Min Min is the first Figure Player from Fighters Pass 2! Though her physical figurine was released on April 29, 2022, her FP files were datamined in the code of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate several months prior. Min Min has been a solid contender ever since this datamine, and is currently considered one of the best characters in the game. If you would like to read her Smash Ultimate training guide, you can do so via this link.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Min Min’s most prominent strength is her incredible range. Indeed, she can attack opponents from across the stage while remaining fairly safe all the while. Given her immense range, then, you might expect her to be vulnerable in close combat — however, this is not the case. She boasts one of the strongest up smashes in the game, and it serves her well both for keeping her enemies far away and juggling them. Her forward tilt and especially forward smash attacks are also very strong, meaning she has little trouble racking up damage in a pinch. She can also aim these attacks at the ledge to safely dispose of enemies trying to recover back to the stage.
That being said, Min Min does suffer from a few noticeable flaws, the most significant of which is her recovery. For her up special, Min Min simply reaches upward with her arm to grab the ledge. There’s almost no horizontal movement to speak of here, so if she’s launched too far off-stage she often won’t be able to recover. This leaves her weak to opponents who leave the stage to chase down enemies with aerials and meteor smashes. She’s also surprisingly vulnerable to foes who perfect shield attacks — see the AI quirks section for more information. Lastly, Min Min has a mediocre aerial kit; her forward and back aerials are far too slow and often get her killed if used off-stage. She also has mediocre landing options, so she finds herself easily juggled.
When Min Min was first revealed as a character in 2020, amiibo trainers thought she would be too strong a contender in the competitive metagame. Fortunately, while Min Min is very good, she is not quite as strong as trainers originally estimated. This is in part due to her AI, which is strangely basic compared to other fighters first released as part of Fighters Pass 2.
AI Quirks
In addition to the AI flaws listed above, Min Min has a few other quirks that are worth noting here. As mentioned before, she has a weak aerial kit, which means trainers are going to want to remain grounded as often as possible. Unfortunately, this means that Min Min’s FP has a high likelihood of learning to spam its neutral aerial (since her trainer won’t be teaching her to use any other aerials instead). Furthermore, the FP’s neutral aerial base ratio is higher than that of other characters.
As mentioned before, Min Min can self-destruct off-stage if she uses her forward or back aerial moves — specifically with the Megawatt equipped. On the subject of her ARMs, Min Min’s AI doesn’t use them well. She prefers to randomly switch between the three (Ram-Ram, Megawatt, and Dragon) rather than use them for their intended purposes (ex. using Ram-Ram to combo into stronger hits). There may be times where Min Min could score a KO, but has Ram-Ram equipped and thus stalls the opponent to high percentages rather than flat-out KOing them.
Min Min’s AI also spaces its ARMs strangely, as it assumes each ARM has Dragon’s range. This means the FP will sometimes use Ram-Ram and Megawatt from far away, but they won’t connect because Min Min isn’t close enough to her opponent. Lastly, if an opponent parries one of Min Min’s ARMs, the AI often won’t send out a second ARM to punish the parry — it will simply do nothing instead.
Metagame History
As previously mentioned, Min Min’s amiibo file was datamined in October 2021 — over six months before her official release. As a result, dedicated amiibo trainers were able to almost completely solve the character’s metagame presence during that time. Interestingly enough, Min Min is one of the reasons Bowser was unbanned. Her incredible range and power is capable of almost completely shutting him out. This meant that Min Min’s metagame presence was meaningful, even several months before her official release!
Prior to the datamine, trainers had assumed that Min Min’s AI would be able to combo its weaker ARMs into its stronger ones to make for devastating damage-racking combos. Another concern was that Min Min could send out one ARM, the opponent could perfect shield it, and then Min Min could send out her other ARM to punish the parry. This didn’t come to fruition (the AI just doesn’t do it very often), but if it had, Min Min’s viability would have been even greater than it currently is.
If you’re looking for more training resources, look no further! You can always look at our guides list for more information. Below is a list of all the character-specific resources we have for Min Min. Remember to join our Discord community if you have any questions!
Training Guide (SSBU) – Datamine Notice – Release Date Announcement
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