Ernest Amano is an antagonist from Ace Attorney Investigations, an Ace Attorney spin-off starring Miles Edgeworth. Amano appears primarily in Turnabout Kidnapping, a peculiar case where Amano's son Lance is taken hostage within an amusement park, Bando Land. Amano is extorted for $1,000,000 though to him, that's a measly sum, because Amano is an extraordinarily wealthy man! In fact Amano's great wealth as the CEO of the Amano Group plays a pivotal role in the conspiracy that wraps around the entire plot of the game. Without getting into any unnecessary spoilers here, Amano's seemingly infinite wealth and connections - even being an old friend of Manfred von Karma - make him a vital player in the criminal Smuggling Ring organization. [If you want to watch a full playthrough of the case,
here's a currently active link.]
Mr. Amano at first befriends Miles Edgeworth because of his friendship with Manfred von Karma, Edgeworth's mentor, though by this time Manfred is long since incarcerated. Mr. Amano's initially likable persona as a passive and doting father helps sweeten the deal, though he has an odd obsession with money. Edgeworth agrees to help rescue Amano's kidnapped son from within Bando Land. Bando Land is an amusement park based around the Blue Badger and his badger cohorts, who play a surprisingly critical role in the case. As the case develops, it takes a shocking turn: Lance Amano is discovered, but a corpse is also found. It's also revealed that Lance Amano is a spoiled and hysterical brat. Eventually with help from both Kay Faraday and her tech gadgets and Gumshoe's detective work, Edgeworth discovers the diabolical truth: Lance staged the kidnapping to extort money from his own father. In the midst of the plot, Lance and another co-conspirator got into a fight and Lance shot the man to death. This only becomes clearer as the case progresses. This is despite Lance's girlfriend trying to frame herself for the murder.
The case doesn't end there however, as Amano desperately tries to defend his son by any means necessary. Amano's personality truly comes to shine here, as he is not only unimaginably rich, but incredibly manipulative. Amano successfully manipulates the situation by appealing to Edgeworth's rival on the scene, Agent Lang, to simply "obey the laws." At the same time he has a powerful way of calming the situation by saying "Now, Now, Now" and waving his hands, that seems to somehow always de-escalate the argument. Amano's vast connections means he has friends in high places and at various points, brings up signed documents from the Chief of Police and the park owner. In perhaps his most impressive and devious move of all, Amano
buys the entire Mirror House plot of land where the murder took place, negotiating with the park owner when Edgeworth is arguing with Agent Lang and Lance Amano. After Edgeworth requests to search the Mirror House again, Amano simply denies the request. The case would have ended right there if not for Kay's
ridiculously sci-fi device that replicated the attraction site to investigate.
At the finale of the case Edgeworth manages to prove that due to the way the murder took place, it could only be Lance, who breaks down in tears saying he's sorry. Lance claims the murder was only self-defence as he was attacked by the victim. When the police come to arrest Lance, Agent Lang tells them to arrest Mr. Amano too. A visibly nervous Amano finally cuts his son loose and says they should only arrest
him, causing Lance to collapse from the stress. Agent Lang points out that Mr. Amano had tampered with both evidence and the murder scene to help cover for his son. Amano and his son are arrested, but not before a kerfuffle with a prosecutor claiming to be sent by the Chief of Police, again showing Amano's reach. Agent Lang just ignores this and arrests them anyway, thanking Edgeworth for giving him legitimate reasons to take in Amano, who he was investigating for his links to a certain Smuggling Ring.
Weight: Well Nourished 116 (Super Heavyweight, tied with Incineroar)
Size: Portly Businessman (Simon height, roughly as wide as Wario)
Walk Speed: A Leisurely 1.617 (51st, tied with Olimar)
Run Speed: Out Of Breath 1.48 (70th, tied with Isabelle)
Air Speed: Buoyant 1.277 (8th, above Wario)
Fall Speed: Middle-Of-The-Road 1.65 (Average, tied for 29-34th with various others)
Initial Dash: Front Heavy 2.09 (Above Average, tied for 17-23rd with DK and various others)
Gravity: Low (he's fat)
Size comparison chart
here. These statistics can be found
here.
Ernest Amano is what you'd expect out of a non-fighter in his native series: he's on the lower end of the super heavyweight spectrum clocking in at the very end, despite a life of gourmet foods. He's not extraordinarily tall but fairly wide, having a wide middle but a normal human in any other way. Simon is hunched over keep in mind, while Amano stands up straight most of the time. His stomach points out enough to make it an issue, while his arms are held behind his robe out of harm's way, giving him a strangely pertinent ability to dodge some low or high-hitting attacks by pure accident. He's painfully slow as a runner but has a half-decent initial dash and walk speed, must be all those expensive yoga classes. Amano's walk is a measured and confident stride that is not half bad, while his initial dash, a clumsy leaning forward rush, leads into a more unsurprising slow run where Amano barely waddles faster than his walk resembling the old man Ganondorf of Brawl and Smash 4.
In the air, Amano's rotund figure helps to keep him afloat and move around at an impressive speed, beating out most of the cast in fact! What goes up must come down and Amano is largely average when it comes to fall speed, his low fall speed means he definitely fits into the floaty archetype. To get into the air, Amano's jumps are as awkward as you would expect: Amano extends his arms and legs far and wide, netting him two very average jumps but losing the innate advantage of his fat gut when flailing his arms to gain height in the air. Mr. Amano’s rolls are a funny little shuffle back and forth as he visibly sweats from the exercise. His jump animations somewhat resemble another Capcom character who also had an affinity for lances, though less
ghoulish.
This is Amano's parry animation. All KO percents will be from the middle of FD on a midweight unless stated otherwise.
Overall Amano doesn't excel but he may be okay if he doesn't have anything else to drag down his playstyle...
Enter Lance Amano, Ernest Amano's beloved son. Just as in the game, Amano and his child are inseparable, and the loving family duo fight alongside each other! In fact, Amano himself allows his son to fight on his behalf much in the same way as Captain Olimar and his Pikmin, commanding Lance to perform attacks while Amano cheers on his brilliantly talented offspring. Lance will attack regardless of where he is on stage. Mr. Amano's specials are always the same regardless of Lance but on many inputs, Mr. Amano needs Lance around, otherwise he is forced to fight on his own and will use his own attacks when Lance is unavailable! This should strike terror into the hearts of enemies. This is unlike Olimar's moveset that never changes and whose smashes, four of his aerials and his grab game do nothing without Pikmin. Lance can be incapacitated for far longer than a Pikmin and Mr. Amano has more problems than Olimar picking up the slack, so he needs the wiggle room. Mr. Amano may command Lance only when he isn’t being attacked/isn’t suffering any form of knockback, and this means he can order attacks while he himself is attacking! Giving orders for attacks will have Mr. Amano give a signal, though this is largely seamless with no additional lag for Lance. When Lance is in lag or is stunned by attacks his father is unaffected and will then use his own set. Mr. Amano will
sweat profusely if he has to use his own attacks at any given moment as a visual cue for players. Lance himself acts like a normal character so can easily be caught by the foe's combos when mismanaged like a poorly run pyramid scheme.
