At the release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Nintendo started selling plastic figures of the characters in the game. These figures, called “amiibo”, contain a small chip in the base of each one that can be scanned into Nintendo games to potentially unlock a reward. Scanning a Smash Bros Link into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, for example, unlocks Epona. Scanning Smash Bros Mario into Super Mario Odyssey unlocks a costume that looks like Mario’s appearance in the original Mario Bros. We have a reference guide available here.
Unlike other games that used amiibo, Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (otherwise referred to as Smash 4) had a different spin on what amiibo should do. Instead of unlocking small pieces of content, Smash 4 decided that scanning in an amiibo of a character in Smash 4 should allow you to teach a computer-controlled version of that character to fight. Basically, if you bought a Mario amiibo, you could teach Mario to fight.
After a while, people found each other through the internet and figured out ways to send amiibo to each other so they could fight. What followed became the most interesting form of modern-day dogfights that we’ve ever seen: competitive amiibo training.
These days, amiibo competitions don’t happen in Smash 4 anymore. Now that its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has released, amiibo tournaments have moved to Ultimate as their modus operandi. The basic idea remains the same: train your amiibo, send a copy of it to a tournament, and compete!
Now that you have a simple understanding of the idea of amiibo competition, move on to I’m new to amiibo training! …Where do I begin? to advance your knowledge.
Amiibo Doctor 