by Doc – Owner, Founder, Big Fan of Putting Pants on Video Game Characters
Training the Bayonetta amiibo
This morning, I trained a Bayonetta amiibo for an upcoming video. I’m pretty chock-full of assignments for this upcoming week, so I figured I’d film an old-fashioned training video, edit some overlays and cuts into it, and fill up next Saturday’s video slot without too much time investment. That way I can stay up-to-date with my schoolwork.
I’m horribly unfamiliar with the Bayonetta amiibo, so I winged it. The resulting Bayonetta ended up focusing on three parts of her kit: Forward Smash, the various parts of her Ladder Combo, and Down Smash at the ledge. It’s pretty typical for a Bayonetta to do those things – after all, the AI already loves Forward Smash due to its very, very large functional hitbox area, and edgeguarding with Down Smash works tremendously well. Aside from the strict walking-only routine and tactical use of the pieces of her Ladder Combo (especially when attacking out of shield), I’d say there’s not much that’s special about my Bayonetta. Hell, she barely even shields.
Testing the Thing
When I was testing the Bayonetta against my tournament-proven amiibo, I noticed something peculiar; she won. That’s not really supposed to happen with Bayonetta. I chalked it up to randomness, because even the worst amiibo sometimes take sets, and a few data points doesn’t prove anything.
So I put her against a few other pretty competent trainers in some arenas, and had that same problem; she kept winning. She didn’t beat everything, mind you – she’s still a Bayonetta. But the opponents that she did beat were all very high on the tier list compared to her (well, everyone is). She pounded some impressive names, like Ryu and Luigi. My Bayonnaise even went last-hit against Kazuya, and had a half-stock lead until she choked right at the end.
Normally I wouldn’t give these extra data points much attention. These are single matches in arenas against impressive but not dominant trainers (no offense, guys). They’re typically not a big deal.
They’re a Big Deal Today
Bayonetta slapped around opponents who played at arm’s length, regardless of their tier list placement. Her Forward Smash is a solid “Giant Fist”-type move, and only suffers from a slow windup. Opponents who often attack from arm’s length would often find themselves with a faceful of fingers by the time they get close enough to hit. If they took their time getting to her at all, they’d get hit.
The opponents who slapped Bayonetta around, though, don’t play at arm’s length. They play up-close, and are fast enough to already be in Bayonetta’s business by the time her Forward Smash has come out. Fast opponents like Mega Man and Fox made quick work of her, even though they’re low tiers.
I think, and we’ll have to poke around a lot more to make sure, that Bayonetta isn’t an awful amiibo, just a highly matchup-dependent one. It seems to me that when a Bayonetta amiibo is trained to be slower, more defensive and a big fan of the Giant Fist, that she can smack around high-tier opponents so long as they keep their distance.
This is a big deal because Bayonetta’s never really had anything going for her. Over the years, there’s been a few interesting sets and victories, but nary a Bayonetta amiibo that would win against higher tiers consistently. If my observations are reasonable, then maybe there’s some hope left for her after all.
Time will tell. Train one yourself, and let me know what you think.
Amiibo Doctor 
Neat stuff. I really do want Bayonetta to be good to match her strength in her home game, but she feels lacking in that since she wasn’t one of the later fighters pass characters, which feel more unique compared to earlier ones.
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