Lance does follow Amano around as closely as he can, but this doesn’t mean he can’t be found a little out of position, and he does follow
behind Amano too though this can be manipulated by simply rolling backwards, putting Lance in front. Lance will try to get back behind Amano as soon as he can by walking towards Amano and has his own little roll he performs similar to Amano’s to get back there. Must be a genius strategic move. Lance will move ahead of his father when commanded to attack unless stated otherwise, attacking from directly in front of his father, this being what mostly happens in a match. This will leave him in front of Amano for the time being and he will not attempt to get back behind his father as long as he's attacking, so just one attack puts Mr. Amano in the clear. Amano can be attacked too and this will not interrupt Lance, but attacking Lance does not add to Amano's damage percent, so it's best for Mr. Amano to not get involved in a damaging conflict. Lance will follow Mr. Amano into the air closely like a Pikmin too, following a good bit closer than on the ground for aerials. Lance Amano still is wearing the handcuffs from The Kidnapped Turnabout. The handcuffs are largely only for show; Lance will casually take them off to cover his brow and idly look around at his surroundings and curiously pull them around. Lance has an inquisitive mind.
Lance is a little taller than his father but much,
much thinner. When he walks or runs around he seems to be slowing his movement to not show up his aging, very healthy elder, to outsiders this may appear to be dragging his feet. Despite all of the love in the world Amano's many scientific investments, Lance still is only human and thus will collapse after taking 50% damage, having a set 50HP.
Lance will follow Mr. Amano along but has regular ledge grabbing mechanics too while not occupying any space for regular characters. This is similar to the Ice Climbers. Lance can be used to block projectiles and other attacks for Mr. Amano, but this doesn't achieve much - Lance will just be wasted away quicker and Amano has no great means to take advantage of such camping! On top of that Lance does take regular knockback at the same rate as Chrom at 0%. It's impossible to KO Lance off stage as he simply appears back besides Amano when he hits a blast zone, how wonderful that he won’t ever leave his family’s side! Lance falls at the speed of Falcon and if he falls for over 3 seconds away from the match he will mysteriously appear back next to Amano. When Lance is down for the count, it's time for the great Mr. Amano himself to fight by himself!
That's right! Like Popo, Amano is too much of a strong man and has spent many American dollars on not just hamburgers, but self defence class! He abandons his neutral stance to fight foes alone when Lance is incapacitated. Amano has a full moveset of attacks, though his grab and specials are unchanged and function the same regardless of Lance. This set is
truly impressive stuff and you will see for yourself that Mr. Amano is a top tier character without his various mechanics. For better or worse, Lance cannot be hit when he collapses and will get back up on his feet to continue the battle after 8 seconds! This fully restores his HP back to 50HP. You can stay down son, I've got this one.
Lance Amano has a specific mechanic that is extremely understandable for someone under the level of pressure he has with the expectations of his father hanging over his head. He's an extremely important part of Amano's whole operation! Lance has a Stress Meter that will naturally increase over the course of the match, unless certain conditions are met that will be talked about later. The Stress Meter is above Amano's own HUD icon, that's how important it is!
For every quarter the stress meter fills, Lance becomes agitated under the great strain of being in the match. This causes all his moves to gain a single frame of start-up lag extra, growing to 2 frames at a half filled stress meter and caps at 3 frames once it hits the three-quarters mark as shown. A few frames isn’t a huge issue, and strangely helps because of another mechanic up Mr. Amano’s sleeve. The visual for this is like Rage and builds up as stress goes up: anxious visual effects such as comical giant sweat drops, a minor throbbing red hue around his hurtbox and the more subtle Rage effects.
When I talk about the Stress Meter I am going to use percents and they will be coloured red. Lance will naturally build stress at a rate of
1% a second, so that means 1% of the total meter. Lance loses stress for an equivalent
1% every second he
isn’t in use, and we’ll get to that later. Any attack Amano performs that uses Lance causes him a great deal of stress, adding another
3% to the meter on its own. Over 100 seconds Lance automatically fills the meter! When the meter does fill up completely the thermometer will begin to burst and explode. Lance will have a breakdown, stopping in place and going into a long animation to let off all of the stress as he cries out to the foe and Mr. Amano that he's sorry!
You are encouraged to shed a tear for Lance if you have any empathy. This takes 8 seconds and another 4 seconds before Lance manages to compose himself and return to helping his father. As you'd expect, being hit by the foe will carry its own penalty of
2% added to the meter, multihits do not count. Naturally when Lance is under such stress and having a breakdown, he can't exactly be expected to help Amano, and so Mr. Amano - not that he needs Lance's help mind you - will fight on his own too, just like when Lance has collapsed after a hard fight from losing all his HP. When Lance returns to the fight, he will begin again with 0 stress, but maintains the same HP. The foe can interrupt Lance’s breakdown simply by attacking him and Lance can collapse from 0HP still, potentially creating a horrific combo of stress -> losing HP so that he’s out for a potential 20 seconds! If the foe doesn’t outright KO Lance or do considerable damage this can be bad however as it still reduces Lance’s stress to nothing, almost as if Lance was only crying crocodile tears...
Being attacked by the foe is one thing... but causing his son stress is not so easily forgiven! Amano will become enraged and max out his Rage for the duration of Lance's breakdown! Amano effectively is set to 150% until his son returns to action, at which point he will go back to normal, seemingly non-plussed by his son's return but that is only for gameplay purposes. This isn't a huge advantage at high percents but Lance is so strong and competent there surely can't be much left to do when he's downed for a well-deserved cry. This isn't all a positive as it means the foe will be hit further away, making some follow-ups harder, but will help in desperate situations where Solo Amano has to close the deal on a tough fought match. There is even more to talk about Lance and his many talents that are central to Amano's playstyle. Any good Amano player has to have strong interpersonal skills to manage Lance's stress and not make him work too hard, thankfully that's all made easier by the power of money!
Neutral Special: Buy the Badger Patrol
Amano takes out a fat stack of cash from his belt of money and examines it momentarily, sadly counting out well earned dividends he's about to sacrifice, before holding them over his head! The money is covered in a flash of green circular lights to tell you this is some important cash. This is a very quick animation taking just 10 frames. In an instant, a Badger is summoned!
