by Doc – Owner, Founder, Could Break the Amiibo Meta
Human competitive players are finding out that Min Min’s massive horizontal advantage is a bit difficult to fight against – after all, when you have no way to avoid such large and fast melee attacks, how do you get in close to hit an opponent? Intelligent human players know that if one punch is avoided, a second one can easily be thrown out. And even if that second punch is avoided, the first one can come back and keep walling off the opponent.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Nintendo made the Min Min amiibo’s movement behavior very, very rigid. Since amiibo behavior data is formatted identically across all the characters (so much so that even Pokemon Trainer only has behavior data space for one character) it is entirely possible that Min Min might have too much or too little behavior data available to use. After all, there’s so many unique mechanics to Min Min that it’s really not clear what it’ll end up playing like.
However, Nintendo usually prefers that their amiibo play like a relatively typical human player. That’s why Bayonetta can use the ladder combo, Mega Man will always use some amount of projectiles, and Joker will always go for Up tilt to Up air strings. They want their amiibo to seem semi-competent, so I think we can presume they’ll do the same for Min Min.
Thus, let’s assume two things about the Min Min amiibo. First, it’ll be able to attack opponents at a distance with its arms, much like how a human would. Second, it’ll be able to use those same attacks in the air, much like how a human would. Fair?
Fair. And that’s a huge problem. Competitive amiibo is a very horizontal game, especially at high tiers. Every high tier amiibo has some kind of horizontally-dominant attack, most of which function as a central point of their competitive viability. Incineroar’s Alolan Whip. Bowser’s Forward Smash. Ness’ PK Fire. Link’s Bow. Mii Gunner’s Missile. King Dedede’s Forward tilt. Ridley’s Space Pirate Rush. You get the idea.
Min Min, to bring this back around, has a massive horizontal advantage. It’s probably the most horizontally-dominant move in the entire game, even more than Mii Gunner’s Missile or Alolan Whip. It goes farther, faster, it’s larger, it’s unparryable (because the second hit can theoretically come right after the first) and it can edgeguard.
Oh, and there’s Ramram, which you can switch into in only a few frames, and makes for perfect edgeguarding. And there’s Megawatt, which is Patrick Star’s Giant Fist but it’s yellow, and either busts a shield or KOs the opponent. So not only do we have to worry about the Dragon, we also have to remember that it could have two other variant attacks at any time.
Min Min has three ways to kill you from across the stage, and your options to avoid them are really, really limited. Her edgeguarding is superb, and the AI will probably be pretty simple.
If Nintendo doesn’t screw this up, Min Min may be the toughest amiibo in competitive amiibo history.
Amiibo Doctor 