I’ve been training a few amiibo lately, and I noticed something about Isabelle that got me thinking. Her fishing rod is, obviously, an incredibly good edgeguarding tool, and her Lloyd Trap basically functions like an invisible bear trap for anyone who dares to walk across it. Her forward and back aerials are effective short-ranged punches that are just useful enough to keep a dumb or simply slow enemy at bay, and her dash attack maintains a far-reaching projectile.
Isabelle is a character who is perfectly made for flat stages. Without platforms, avoiding her fishing rod is nearly impossible. She can grab, throw, grab, and repeat, theoretically. (This depends on the limits of her AI, which we haven’t explored this early on.) If an opponent managed to avoid the fishing rod, then they have no choice but to dodge the Lloyd Trap as well. If they can dodge both of these obstacles, then Isabelle can either use an aerial to keep them away, or simply jump away and use her recovery to flee to the other side of the stage. To boot, even projectiles are useless thanks to her Pocket move.
This is only a thought experiment. I have yet to do any actual experiments with this idea, and it’ll take a while before we can really say for certain if Isabelle ends up dominating on flat stages. Who knows? Everything is still up in the air as far as amiibo go.
Amiibo Doctor 