By Badger I of course mean one of the four Badgers from the Bando Land group of four mascots! These men or women in suits are all around the park and represent the popular mascots of the Police Department, now turned into an amusement park attraction’s gaggle of cartoonish characters. Just as in Turnabout Kidnapping, the numerous Badger outfits now come into play, Amano must have bought off the staff who run the park or simply paid goons to wear the outfits to hide their true identity. In either case, Amano’s fat wad of cash disappears as he returns to his ho-hum idle stance, with a follower Badger appearing at his side. The Badger immediately takes the place of Lance with Lance following closely behind. They are very similar proportions to Lance only slightly wider because of their costumes, varying negligibly if at all depending on the Badger.
Lance and the badger will attack in unison like the Ice Climbers, a very chaotic duet that can be far more oppressive than Lance on his own. They will bunch up as tight as the Ice Climbers when together, and the way they attack is very comparably free form, attacking if and when available or ignoring orders when hit too far from Mr. Amano. The Badgers are for all intents and purposes a replacement Lance, who has clearly suffered enough stress, even at the very start of the match! Lance will as long as a Badger is around only take
1% of stress every
2 seconds. Lance does still follow along behind the Badger who follows Mr. Amano, but is no longer in the stressful leading man position, preferring to take a back seat - like father like son? What’s important here is that Mr. Amano can easily roll behind the Badger, who unlike Lance, will make no attempt to get back in front by rolling behind Amano or even walk towards him, making him into a
meat shield important ally. The two attack and walk next to each other like the Ice Climbers unless actively separated by Mr. Amano or the foe. Another very important detail is that when a Badger and Lance are around, this gives Mr. Amano two characters to command. This means more often than not at least one will be available to use for attacks, drastically reducing how much Mr. Amano has to directly engage in the battle with his own attacks.
The combination of the two naturally makes for much bigger hitboxes and stronger attacks. Stress comes into play here too as Lance’s slightly slower moves become surprisingly useful because they are now slower than the hired help, who have no Stress meter, so will always attack at the default speed. Lance can be desynched easily if he has quarter-filled stress or higher giving him a slight buffer after the Badger, leading to harder to dodge patterns of attack when the two are attacking together, ignoring how they can be desynched by the foe’s attacks or other factors. Mr. Amano can also stand in-between them or manipulate their position to create very dynamic attack patterns, wholly by existing! Just like sitting on a big fat 401. This makes the Badger a truly mean addition to the team. Once the Badger is down though, it’s back to Lance and Mr. Amano, or possibly Mr. Amano on his own.
The Badgers have a largely identical moveset but like Pikmin have slightly different properties. The way a Badger is summoned works a bit like Olimar's Pikmin, only Amano has a much smaller limit of only 1 Badger alongside Lance, and if Lance is incapacitated, Amano can’t summon a second! Lance and the Badger attack at the same time too and work in a largely identical way to the Ice Climbers, doubling up on their attacks. In comparison to the ICers, Lance and the Badger are a lot more powerful but the Badger is much easier to KO. Amano on his own is debatably as strong as a solo Popo! ...Wait, I guess that's not so great. Mr. Amano would very much prefer to have allies get their hands dirty over his own. While Lance or a Badger alone with Mr. Amano varies at times from mediocre to decent, the two together being conducted by the strategic genius Mr. Amano is a scary prospect, even scarier than the
Mirror House. It's not all mattress money and
boat rides in Bando Land river for Mr. Amano when he does get his two allies - Lance requires a good deal of micromanagement and the Badgers vary from weak to okay durability.
When Amano summons another Badger and has one out already, Amano can replace his current one, but this takes a good 30 frames on top of the existing lag for Mr. Amano to angrily shoo away the apparently worthless Badger who glumly turns from the screen, holds a paw to its crying eyes and dissipates. It’s instead better to wait for the Badger to be KO’d. How long that takes depends on the particular badger. Each badger shares the same loose handcuffs as Lance. There’s no surprise that Amano surrounds himself by the criminal class, he’s just trying to help them find a different path in life! As said already, Mr. Amano will not attack himself when Lance and a Badger are available together, now acting more like Captain Olimar and merely commanding them.
The type of Badger summoned is randomized but the initial move can be charged to further increase the chance of a stronger Badger being summoned. Amano thumbs through more of his precious money to spend, bidding for higher paid employees. He is also something of a gambling man though, so he’s not averse to trying for a high risk strategy with a low investment! At higher charges/more money, the move will completely lock out the weaker Badgers! Amano can charge the move for up to 50 frames. Now, now, now, blame your bad luck you were not chosen!
First up is the
Proto Badger. This Badger is, well, the very first, and easily the weakest having only 15HP. Once the Badgers are reduced in health to zero, they collapse over like a mascot just punched in the gut and dissipate after curling up in the fetal position. What a waste… of money! Proto Badger is a little taller than Lance and has a much bigger head, so is an easy target for foes, but this is something all the Badgers have in common. The head is roughly the size of Dedede’s. Proto Badger’s animations are a bit more comical and docile than the other Badgers, because he’s obviously “the dumb one.” The Proto Badger will be summoned at a higher chance the lower the charge, at no charge he is summoned 60% of the time. Once charge reaches 21 frames however, he is locked out. Largely the other Badgers will get their moment in the spotlight once the previous Badger is priced out of the market, and until they are locked out, every other Badger largely has the remaining chance split evenly, always starting at a high of roughly 60% for the lowliest character (Proto->Blue->Pink->Bad).
Next up is the
Blue Badger who while an improvement on the Proto Badger, it’s not a big improvement. He has a bulkier 20HP of health. The Blue Badger is not quite the wimp of Proto Badger and thus does 1.05x the damage and knockback, a significant improvement offensively (numbers in the set simply need to be multiplied). The Blue Badger is a lot more serious than the Proto Badger… but it still a man in a Badger suit, so largely “serious” means a more comical version of Captain Falcon, as he tries to stay somewhat in character. A perk of the Blue Badger is his idle animation: he bobs his head left and right in reference to the dance performed by the original Blue Badger, designed by Detective Dick Gumshoe! This serves no purpose other than lowering Lance’s stress by
2% a second that he is in view of the Blue Badger. It is quite a soothing dance. Fittingly the Blue Badger’s major gimmick, being that he is of
justice, is that when sweetspots are involved his tend to be larger or stronger! He becomes the likeliest to be summoned from 20-30 frames, but at 31 frames is locked out alongside the Proto Badger.
