire Emblem Fates

Nintendo has decided to end its Club Nintendo loyalty program with something on the opposite end of the spectrum from a whimper (that’s a bang). Over 100 games spanning the Wii, Wii U and 3DS are now available in exchange for the program’s coins, but act quickly, because it’s all coming to a close pretty soon. There are also a number of brand new physical goodies, such as a Majora’s Mask jigsaw puzzle or messenger bag.

No more games released by Nintendo or publishers who might have partaken in the program will be eligible for registration within the program, but if you have a game to register that released before January 20, 2015, your window has not yet closed. Until March 31, 2015, those games be registered for varying coin amounts just as they used to, and you’ve got until July 1, 2015 before the whole program shuts down for good and the redeeming of wonderful Nintendo goodies in such a way goes silently into the night.

The reason for all this, according to Nintendo, is the introduction of a brand new loyalty program. From Nintendo:

“In order to focus on planning for a new customer loyalty program for our fans, we’ve decided to wind-down the Club Nintendo program. We are deeply thankful to our members for being a part of Club Nintendo for all of these years…We will share details about our new program at a later date.”

Find the entire list of redeemable rewards right here. Be warned, the website is under considerable strain due to the feeding frenzy. Each system has a number of notable highlights, though, so we’ll naturally note them right here:

Wii U

The Wonderful 101 (600 coins) Here’s the most “video-gamey” full title on the Wii U’s list. It’s the other action-based adventure from Platinum Games exclusive to the console, and though it introduces a few odd frustrations with its unique, touch-based combat system, it’s also one of the most inventive games of its genre in the past few years.

Wii Fit U (600 coins) Personally, Wii Fit U isn’t my most exciting game on this list, since I’m prone to simply lying about my fitness rather than chasing my own physical superiority, but for anyone who already owns one of those original Wii Fit boards, now’s your chance to continue the adventure of self-torture.

Game and Wario (600 coins) The main issue with Game and Wario when it came out was that it cost money. It’s a pretty tiny mini-game collection, especially relative to the superior NintendoLand, but now it’s free for those who enjoy such a thing. The games themselves are pretty fun.

And now that the Wii U has built a substantial base of virtual console titles, many of those titles are currently featured as rewards costing about 200 coins apiece. From the rare Earthbound to the prolific Zelda, Metroid and Mario titles, now is the best time to dig into the oldies. If you want to go the lazy route, nab NES Remix for 300 coins and jump between bite-sized snippets of the classics.

3DS

Kid Icarus: Uprising (700 coins) Here’s the 3DS’s first great title, from Masahiro Sakurai, the dude behind Super Smash Bros. and Kirby. It’s a classically structured third-person adventure with an intuitive, Smash-inspired combat system and a sheer quantity that will keep you playing for hours.

Star Fox 64 3D (700 coins) Fox McCloud’s space-faring adventure is the single best argument for 3D games. The depth of field fundamentally improves both the visuals and mechanical soundness of an already stellar game.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star (700 coins) The latest in the Paper Mario series is also the first one on portable systems. Happily, nothing was lost in translation.

Super Mario 3D Land (600 coins) This precursor to the excellent Super Mario 3D World on Wii U is a great little title on its own. Also, it’s actually in 3D.

Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger (300 coins) I just put this game on the list to further promote my agenda of getting the game’s title character, the cowboy armadillo named Dillon, into the next Super Smash Bros. as a fully playable character. He’s just an assist trophy right now, which is like telling the Vice President he actually matters.

The 3DS’s own virtual console is also well represented on the list.

Wii

Mario Kart 64 (250 coins) A classic precursor to a series still relevant today.

Super Smash Bros. (250 coins) A classic precursor to a series still relevant today.

Paper Mario (250 coins) A classic precursor to a series still relevant today.

Super Mario 64 (250 coins) A classic precursor to a series still relevant today.

The Wii is a virtual console.

If this announcement makes you sad, don’t let it. Instead, think on the past as a classic precursor to a future still relevant today. Above all else, channel the Nintendo 64 kid, another classic precursor to a future still relevant today.

The Final Club Nintendo Rewards are Plentiful and Delicious

Nintendo’s amiibo platform, those little NFC-enabled Marios, Links and other franchise mascots, is proving to be a real, actual thing that people care about. Turns out it doesn’t matter that their functionality in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is basically inessential. It doesn’t matter that their functionality in the very few other accessible games is limited to the point of moot. In the end, people just wanted to collect some sweet Nintendo figurines direct from the video game company itself.

These things are flying off the shelves, but don’t worry if your niece, nephew, husband, wife or child has suddenly developed an irrational and seemingly unfounded need for a tiny version of some random dude named Marth, or something called a Wii Fit Trainer. That panicked sweat of ignorance shall wash cleanly away. We have you covered. This is the 2014 “how to amiibo” guide, starting with the three known waves of amiibo figurines, the first of which may already occupy a space on your desk.

