R.O.B. (NES) Amiibo

R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) was a NES peripheral released in 1985 to disguise the NES as a 'toy' rather than a 'video game console' during the post-Atari market crash, when retailers were refusing to stock new game-consoles. R.O.B. was Nintendo's commercial-marketing-strategy disguise: pair the NES with a robotic-toy companion, sell it as a toy-line, win shelf-space at Toys R Us. The strategy worked. R.O.B. only had two officially-released games (Gyromite and Stack-Up, both Japanese-exclusive), and the peripheral was discontinued shortly after the NES's broader retail success made the disguise unnecessary.

The figure: gray-and-white R.O.B. in his standard NES-peripheral configuration with the rotating arm-segments visible, both arms extended forward.

He pairs with R.O.B. Famicom (the Japanese-region recolor) and the Nintendo-history-memory cluster (Mr. Game & Watch, Duck Hunt). R.O.B. saved the NES launch by being a toy. The figure stands on every shelf that has ever displayed a Nintendo-history figure.