Next in line is the sole female member of the group, the
Pink Badger. She is an even sturdier 24HP, which is a good bargain considering there is a chance she’ll drop at no charge at all! She’s the most innocent of the bunch in her animations, though when damaged is a lot less willing to play her part, quickly dropping the act when herself being hit by foes or during the attacks all the Amano minions share. Her differentiating trait is that the weapons she uses tend to be the tackiest of the group and usually have a larger or more specialized hitbox. The Pink Badger shows up 60% of the time once the Blue Badger is excluded until the money is charged for 41 frames, then locking her, and all the other Badgers out of the running! This leaves only the last and baddest of all badger kind…
The villainous
Bad Badger is saved for last and you can just tell from his evil goatee and sunglasses that he means business. In terms of his body he largely is identical to the Blue Badger only having a different head. He clocks in at an impressive 28HP, a far cry from the 15HP of the Proto Badger. The Bad Badger has this obviously evil air about him, at least when he’s not being attacked, striding around the stage as if he owns it! What a sickening villain, Mr. Amano must be making an exception in this case, he’d never help out an evil doer! The Bad Badger always carries a gun, and this extends any melee hitboxes using his right hand to include the gun as a pistol whip hitbox. The Bad Badger like the Pink Badger has a few of his own evil-themed props that he’ll bring out that deal excessive damage and he is certainly Amano’s favourite. Opposites attract I suppose.
The Badgers on the face of it may not seem intuitive. Why replace such a competent character as Lance? In truth, like his father, Lance does not need to get as involved directly in such affairs and is better suited to more of a bystander role, so that he can contribute to the team’s victory in his own way. Most of the match Amano should aim to at least have one Badger out to stop Lance being wasted. However a foe who aggressively attacks Amano will force him to summon the weakest Badgers and at best gamble on getting the stronger ones. None of the Badgers are particularly bad, though the Proto Badger is much less sturdy than the Bad Badger, all sharing largely the same moveset. Nonetheless Amano must adapt his playstyle slightly as luck will likely decide on which mascot characters joins his side!
Side Special: Buy the Badger Mobile
Amano gestures towards Lance in the reverse of his iconic “Now, Now, Now” motion with his hands, raising them rather than lowering them and not saying a word. Lance looks shocked for a moment knowing what his father requests as the
Badger Mobile is summoned around him, with Lance in the driving seat!
The Badger Mobile is a vehicle roughly the width of Wario’s bike and as tall as Luigi, with Lance sat in the driver’s seat. The Badger Mobile takes a solid 20 frames to summon and an aggravated Lance immediately puts his foot on the accelerator the moment it appears! The Badger Mobile careens forward at a good clip, a little faster Wario's bike at its top speed. Lance can barely keep control of the Badger Mobile either despite being a talented driver, driving wildly across the stage! This is much like the bad driving of Kapp’n and his bus in the assist trophy, and really, it’s a sight to behold.
The main attack of the Badger Mobile is in fact very similar to Kapp’n – any foes hit by the top of the Badger Mobile (above the front where the wheels are) will be grabbed and tossed in the back, where they are seen scrambling to escape pushed up against the crammed mobile designed for badgers, not humans! The foe has to mash out at a much more lenient rate than that of the Kapp’n assist trophy, a little easier than the assist trophy at regular grab difficulty while taking 1% damage 4 times a second. When he catches a foe, Lance will continue driving wildly until he hits the edge where he swerves wildly to avoid going off the cliff edge, the Badger Mobile falls over and collapses into pieces, as the proud honking horn of the Badgers plays one last time. The foe is launched for 12% damage at a straight diagonal angle able to KO from 130%. This happens when the foe successfully mashes out too. While the foe is in the mobile they can still be attacked by Amano to rack even more damage, making the ending knockback that much more powerful. If the foe is dealt strong knockback, enough to activate the red scar effect, they'll be hit out of the mobile!
If Lance does not catch a foe, he will instead turn the mobile around once he hits an edge and make a u-turn, going the opposite direction. If he fails to hit a foe again Lance will jump from the mobile entirely and let the mobile go off the next edge. Mr. Amano will quickly point to the mobile telling Lance to do it independently, if Lance is already driving the mobile. Lance will quickly return to Mr. Amano’s side, though it may not be a complete loss. When falling the Badger Mobile becomes a powerful hitbox that spikes for 20% damage over its entire hurtbox, while losing its grab hitbox. However for as long as it’s on-screen and then 10 seconds after it hits a blast zone, Mr. Amano will try to summon it before getting all nervous momentarily as it’s not available! This goes for when the mobile collapses too. But I thought I paid for several hundred of those?
The Badger Mobile does have another hitbox at its wheels and front where it will not grab foes but instead drag them along for a constant 1% damage 6 times a second and then a 10th hit for 10% damage, to KO from 115% at a semi spike. This means the mobile will only keep dragging the foe along for 100 frames, just under two seconds, before launching them away. This can be very powerful if catching a foe next to the ledge. If Lance does reach a ledge too early though, this will just cause Lance to turn around, so unlike the grab hitbox it's better to hit the foe long before hitting the ledge or just at the right time to avoid going too far. As the mobile makes two passes when not grabbing a foe, this can hit twice, or potentially hit the first trip before grabbing the foe the second, setting up a trap!
Arguably the most threatening aspect of the Badger Mobile is how it punishes foes who try to dodge it or Amano in general as they will dodge the initial 18% damage hitbox of the mobile, but then get hit by the grab hitbox, which is far more dangerous! Even if not high enough to take them all the way to the edge, this can easily set up a follow up by Mr. Amano and a Badger, at low percents even setting up potential juggles. On the bright side for foes, the Badger Mobile is not exactly a tank, and was bought for bulk, not sturdiness. It only has 20HP and will explode in place when dealt this much damage, dealing Lance 20% damage as it happens and stunning him for a moment.
Lance will continuously take
3% Stress every second he drives the Badger Mobile, risking his life driving a dangerous vehicle for his father! If Lance does reach max 100% Stress as he drives the mobile, he will start to have his breakdown in the middle of it! This makes him lose control and will drive the mobile off the stage even with the foe! The foe will now have to mash out or be carried off stage potentially all the way to the blast zone. This not only destroys the Badger Mobile, but means when Lance respawns he also collapses in place! This option is quite high risk high reward, as it puts Lance in immense danger as well, something Amano would never naturally want to do… However, though this is below Mr. Amano’s high morality, it is possible to time a breakdown to take the foe off-stage for a last ride. This is between Lance and the foe after all, it’s only fair he take his punishment!
Lance specifically will always be chosen to do the move, even when a Badger is present. This is because Lance is taken out of the match effectively as long as he is in the Badger Mobile, only taking hits to his Stress unless the mobile explodes. If Lance is having a breakdown or collapsed from losing all his HP, Amano will use his Badger instead, but he only has one Badger Mobile at a time! If he's already destroyed it, he can't use it with a Badger right away. Keep in mind that both in this case and when Lance is out solo, this leaves Mr. Amano forced to use his regular set without any allies! When the Pink Badger is used she gets a special Pink Badger Mobile purely as a visual difference. Mr. Amano spared no expense.
The Badger Mobile is a crucial part of Mr. Amano’s game plan as it can singlehandedly catch foes out and OHKO them in some cases, however it has a long start up and uses up many of Amano’s resources, both his allies, his own moveset as a result and the mobile itself can easily be destroyed. He has to use the mobile to distract or overwhelm. By using his Badgers
and Lance he can force the foe into being hit by either of its powerful hitboxes, or combo the foe out of being hit. He can also take advantage of his son’s stressful hard work ethic, to get something out of a breakdown and force the mobile off stage. The mobile falls at a low arc so can catch foes already hit far off stage, considering the start up this is perfect for gimp attempts!
