During Nintendo's Direct broadcast yesterday the company revealed that Amiibos in future won't just come in toy figure form. Some Amiibos, such as characters for a forthcoming Animal Crossing game, will also come on "more portable" cards.

In all likelihood that will also mean that they could be cheaper and therefore more accessible to children. The cards will initially work with Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer, the new games for 3DS and 2DS handhelds.

And as only the new 3DS and new 3DS XL have NFC readers built in, there will also be an NFC add-on accessory for those who want to use Amiibos with the older 3DS and 2DS models.

The game, the cards and the NFC accessory will be launched in the autumn this year, it was announced.

It was also revealed during the online video stream that Wii U third-person multiplayer fight fest Splatoon will be released on 29 May. That means we won't have too long to wait for the game that Pocket-lint saw and loved during an extensive preview session in Germany.

READ: Splatoon in-depth preview: By jove Nintendo, you've only gone and done it again

And there will be a pack of Splatoon Amiibo released to coincide with the game too. They will be conventional figures though, not cards.