Hardware stupid amiibo question

[romanaOne]

Are these things copy-protected/encrypted?

Can you use something like PN532 and an arduino
to read, copy them, maybe even homebrew some sort Frankenstein character for your favorite game?

I've just seen amiibos at WMT and dismissed them as a gimmiky rip-off. (A plastic figurine with a coil and a chip with like 8KB of data in it for 10-20+ USD?! You gotta be nuts!) If they are hackable, they could be interesting....

 

[sethirion]

Whoa! I have been wondering the same since I have the EXPLORE-NFC module for the Raspberry Pi.

When I got it and started reading the documentation I asked myself the same questions about those figurines over my shoulders (not yet opened amiibo collection); I'll open one (can't decide which!) and see what info can be read from them.
I wish the creators of the other hardware (amiiqo? or similar) could share a little enlightenment on their knowledge for amiibo stuff.
Also, I believe they are encrypted, and pretty sure they used the blocks which are reserved for security.

 

[romanaOne]

It looks like you can at least get them to identify themselves using generic (PN532) hardware:
https://theezitguy.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/arduino-amiibo-stand/

It just plays wav files when the tag gets near. (In fact, the biggest part of the tutorial spent on preparing the wav files!)

Have you tried reading one without opening the package? Some guy at a gamestop told me that some characters' boxes do not have foil (or whatever it is that blocks the signal) in the bottom. He said Tom Nook might be one.