Down Special: Now, Now, Now
Amano raises and lowers his hands three times in quick succession, saying “Now, Now, Now” in a slow and convincing, confident, calming manner. A strange aura surrounds Amano for the move of little money stacks dancing around in the background. The motion is emphatic enough that the first two gestures each deal a light 1% to foes and will combo into the next. The third hit however deals for some reason 5% damage and higher knockback, knocking foes away to KO radially at... 300%, so still not particularly strong. In game, this motion is powerful enough to make the screen shake, which may hint at the incredibly manipulative power of Amano’s argumentative skills! “Now, Now, Now” has a few variants that Amano chooses from, including “There, There, There” and a combination of the two words, “There, Now, Now" based on his in-game dialogue.
This move has several important functions that will mean that “Now, Now, Now” is a key part of Amano’s strategy. The first is that it has the same ability as Olimar's Whistle down special to bring both Lance and any Badger back to Amano’s side immediately once it’s used, summoning them behind his back. This does not work if they are in the Badger Mobile. There is no way to desync Amano’s various minions as easily as Rosalina’s Luma, but this move works wonders if one of the two is still in the middle of an attack as they cannot be interrupted while summoning back the free one, same going for when they're in hitstun. Amano besides that use of the move can easily separate the two just by putting one of the two in harm's way and unlike Olimar he finds it much harder to summon new ones, with Lance being irreplaceable, so bringing them back to his side is an important utility.
This can change the order of Lance/Badger, but Lance will always hang back behind the Badger if he's available. By default they will both be behind Amano. By pressing the direction behind Amano as he reorganizes his group, he will place Lance/Badger in front, while Lance is behind if he is available. If only Lance or a Badger is available they will instead be placed in the back. By pressing in front of Amano, both Lance and the Badger will be put in front of Amano, though Lance will continue to try and get behind his father when he can! This will put a solo Lance or Badger in front too if they're by themselves. Pressing down Amano will seem to calm himself with deep breathing, causing a comical Wii Fit Trainer-like circle of energy to automatically close in on a money-green circle around him instead. This is a fast motion, as while it can be interrupted, it can be cancelled early on and has the same effect - this sets Amano so that he will refuse to use any of his own solo set! This means that Amano is a bit more vulnerable, but any mistakes made from inputting his own solo set and going into lag will be avoided, a must for beginner Amano players. This resets upon using the move again, Amano being KO'd or his allies all being KO'd.
The second use is that when used in range of Lance – Lance looking at Amano within 2x Disable’s range front or back – its calming effects will reduce Lance’s Stress. Each motion will reduce Lance’s stress by
11% so overall the entire move will heal the Stress Meter by
33%. For every motion Lance's delay from the stress - be it 0 frames at under a quarter of meter or higher - will be frozen for 5 seconds and ignore any further meter added, so that Mr. Amano's set up becomes more consistent. If Lance is left idle he will let out a calming sigh. The entire move takes around a second, so this is considerable investment for only a third of a bar, best saved for when Amano is not under any of his own pressure!
An important detail to note that is most relevant to say now is that Amano will summon his allies back to him almost immediately when he does the first motion, and will only say the quote after that. At that early point, Amano can cancel out of the move by pressing any other button, so it’s far more useful than it sounds purely for summoning back his allies. This is relevant to say now as when Amano summons back Lance he will automatically be in range for a “Now, Now, Now” pep talk. Sadly the Badgers do not get any benefit from “Now, Now, Now” – maybe they can’t see the relaxing hand motions from within their costume?
The foe however is the final piece of the puzzle, and shows the terrifying powers of “Now, Now, Now!” Any foe hit by the attack or in view of the hand motions by the same 2x Disable range of Amano will have their Rage reduced, by an equivalent 11% for each motion performed! The visual effects of Rage are also dialled down to show this, giving an indicator to the foe what happened. Whether out of confusion or because Amano’s manipulation really is that strong, this is not long-lasting, the foe’s Rage will build back up to wherever it was after 12 seconds. This can’t be stacked but can be refreshed by landing the move again. This appeasing of the foe helps Amano’s already heavy weight to survive that much longer at high percents, but can be a negative as foes will combo him at lower percents and because of that this can be more of a flashy option or merely a disrespect. Now, now, now, Amano would never willingly disrespect his opponent, he can hardly help it if the foe's player becomes offended.
Up Special: Buy the Recovery
Amano’s recovery differs depending on if Lance/Badgers are at his side. If he has no one, Amano will desperately claw at the air over his head as he gets little distance into the air grabbing at stray dollar bills. This desperation attack 5 constant hits of 3% damage launching the foe away weakly at the end, the whole move has super armour and low start up. This has considerable range and lingers long enough to catch foes trying to land. Amano is exhausted after this unseemly desperation move and will enter a fast fall in the air after performing the attack, rotating around and around as he faces the screen, this does greatly increase his already good air speed and lowers his fall speed a little bit. The fast fall can ever be used to recover though the foe can easily punish this when Amano is recovering high, so is largely not a good idea other than as a mix up.
This recovery travels around 3/4s the distance of Ganondorf’s Dark Dive in a similarly linear diagonal angle. The last hit will hit foes away to vertically KO at 150%. Amano will snap to ledge, so it’s not quite as bad as Little Mac, though it is considerably worse than Olimar’s recovery that gets better when he has less Pikmin. This is a huge negative for why Amano doesn’t want to lose his allies. It isn’t the easiest recovery to gimp in the game, but it’s very linear.
When Lance, a solo Badger or the two of them are next to Amano, he instead tosses a big wad of cash over his head. The cash explodes letting all the cash fall down around Amano This has the same start-up as the regular move. Amano doesn't jump for it, instead Lance, the Badger or both will jump up in the air and scramble for the cash! Blue Badger, this doesn’t seem to help the cause of justice at all! Amano grabs on to the lower legs of his allies and is carried upwards. This goes 2x as far as his normal move when just Lance or 1 Badger is involved, and the damage is increased. Lance/Badgers deal 5 hits of 4% damage instead, and the last hit will KO vertically from 130%! At the end of the move Amano will not enter helpless and his allies return to his side. Amano and his allies gain super armour though Mr. Amano enters the same fast fall at the end of the move, despite not doing anything, it's a taxing manoeuvre for all involved.
