NTAG215 chips serve one purpose in life, and only one. They are chips that are in the base of amiibo figures and cards. There’s a lot that you need to know about NTAG215 chips before you move on to amiibo cards, so keep reading.

What are NTAG215 chips?

NTAG215 chips are a type of Near-Field Communication chip. They’re only known for being used in amiibo figures and cards, and they’re very cheap. You can order them in bulk from Chinese companies for hardly anything at all.

NTAG215 chips are not the same as NTAG213 chips. There are no substitutes for NTAG215 chips – if it doesn’t have the chip in some format (i.e. cardstock format, a small disc format) then it won’t work as an NTAG215 chip.

How do I use NTAG215 chips?

Most people use their NTAG215s in the same way: they make amiibo cards with them. They take an amiibo bin file, use an app called Tagmo to put the file on the NTAG215 chip, and then sell the chip as a functioning amiibo card.

Are there alternatives to using NTAG215 chips?

Not if you want to make it a functional amiibo. Amiibo data is specifically designed to use the formatting of NTAG215 chips, so any attempt to write a file to a non-NTAG215 chip will result in a nonfunctional amiibo. You could use the Powersaves for Amiibo, which uses a proprietary chip that emulates NTAG215 chips, but that isn’t something reproducible enough to make amiibo cards with. However, if you’re only making amiibo for yourself, you should get the Powersaves instead of the NTAG chips.

Are NTAG215 chips/Tagmo legal?

The chips themselves are just chips, there’s nothing illegal about having a computer chip. Tagmo itself is another question, but Nintendo has never pursued amiibo card manufacturers in American court systems, so it’s mostly a moot point. In theory you could be found liable for making amiibo with Tagmo because of encryption patents, but there’s nothing clearly stating that to my knowledge.