Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to use Skylanders-like NFC tech

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will use near-field communication (NFC) technology, said Stephan Bole, managing director of Nintendo France, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro.

"E3 will be an opportunity to show the use of NFC technology on Nintendo consoles. NFC will be used in the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.," said Bole.

NFC allows for wireless data exchange between two devices that are touching or in close proximity. The technology is the basis for the figures and bases used in Disney's Disney Infinity and Activision's Skylanders franchises. Earlier this month, Nintendo announced what appears to be its own foray into that market: the Nintendo Figurine Platform. The NFP will support training and upgrading in-game versions of figures of various Nintendo characters; the platform will support multiple games on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo said at the time that it plans to release the first NFP-compatible titles on Wii U by the end of the year and on 3DS in 2015. The company has yet to announce any figures that work with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which is set for release this winter, although the game could use NFC in a different way.

Tracey Lien contributed to this report.