When Lance
and a Badger are available next to Amano, they will both scramble in the air, creating a massive hitbox above them that deals the same damage but over a longer time, dealing 7 hits instead for up to 28% damage if the foe is hit from the start. The fact it takes longer means it’s easier to hit Amano, however it carries him an excellent 2.5x the distance of the normal move and much better horizontal distance too and it still ledge snaps. The two allies cover a much larger range too. The solo Amano/single ally character doing the move is comparable to an average uair’s range, but the two together is a huge amount of coverage, making it a decent offensive move and it no longer sends Amano into a free fall. It’s still a bad idea out of shield or if it whiffs as the foe can easily do a massive punish if Amano goes above them as the move now lasts longer with two allies. As it doesn't send Amano into a free fall he can now abuse it to attack foes while his Badger and son recalibrate lower. So kind of you to take a hit.
Forward Smash: Pre-Emptive Fireworks
Amano makes a gun gesture with his hand and pokes it forward harmlessly, this signals to Lance to take out his own tacky looking gun and shoot out 3 explosives! Lance would never carry a real gun after all, he's no criminal! Lance has a shaky grip on the gun and tries to carefully aim it forward over the charge, before firing forward 3 separate fireworks that shoot forward and explode in small circular hitboxes at different points. These points are set just in front and then a Kirby width forward two times, getting higher and higher. Any foe caught by a firework will be stunned in place and carried forward, almost guaranteed to be hit by the third and final explosion. The first 2 fireworks deal 3% damage with the last dealing 5% damage and able to KO from 140% at a largely flat angle. The angle makes it a strong anti-air move if a foe tries to recover high, nice as Mr. Amano does not have the best off-stage gimps. Visually the gun is branded after the Blue Badger and the explosions resemble the Duck Hunt Dog's tacky smashes, causing a cartoonish explosion full of confetti when they go off. The different Badgers have their own specially branded guns coloured and themed after their characters - that you can buy at your local toy store! - the explosions instead are shaped to look like the specific Badger's own face. This may not look threatening but does have the same power. These explosions are disjointed hitboxes and so cannot be reflected.
The attack has the same start up of Duck Hunt Dog's fsmash, which is not bad, but not great, and slightly longer end lag. This means that Mr. Amano may very well have to use his own attacks if it whiffs as the foe will have plenty of time to counter and go after him or his allies. The attack deals a respectable 11% but this can be doubled up to deal 22% when the two allies of Mr. Amano shoot their guns at the same time. When shot at the same time the guns may overlap and deal an intimidating amount of hitstun with the 6 hits over a short period of time and goofy amounts of hitlag for a kiddy prop. This is important as the move on its own has the same issue as Duck Hunt Dog's fsmash - not totally reliable to combo into the last hit, especially when the foe is not at KO percent yet. When two of the attack came out at once however the foe will always be hit into the last regardless, with increased power on top of it! By comparison the Duck Hunt Dog's fsmash deals 17% uncharged when all 3 hits land, so 22% is a considerable power-up on the laughing dog's infamously unreliable smash.
Mr. Amano can angle the move down or up. A down angle will cause all the hits to track along the ground ensuring he hits even a crouching Puff or Kirby with the later explosions, though deals 1% less for each hit and has a bit weaker KO power. This will change the angle to be a pure semi spike like the DHD fsmash is so can be better used to push foes off stage and has a little more reliability to combo than the normal angle, it obviously can be easily jumped over. The up angle instead pushes the angles higher up so that by the end, they're up to Mr. Amano's own head, and this angles the knockback to be more vertical at a almost diagonal angle. This has the same power nerf as the down angle, and is better suited for setting up juggles or when fighting floaty characters.
One big distinction from its inspiration is that charging the move technically does also extend the range, but in this case by adding more of the early explosions. This ranges from 1-3 further explosions, this can push the foe up to another 1-3 Kirby widths as a result before being hit by the final explosion! The earlier explosions are however marginally smaller and deal less damage, 0.5% less for each additional explosion, dealing 2.5%, 2% and finally 1.5% each respectively for the longer charged versions. This ends up making the fsmash deal 15%, 17% and 14%, strangely scaling so that the strongest fsmash deals less damage overall. This isn't all bad however, as the move's final knockback is not nerfed nor is the final explosion's power, and on lighter foes, actually helps the reliability a little to not push the foe out of range! This makes the longest charge version surprisingly the best and strongest for pushing the foe the furthest before being launched
and makes it the most reliable.
This is a fun move to throw out with both Lance and a Badger available due to its amazing range, coverage and how it will helps Mr. Amano's game plan. When desynched or in different positions Mr. Amano can focus his fire on a specific part of the stage to pressure foes, but it is a bit of a risky move because of its lag and leaving Amano vulnerable. When the Badger Mobile is out on stage it's a great move to put out to catch the foe and try to get them hit by the mobile either by forcing them to avoid the fireworks or by directly comboing them into the mobile as it passes by.
The Bad Badger is not one to trifle with and instead of taking out the gun all the others do, he takes out the real gun! He must have inspected every suspicious-looking nook and cranny before resorting to this extreme measure. The Badger takes aim the same as before but instead of an explosion simply shoots bullets where the explosion would've taken place that deal 4% each. The final hit deals slightly more knockback than usual, with the angle being opposite to the angle shot, so semi spike by default and diagonally up or down for those angles, and will be the dominant angle when doubled up with Lance! The set 4% hitbox will be duplicated with longer charge so that theoretically, the Blue Badger could deal up to 24% on his own, however with maximum charge the Badger's shots are even
less reliable than the move normally and he will always miss up to 3 shots while comboing the foe for the other times. He must not have gone to the shooting range as Mr. Amano suggested. While the scattershot inaccuracy of the Blue Badger is bad, it does lead to more chaotic hitbox that are harder to jump or dodge around as each bullet will be shot over a Final Destination range before dissipating instead of being an explosion. This makes it a good alternative for hitting into the Badger Mobile, among many other potential combos. He really is a bad badger.
Mr. Amano gets his first solo set move here and it's a very impressive one - a punch! Mr. Amano takes a sumo-like stance and looks angered, he pulls back his arm, and then punches forward with vigour! This deals 10% uncharged and will KO from 130% at a largely horizontal angle! This doesn't sound too bad, however it has slightly worse lag than the Mii Brawler fsmash and equal end lag. Unlike the Mii Brawler or even K. Rool's fsmash Mr. Amano doesn't get a significantly big boxing glove or fist to enhance the range either, it has worse range than Ryu's comparable Focus Attack down special punch, and without any of the mechanics of that move! This means the move is strictly used as a hard read and one of its own positives is that it shifts back Amano's hurtbox during the start up, a little more than K. Rool's fsmash, but landing the move is practically not viable. It can be angled up or down to mildly help its pitiful range. When Mr. Amano is angered from his son's breakdown, this is one of the most directly buffed moves due to its power, and it is one of Amano's main KO moves solo, a glorious KO move.