At the time of publication, wave two amiibos are releasing at seemingly random days in random retailers across the U.S., likely wholly dependent on the availability of stock from store to store. Be assured, by Christmas the dust will settle. At this point, though, due to their surprising popularity, a pre-order is almost a must in order to ensure you get the one you want, no matter the wave or the place.

How to Choose

Every amiibo costs $13. Not coincidentally, that’s just a tiny bit less than most Disney Infinity and Skylanders figures on the market. Unlike those two groupings, the Nintendo choices are slim to the point of navigable for even the most out-of-touch relatives and, in the most important twist on the NFC figurine business model, Nintendo’s figurines have the potential to work with any games published on an NFC-enabled Nintendo console. Right now that’s just the Wii U, but next year the 3DS is getting a purchasable adapter and an entirely new model of the device, dubbed the New Nintendo 3Ds (and an XL version), which will ship with native NFC compatibility.

The grand conclusion of all this nonsense is you can worry far less about whether you bought the right thing to work in the right way, because even if it doesn’t, it could in the future, especially for anyone with a modicum of interest in new Nintendo games and consoles. However, there are ways to be more right than wrong when making your choice. Nintendo’s done the heavy lifting for you on this one, providing a fairly robust amiibo rundown on its own website, detailing which amiibo work with which games.

As you’ll see, the only three games the amiibo communicate with at all right now are Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Hyrule Warriors. More importantly, some amiibo grant you a showy costume for your Mii racer in Mario Kart 8 while others do nothing at all.

The Hyrule Warriors situation is, let’s say, less compelling, dispelling meager upgraded weapons upon NFC contact and nothing more. If it’s a way to enhance a video game you’re looking for, the only real option is Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which actually plops down a virtual version of your amiibo into battle with or against you. The more he or she fights, the better he or she gets, so it’s a bit of a train-your-pet mini-game with a dose of violence. The persistence of the character, that your Donkey Kong or Captain Falcon is the same one every time he drops into the game, is the real interesting bit. Hopefully, future games will make as strong an effort, because Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors are just check marks on a list right now.

The future Wii U games already confirmed for amiibo connectivity are Mario Party 10, Yoshi’s Woolly World and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, while the already released Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker will eventually receive a patch to enable its own amiibo features, though what those features might be for any of these games remains a mystery.

Where to find Store-Exclusive Amiibos

Much like any other physical, store-bound video game release, those nasty little retailer-exclusive offers are cropping up at an alarming rate. Wave 3, specifically, is set to split four amiibo among four retailers. Lucario and all his Pokemon-enabled kid friendliness is headed to Toys ‘R Us. Shulk, representative of the super video gamey Xenoblade series, will only be available through Gamestop. Meta Knight of the Kirby franchise is going to Best Buy.

And Rosalina, the latest core Mario character out of the Super Mario Galaxy games, shall grace Target with her eminence. Lucario is likely to prove the most popular of these figures, so start to get emotionally ready to enter the cave of color known as Toys ‘R Us, either a heaven or hell depending on your psychological age.

When in Doubt, Search eBay

You may have found your way to this article for a reason other than gift giving to yourself or others (no judgement). Indeed, it’s the land of Ebay that might’ve propelled these amiibos to their current level of marketplace prestige. The influence is two fold. First, the Samus and Peach amiibos have both shipped with unique and rare manufacturing errors.

Two Blaster Samus!

You’d be very lucky to stumble across, in your local Best Buy or Target, a Samus amiibo with two blasters, one on each arm, instead of the standard one. You’d be even luckier to find a Peach without her legs. Both of these have sold for thousands of dollars through Ebay auctions. That’s thousands, up from the original $13.

There’s now a flurry of listings for many other amiibo models on Ebay, desperate to reproduce the result. Some Fox amiibos have shipped without his eyepiece, and some Marios have shipped without painted hair. These “defects” range from the cool to the ridiculous to the completely fabricated.

No legs!

There are even a collection of people who seem to have simply shaken the box until the amiibo is upside down within the packaging, claiming a defect of their own making. It’s a wild west right now, only to get more absurd as waves two and three hit the market.

The other half of the Ebay equation is the current ambiguity surrounding Nintendo’s stance on whether certain amiibos, namely Marth, Wii Fit Trainer and Villager, will be manufactured at all following this holiday season. Through hazey statements on the subject and flat out conjecture, it seems Nintendo’s waiting to see if their popularity warrants further investment.

The ironic turnaround, of course, is if Nintendo decides to completely discontinue any amiibo, it’s value is bound to immediately skyrocket on the second hand market. Without an official word, though, it’s the waiting game for the opportunist in all of us. Try to imagine which amiibo you’d be least likely to buy and maybe that’s the one you should. But nobody really knows at the moment.

Search Amazon for  Amiibo Deals

Ben’s Guide to Choosing and Finding Nintendo Amiibos