The Beginner’s Guide to Training the Bowser Jr. amiibo in Smash Ultimate

by Riparo, Guest Contributor

Welcome to Amiibo Doctor! In addition to training this amiibo, we also have the most cutting-edge guides for nearly every amiibo in the competitive amiibo scene’s many Discord servers. You should also reference our Raid Boss amiibo guides, and if you’re having trouble winning in competitive amiibo, check the official amiibo tier list! Happy training!

Riparo currently owns the only good Bowser Jr. in the entire scene, making waves in the community rarely seen. Riparo’s even won SUAL tournaments with his Bowser Jr. His success with the amiibo is unparalleled!

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AI Issues

Bowser Jr. will sometimes recover too close to the ledge, and fail to snap to it. This appears to be random, and there’s no way to solve it. He will also spam Neutral air, but it’s one of his best moves, so don’t fret too much over it.

Bowser Jr. can’t use Mechakoopa properly, nor can he use Abandon Ship!’s attack option consistently.

Overall Playstyle

Bowser Jr.’s biggest strength will be his gimping ability. His gimping game is incredible and puts most others to shame. Bowser Jr. needs to play as risky as possible – staying onstage and using smash attacks simply isn’t an option for him. If he’s onstage, it should be to prep Kart Dash, and if he’s offstage, it should be to gimp someone or hit them with one of his aerials.

How to Train Bowser Jr. amiibo in Smash Ultimate

First, as always, start him at Level 1. If you’re going to apply Spirits, apply them now.

Second, don’t run when training Bowser Jr. Kart Dash provides him plenty of space to close in on opponents, so keep your movement to walking.

You’ll want to start by using Kart Dash repeatedly and following it up with either Forward air or Neutral air. Continue using this move until the amiibo gets it right, and with reasonable consistency. Kart Dash is one of the most importants parts of Bowser Jr.’s moveset because it beats so many projectiles and neuters many ground games.

After he’s learned Kart Dash, sprinkle in the following behaviors:

• Gimping with Neutral air or Forward air
• Up throw to Up air chains (ensure that he uses Up air chains)
• Down throw
• Forward and Up smash for onstage KOs – Forward smash is a clean multi-hit, and Up smash is useful for anti-air.

The last notable behavior is what to do at the ledge. Bowser Jr. has unusual tilts, particularly Forward and Down tilt. He can learn to use them at the ledge or to push opponents towards the edge of the stage – be sure that he uses them. Down tilt is especially useful for 2-framing an opponent.

A happy accident occurred during training that actually enhanced Bowser Jr.’s gimping potential. During a few edgeguarding attempts, I had misjudged the timing, and ended up getting hit by the amiibo’s Up-B explosion, which ended up KO’ing me. I decided to let it slide, as it only happened those few times. As a result, Ace learned to use his Up-B off the ledge to edgeguard and gimp opponents as a new option, which completed his moveset.

Why it Works

Bowser Jr. is an unpredictable amiibo with a unique skillset that happens to be the bane of many more powerful amiibo. His Kart Dash beats a lot of the better strategies and keeps him alive long enough to deal more damage. Bowser Jr. is a whacky amiibo, and there’s really no way to prepare for him.

Don’t be afraid to go against the mold, and try unexplored strategies. In my eyes, Bowser Junior is a high-risk, high-reward amiibo, and so far, he’s proven that it’s the way to go! So, what are you waiting for? Get to experimenting!

Pushing Bowser Jr. Amiibo Farther

Ever since the 9.0.0 patch was dropped, the Koopalings recieved a strange set of AI buffs, being that they now have the chance to use the Hammer swing out of their Up Special for combos, and that they now actually know how to use their Side Special for recovery. Unfortunately, after many testings of these new AI changes, it seems that there is no consistency for the Amiibo to perform either of these options. If another AI patch for them drops by the final DLC character that fixes these issues, Bowser Jr. may finally be able to be trained to be an even greater threat in the metagame.

Optimal Spirits Loadout

Despite the game being out for over towo years now, there are still people that forget that Bowser Jr. is one of the heaviest characters in the game. This allows him to run Trade-Off Ability without much issue, while also adding in Weapon Attack to boost nearly all of his moves, and Move Speed to both help him get in during neutral, and help out his recovery, should he not use Side Special. Floaty Jumps can work over Move Speed if you’re paranoid about Bowser Jr getting KO’d at low percents from his terribly designed Up Special.