Up Smash: Stop the Debate
Mr. Amano stops abruptly in place and raises both hands in a “stop” motion, this alerts Lance Amano to quickly pull out a large stop sign prop from the Bando Land park and hold it beneath him as if it's extremely heavy for the charge, flailing it over his head in a wide arc for 13% damage uncharged! This prop is scooped over Lance's head in a similar arc to Cloud's up smash, and deals decent knockback able to KO uncharged from 100% at the centre of the hitbox where it hits straight up, while further left or right, the angle is radial and KOs a little later, hitting the foe up to 25 degrees left or right. This is technically stronger all around than the fsmash but at the cost of the fsmash's great horizontal range, but has some of the best coverage in all of Mr. Amano's moveset matching Cloud's buster sword and has the same frame data/lag as Cloud's usmash, which is a decent 12 frame start up and decent FAF at 45 frames.
Besides the main hitbox on the Kirby sized octagonal sign itself, the post connecting to the sign is a weaker hitbox that deals 8% damage uncharged and will deal significantly lower knockback when closer to Lance. This will scoop foes up or even behind Lance when above and behind him, extending the angle far past the normal 25 degrees so that Lance can semi-spoke the foe backwards, potentially at Mr. Amano! This is the same in front of Lance too. The post will only KO at its strongest, the centre point, at 165%, but has more use as a combo start if only to hit the foe into Mr. Amano or the Badger doing another attack. This is one of the best ways to make use of Mr. Amano's own moveset or a Badger as Lance's end lag winds down, making it a surprisingly versatile attack. Amano can't do much, but a Badger can even directly combo into their own usmash if Lance and a Badger are properly desynched so that Lance goes first.
The prop sign itself is an octagonal sign that most resembles Isabelle's in her up smash. What's on the prop sign is randomized as one of the Badgers, ranging from Proto, Blue, Pink and finally Bad Badger with equal chances for each, coloured after them just like their guns in the fsmash.
The Badgers' version of the usmash is instead to summon the sign out of the stage much like Isabelle's up smash, dealing 14% uncharged and KOs at 125%, For the start up the Badger puts a whistle to their "lips" keeping this pose for charging, and blows into it as they raise their hand to do the stop sign. When the Badgers use the attack, this instead is set to be their own personal Badger sign. This both resembles Olimar's down special Whistle for their animation and Isabelle's up smash for the attack. The sign will be pulled out of the ground just ahead of the Badger to match the height of the Badger which is the same as Lance. Just like Isabelle's usmash, the sign returns underground after the attack is over. The Lance sign move can utilize the sourspot to hit the foe behind into the waiting Badger to combo the foe, depending on percent and how much the Badger/Lance are desyched, though will never work if they aren't desynched. This version is weaker but has much better end lag, and marginally better start lag than Lance's version so will naturally leave the Badger ahead of Lance's version by default, setting up for moves that benefit from the Badgers attacking first.
The sign itself is a "Badger Crossing" sign with the character's face on it with a large crossed out red circle over it, to denote that no one can cross, perhaps during a big tacky parade or in no-go areas for the public. Perhaps Mr. Amano has bought off parts of the stage? While this has no effect on foes, if the Badger Mobile touches the sign/Lance or Badger while using the move, it will treat the sign as the end of the stage and turn around. Amano can manipulate his ally to be in the way of the mobile at the right moment to trip up foes. The simple threat of turning around the mobile around Mr. Amano's allies is enough to make the mobile far more of a threat when it's driving around the stage.
Mr. Amano's up smash is another basic melee move like his fsmash, turning sideways to face the screen/away from the screen, takes a deep breath, and exhales as he punches directly up for 14% damage uncharged and high knockback to KO from 110% at a straight vertical! This is a surprisingly strong move for Mr. Amano, but the start up is as bad as it sounds, coming out on frame 20. The range of the move is also abysmal as it only hits directly above Amano and has no capability to launch foes into it, relying on hard reads or hitting a foe into Amano. This
can combo out of Lance's sourspot but is very percent dependant and if it does whiff Amano suffers a FAF of 52! As in the fsmash, Amano's fist by itself has very poor range too, so all in all, takes a lot of skill and smart management to ever land.
Down Smash: Face the Music
Mr. Amano taps his foot impatiently several times while pointing forward, Lance takes out a guitar and holds it over his head for charge, then smashes it into the ground for a powerful 16% damage uncharged able to KO from mostly horizontal angle at 95%! Lance must be taking out his anger at missing a live show of the Gavinners. This has decent start up of 13 frames for its power and decent end lag for Lance or Badgers, while Mr. Amano's own start up is more relevant than usual as this is the one move where he does a remotely long animation to command his allies, making the move deceptively slower than it looks on the surface. As the guitar hits the ground it explodes into bits on the ground in a secondary shockwave hitbox as a broken note of music plays, dealing 1% damage and very light hitstun to anyone in touching distance, just enough to be safe on hit for Lance or a Badger. The guitar in question is one of the Bando Land guitars from the Back Room area. The guitars simply vary from the Blue Badger blue to the Pink Badger pink, with the face of the Badger mascot on each. The Blue and Bad Badger get the blue guitar, while the Pink Badger gets the pink guitar. The one other difference is the Proto Badger gets a shabbier looking acoustic guitar that functions the same but clearly is far cheaper and more expendable than the electric ones.
From a default position where his ally is behind Mr. Amano, Lance will step forward and smash the guitar right down in front of Mr. Amano, making this a poor dsmash as it will not hit behind. However a Badger will do the same, while Lance turns away and performs the dsmash backwards. The Badger and Lance will shift more to keep this pattern consistent as much as possible unless pushed decently far out of position, such as Amano dashing into the dsmash, forcing them to smash them towards his position. This still means the foe is guaranteed to be hit if they roll behind Amano, but limits this as a forward attack move at that point. When the Badger or Lance is pushed in front of Mr. Amano they will choose to smash the guitar in front of him a little further ahead than usual, while the one behind Amano will smash it towards Amano, making it more of a traditional dsmash hitting both sides.
The exact timing of when each guitar smash depends on if the allies are desynched, but if not, they do attack at the same time, meaning it can’t be use as effectively to read rolls. The immediate hitbox all around Amano from smashing guitars makes it strangely great as a “get off me” attack if Amano is surrounded by traps, foes trying to cross him up or just generally to clear out any threats. When Lance and the Badger
are desynched, then Mr. Amano can play with hitting in front or behind first, which can be a good way to trick the foe into getting hit by one or the other. The positioning and timing and presence or lack of desynch can allow the move to do fun combos with Mr. Amano himself or the spare Lance/Badger if the guitar smash hits a foe particularly late. The possibility of the smash itself and 1% damage hitbox shockwave comboing into Mr. Amano or the Badger/Lance doing an attack makes its coverage even scarier than usual.
