At it's E3 presentation in June 2014, Nintendo officially announced the Amiibo figurines and that they would have integration with many popular Nintendo games, the first of which was Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
Nintendo's Amiibo characters are created for use with the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles. With a similar concept to 'Skylanders', the Amiibo characters use NFC (Near Field Communication) to connect with the Wii-U GamePad and the New Nintendo 3DS (Note: That's the latest console available 2015). Nintendo will also be releasing an adapter for the current 3DS systems which will also be available in 2015. Upon release, Nintendo will bring software updates to the 3DS and Wii U consoles for the characters to be used.
Amongst others, compatible games include Mario Kart 8, Yoshi's Woolly World and Hyrule Warriors.
Princess Peach, Donkey Kong and Wii Fit trainer are among the first characters to be released.
The official release date of the 'Wave 1' Amiibo characters is November 21st (November 28th in Europe) and are priced at £10.99 each. Pre-orders are available now from the Nintendo Store. 'Wave 2', the second series if you will, will be released in December 2014 with a set date still to be announced.