Mr. Game & Watch has access to a variety of tools that make him a bit obnoxious to play against: an excellent out-of-shield move, a fast down air that helps him return to the stage, and a down special that can absorb energy-based projectiles… problem is, in the context of competitive amiibo training, almost none of that works. Indeed, this is a recurring theme in our metagame: a character’s best tools against human players generally aren’t best against AI opponents. If you want to learn more about Mr. Game & Watch’s metagame history, check out his corresponding wiki page. Otherwise, let’s jump right into today’s training!

Special thanks to fammydamammy for contributing Mr. Game & Watch’s training information!

Spirits

If you’d like to set up your FP with a Spirit team, you should do so sooner rather than later. They actually change an FP’s personality and move priorities, and these changes may water down any training already saved to the figure. If your Mr. Game & Watch amiibo is already Level 50 and you want to give it Spirits, you don’t need to reset it — just play a few matches against it afterward to brush up its training. You can learn more over at our full Spirits guide. In the meantime, here’s a list of some spreads you can use on Mr. Game & Watch:

• Banned bonuses: As with most fighters, Mr. Game & Watch works best with Armor Knight and Move Speed ↑. Normally, we’d suggest Trade-Off Ability ↑ in place of Move Speed ↑, but it comes with a 30% damage penalty at the beginning of each stock. Mr. Game & Watch is a lightweight fighter, so it may be best to keep his damage percentage as low as possible by running Move Speed ↑ instead.
• Tournament-legal bonuses: Any combination of Weapon Attack ↑ (either applied once or twice), Air Defense ↑, Critical-Health Stats ↑, and Air Attack ↑ work great! Critical Healing & Metal is worth considering as well. Do note that Physical Attack ↑ doesn’t boost any of Mr. Game & Watch’s attacks, so you’ll want to avoid using that Spirit effect.
• Raid Boss bonuses: If you’re looking to raise an FP specifically to fight human opponents, try Instadrop! The AI can be trained to use its up special out of shield before zipping back down to the stage unharmed. Do note, though, that Mr. Game & Watch should not be using his up special offensively at all if he is being trained to enter tournaments. If you’d rather not use Instadrop, you can use a setup including Weapon Attack ↑, Move Speed ↑, and Landing Lag ↓ instead.

Regarding Mr. Game & Watch’s stat distribution, you can either keep his build balanced (2100 / 2100) or invest further into defense (1700 / 2500). Make sure the FP’s Spirit-type is Neutral before you start training it — you can check which type it has by pressing the R button on the amiibo menu.

Competitive Training

Mr. Game & Watch may appear to be flat and dull, but his competitive playstyle is (arguably) anything but. Compared to other FPs, an optimal Mr. Game & Watch amiibo uses a large portion of its moveset. It’s best to teach him to focus on walking and parrying — which means you’ll have to keep running, dashing, and jumping to an absolute minimum. Mr. Game & Watch boasts a solid recovery, so he can afford to go off-stage to edgeguard his opponents. Here’s a full list of moves you should teach the FP as it levels up:

• Forward tilt. For this move, Mr. Game & Watch wields a chair. It’s also one of his best neutral options — it’s quick, deals solid damage, has a lingering hitbox, and can even KO at higher percentages. Use forward tilt a lot up close. You can also use Judge in the same scenario, but you should do so extremely infrequently.
• Up smash is Mr. Game & Watch’s strongest kill move. Up smash is fast and renders his head invincible, and if the move doesn’t KO, it can lead into neutral air / up air juggling. Use this move to KO your FP and catch its landings.
• Down smash attacks the opponent with a pair of hammers. Unfortunately, Ultimate’s AI occasionally fails to properly punish a buried enemy, and Mr. Game & Watch is no exception. At later levels, he can use a forward tilt, a dash attack, or another down smash after burying his foe. He can also learn to predict the exact moment it escapes the ground, and can follow up with a neutral or up air in response. Whenever you successfully bury your FP with a down smash, always use a forward tilt to attack it afterward. And make sure you prioritize forward tilt and up smash more heavily than down smash.
• Dash attack is a fantastic approach option. It can even link into itself! Use dash attacks to approach your FP from a distance, and do so very frequently.
• Forward smash’s low range leaves it rather outclassed by up smash and down smash, but it’s still okay to use every once in a while. Its tipper hitbox is especially strong, so be sure to land that part of the move whenever you use it.
• Mr. Game & Watch boasts a few interesting grab combos! During training, mix in some grabs up close and use down throw into neutral air or up air to rack on damage. At higher percentages, simply throw the FP towards the nearest ledge.
• Neutral air’s upward launch angle makes Mr. Game & Watch’s juggling game an impressive one! It can be used alongside up air to juggle your FP whenever it’s above you. Forward air and back air can be used off-stage, and down air can be used to land. None of these aerials should be overused, though, as we want Mr. Game & Watch to remain grounded for as long as possible.

There’s only one move in particular that you should avoid, and it’s Chef! No cooking allowed. Once Chef is initiated, it takes a moment before Mr. Game & Watch is able to stop cooking and perform other actions again. His AI is hard-coded to use Chef at the ledge, which is one reason why we teach him to go off-stage and edgeguard. As a side note, if you’d like to learn more about amiibo training and how it works, read our general guide whenever you get a spare moment!

Raid Boss Training

A Raid Boss Mr. Game & Watch FP is rather similar to a competitive one — at least in terms of the moves it uses. Since you’re training a Raid Boss, you’re free to run and dash as often as you’d like. As with all fighters, you should mirror match your Mr. Game & Watch amiibo until you’re satisfied with its training. Then, if it isn’t Level 50 yet, you can switch the FP’s learning off and level it up against CPUs while you go do something else. Here’s a complete list of moves to focus on:

• Neutral attack, forward tilt, and down tilt should all be rotated at close range. Forward tilt and down tilt are particularly strong, and can even KO at higher percentages!
• Up tilt’s range is rather short, but if both hits connect, the attack deals a lot of damage. Up air and up smash can also be used alongside up tilt to juggle; the latter also serves as an excellent kill move.
• Mix in some grabs as well. Mr. Game & Watch can use his down throw to follow up into a neutral or up air. At low percentages, use these combos — when your FP is at higher percentages, simply throw it toward the nearest edge.
• Dash attack should be used to approach. It can even link into itself!
• Neutral air can either be used as a down throw follow-up or to secure a safe landing. Forward air and back air can be used both above-stage and off-stage to great effect.
• You can also use a small amount of down air, forward smash, down smash, and Fire (up special). In the case of the latter, it’s best used as an out-of-shield option. Usage of this move requires that your FP makes good use of its aerials, so keep that in mind.

You should avoid using or getting hit by Chef and Oil Panic. At later levels, the FP is hard-coded to use its down special to intercept energy-based projectiles, and will then fire off its fully-charged attack at random (but only when the opponent is within its range).

Wrap-Up

Mr. Game & Watch’s amiibo hasn’t seen much action between Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but he’s still a rather interesting fighter who’s well worth your time. If you’ve got an hour or two to spare, now’s a great time to start training your own! If you have any additional questions before you start training, feel free to join our Discord server and ask — we’ll be happy to help! If you want to learn how to enter one of our online tournaments, check out our guide for more information. We’d appreciate it very much if you checked out our Patreon and donation box pages, too. Until next time — happy training!

If you would like to read more amiibo training guides, please follow this link.

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