Monster Hunter Stories releases this week for Nintendo 3DS and it’s got a couple of different uses of amiibo. Bizarrely, the main use of it requires amiibo that don’t seem to be releasing outside of Japan, but there’s still some bonuses you can get yourself with other amiibo you already own.

To scan your amiibo, find the Connecticat in any of the main villages – in the first village of the game they’re standing right near the Quest Board. Your amiibo will need to have an owner and nickname registered in order to be scanned, and make sure to save when prompted or else you won’t actually get the reward and you’ll need to scan your amiibo again.

Monster Eggs

Scanning any of the Monster Hunter Stories series amiibo will give you an egg that will hatch into a Level 1 monster related to the figurine. These monsters are based off of the Monstie partners of characters you encounter during the game’s story. These amiibo don’t seem to be releasing outside of Japan, but there are sites you can use to import them easily enough.

amiibo monsters aren’t exclusive to the amiibo, but they do come with better genes than these monsters come with naturally. With enough grinding and planning it would be possible to achieve the same results through regular gameplay. Some of them also have different saddle colours than other monsters of the same species that I’ve found through regular gameplay.

Once you’ve scanned one of these amiibo you can’t scan it again in the same save file, even if you wipe the data that gets saved onto the amiibo.

One-Eyed Rathalos and Rider (Male)

This amiibo is based off of the default design for the male Rider protagonist and Ratha, the Rathalos who you befriend in the tutorial. It gives you Boy’s Ratha, a Rarity 5 monster that you won’t be able to use until very late into the game.

Equipped Genes

Flaming Gene (S)

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Fire Boost (S)

Fire Attack Up – 1

Quickfire Gene

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Quickfire

Fire Attack Up – 2

Attack Up – 1

Rathalos Gene

Power/Fire

Active Skill – Savage Fireball

Fire Attack Up – 2

Defense Up – 1

Critical Gene (M)

Speed/Thunder

Passive Skill – Critical Eye (M)

Crit Rate Up – 1

Quick Gene (S)

Speed/Fire

Passive Skill – Quick (S)

Crit Rate Up – 1

One-Eyed Rathalos and Rider (Female)

This amiibo is based off of the default design for the female Rider protagonist and Ratha, the Rathalos who you befriend in the tutorial. It gives you Girl’s Ratha, a Rarity 5 monster that you won’t be able to use until very late into the game.

Equipped Genes

Fire Res Gene (M)

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Fire Res (M)

Fire Resistance Up – 2

Latent Fire Gene

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Latent Fire

Fire Attack Up – 2

Defense Up – 1

Rathian Gene

Speed/Fire

Active Skill – Poison Spike

Fire Attack Up – 2

Defense Up – 1

Noxious Gene (M)

Technical/Water

Passive Skill – Poison Rate+ (M)

Water Attack Up – 2

Speed Gene (S)

Speed/Water

Passive Skill – Speed Boost (S)

Water Attack Up – 1

Max HP Up – 1

Navirou (Nabiru in Japanese)

Navirou is your Felyne partner throughout the game, and his amiibo unlocks an Aptonoth named Navtonoth… for some reason. It’s of a low rarity so you’ll be able to add it to your party right away.

Equipped Genes

Royal Ludroth Gene

Power/Water

Active Skill – Water Soak

Water Resistance Up – 2

Attack Up – 1

Latent Dragon Gene

No-type/Dragon

Passive Skill – Latent Dragon
Dragon Attack Up – 2

Defense Up – 1

Basarios Gene

Technical/Dragon

Active Skill – Rock Shield

Defense Up – 2

Dragon Attack Up – 1

Potent Gene (M)

Power/Thunder

Passive Skill – All Status Rate+ (M)

Thunder Attack Up – 2

Aptonoth Gene

No-type/Non-Elem

Active Skill – Observe

Healing Efficacy Up – 3

Rathian and Cheval

Cheval is your childhood friend who becomes your angsty rival character, wearing cool armour and flying around on a Rathian. Scanning this amiibo will unlock that Rathian, called Rathi, which is a Rarity 3 monster. So you’ll be able to add it to your party around the half-way point of the storyline.

Equipped Genes

Power Gene (S)

Power/Fire

Passive Skill – Power Boost (S)

Fire Attack Up – 1

Max HP Up – 1

Flaming Gene (M)

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Fire Boost (M)

Fire Attack Up – 2

Searing Gene (M)

Technical/Fire

Passive Skill – Burn Rate+ (M)

Fire Attack Up – 2

Rathian Gene

Speed/Fire

Active Skill – Poison Spike

Fire Attack Up – 2

Defense Up – 1

Barioth and Avinia (Ayulia in Japanese)

Avinia is a fellow Rider who you encounter during the storyline, and whose cold heart gets warmed up a bit when you help her and her Barioth named Frostfang. Scanning this amiibo will unlock Frostfang, except he’s a Rarity 5 monster so you won’t be able to use him for quite some time into the game.

Equipped Genes

Quickice Gene

No-type/Ice

Passive Skill – Quickice

Ice Attack Up – 2

Attack Up – 1

Frigid Gene (M)

No-type/Ice

Passive Skill – Ice Boost (M)

Ice Attack Up – 2

Barioth Gene

No-type/Ice

Active Skill – Ice Cyclone

Ice Attack Up – 2

Healing Efficacy Up – 3

Warming Gene

No-type/Ice

Passive Skill – Cold Res

Ice Resistance Up – 3

Qurupeco and Dan

Dan’s a loveable mentor figure from your hometown, and scanning this amiibo will give you his Qurupeco to use. It’s a Rarity 2 monster which means once you’ve gotten through the opening segments of the game you’ll be able to add it to your party.

Equipped Genes

Power Gene (S)

Power/Fire

Passive Skill – Power Boost (S)

Fire Attack Up – 1

Max HP Up – 1

Fire Res Gene (S)

No-type/Fire

Passive Skill – Fire Res (S)

Fire Resistance Up – 1

Searing Gene (M)

Technical/Fire

Passive Skill – Burn Rate+ (M)

Fire Attack Up – 2

Qurupeco Gene

Technical/Fire

Active Skill – Soothing Song

Fire Attack Up – 1

Healing Efficacy Up – 3

Flashing Gene (S)

No-type/Thunder

Passive Skill – Thunder Boost (S)

Thunder Attack Up – 1

Tech Gene (S)

Technical/Thunder

Passive Skill – Tech Boost (S)

Thunder Attack Up – 1

Max HP Up – 1

Bonus Items

Scanning any amiibo not listed above will give you a seemingly random item. Once you’ve scanned an amiibo you can’t scan it again for that save file. Here’s the items I got from scanning some of the amiibo I had lying around

Marie – Nulberry Elixir x2
Bowser (Smash Bros) – Max Potion x2
Inkling Boy (Splatoon 1) – Lifepowder x2
Shovel Knight – Lifepowder x2
Wolf Link – Max Potion x2

Monster Hunter Stories releases September 9th for the 3DS. A demo is available now on the eShop which lets you play through the game’s first few hours and then transfer your progress to the full game.