There are slight differences for a couple of the Badgers here. The Pink Badger has a bass guitar, that has a little more flair than the regular Blue Badger guitar, having more pointed features on the guitar's body and neck having a fancier bended shape. The guitar is also a little bit smaller. The normal guitar is around the size of a Star Rod item, while the bass guitar is roughly 90% as big, and deals a slightly lower 14% damage uncharged. When it hits the ground, it makes a much raspier metal sound and creates a pink shockwave that covers a Jigglypuff-wide area all around the ground where it was smashed. This deals 2% damage and enough hitstun to give the Pink Badger a couple of frames of advantage over the foe, and really helps Mr. Amano or Lance to do a follow-up, at the cost of the bass guitar being weaker and lower range.
For his solo attack, Amano raises a leg in a sumo-like stance, only without any of the proper form, for charge then slams it down on the ground for 14% damage uncharged and knockback to KO from 130%! This has as you'd expect, fairly poor start up at frame 16 and Amano has to compose himself for a somewhat poor end lag, and like the other two smashes, this is not great range. Amano doesn't even get the typical heavyweight quake from pounding the ground! The range of the move is not the best either as Mr. Amano can't extend his leg much inside of his robe. The saving grace is that he does technically dodge low hitting attacks, though the move is too slow to make that much of that quality.
Mr. Amano performs a fast, ineffectual karate chop as Lance pulls out a small sword prop used in Turnabout Kidnapping to knock out Edgeworth - using it to swipe in an overhead strike for a quick 3%, then a (comparatively) lightning fast upwards strike with the sword for 1% damage! This will combo for up to 10 hits at 0% before the foe escapes and will never deal much knockback. This is one of Lance's fastest attacks for both start and end lag, above average for a jab, and can rack up decent damage from middling percents or combo beyond that at super low percents. The range of the first hit is decent, comparable to Roy's ftilt while the later hits are more like Roy's jab. A Badger performing the jab alongside Lance can combo a little longer than Lance by himself to net up to 15% when both manage to land the move on the foe at once. This is highly similar to the Ice Climbers' jab functionally, though has worse "horizontal range" because of the sword not being nearly as big as the ICer hammers.
As the move is so fast and has little end lag this is one move that used repeatedly will rarely leave Mr. Amano having to attack himself unless Lance or the Badger are hit. Lance is one thing, where it's not quite that great even as a fast move, but a Badger doing it at the same time is very powerful. In that sense this is one of his most reliable or "safe" attacks, especially if you want to buffer into other attacks by Lance or the Badgers. Simply mashing jab and then another attack is not the worst idea, much like how Terry in Smash Ultimate can mash out an easy combo here or there. This is worthy reward if Mr. Amano manages to corner a foe at close range using the move - the foe has to DI up and away like similar moves in Ultimate, but it's made far harder by the presence of Badgers. The jab is a key Mr. Amano moves that largely combos into imagination, a boundless potential as immaterial as his bank balance. The only thing stopping it is Lance's stress. This move's every hit counts as a hit, giving another
3% of stress every time, making it a costly stress move and there's another budgetary issue holding back the move.
As the prop sword is just that, a prop sword, being swung repeatedly causes it to break and deal 6% damage as it snaps in half, forcing a decent bit of end lag on its bewildered user! Again like the Badger Mobile Mr. Amano invested in the cheaper bulk products. The 6% hitbox has a bit of oomph behind it too unlike the normal jab and can KO at a diagonal forward angle at 170%. This isn't the most powerful jab finisher, but considering the damage Mr. Amano's team can do, 170% is not that bad especially when it's lowered on platforms. Whether Lance or a Badger has their prop sword break this will forcibly end the jab and launch the foe which is part of why the jab cannot infinite even with a perfectly positioned set of jabs from both characters, which is necessary given they can be manipulated a good bit more creatively than the Ice Climbers.
Mr. Amano had to cut costs somewhere and this means that not every member of the team could be given as good of a prop sword. Now, now, now, the props sword will at least net a good few hits before they break, so don't be so entitled! Lance's prop sword is the strongest taking 10 hits to break, which is unlikely to come into play before the foe escapes. The Bad Badger has the second strongest prop sword taking 7 hits before it breaks, again this is enough hits it's largely not too relevant in play unless the foe is at a super low percent, though it will ensure if the foe is near KO percent for the move they may not escape this hitbox by DI. Pink Badger is third strongest at 6 hits, and largely this makes her the same as Bad Badger.
Blue Badger has 4 hits before his prop sword breaks, which is low enough it can come into play, while the Proto Badger is the bottom of the pack at 3 hits. These two are the real issue if Mr. Amano wants to abuse the double jab of Lance and a Badger as they will quickly break the jab up, though 3-4 hits is still enough time to try and score a quick combo of some kind if the foe is at a low percent. While this limits the combo-ability of the jab, the fact the foe is launched and leaves the Badger far more than Lance in lag does open up the opportunity for
other combos. As the Badger is in more lag and Lance almost always will be free to act after his low jab end lag, he can go on an offence of his own, especially when the foe is at very low percents. For example at super low percents Lance can try for an up angled fsmash, follow Mr. Amano into the air for an assault or simply take a relaxing break as his father calms him down with a Now, Now, Now. What helps is that the weaker Badgers are also the ones that will tend to crop up earlier in the match, so in a strange way this can make it a good thing to end up having bad luck! Mr. Amano knows every way to game the system.
Mr. Amano's solo move for this is very quick but weak - a simplistic knife-like poke with one hand forwards, resembling Incineroar's jab though without any of the strength, dealing 4% and weak knockback. Those are powerful hands after all, though Mr. Amano looks none too pleased having to perform the attack. This will seldom combo into itself other than very close and at low percents, and will absolutely never KO, dealing straight ninety-degree diagonal forward knockback. This does have very low start and end lag, coming out frame 2, but has abysmal range as Mr. Amano's struggles to stretch his arm far beyond his own body. The default move even with Lance is so fast this has to be assumed to be used as a panic button if the foe is in Amano's face and he has no further defence. This move is itself fast enough it can act as an okay combo into Lance or the Badgers' attacks, though it is not particularly useful due to the angle.
Dash Attack: Financial Collapse
Amano grits his teeth and barges forward in a pseudo-football shoulder charge, dealing 13% damage and high vertical knockback to KO from 125%, before falling to the floor in an exhausted pile of fat, money and broken dreams. When Amano hits the ground he creates another hitbox as he slides forward a short distance, dealing a further 5% damage and light radial knockback. All in all, this deals decent shield damage when both hits land but is pathetically easy to counter if Amano doesn't have at least Lance around to help out his old man. As he collapses on the ground the money around his waist bursts open and breaks his fall, many dollar bills can be seen flying around close to Amano after the move purely as a visual. This has average start-up for a dash attack but long end lag as Amano picks himself up, though it would've been worse if not for his stacks of money. Mr. Amano can't expect his allies to help in every move, and whenever he dashes and performs the dash attack input, he'll always attack on his own!
The fact that Mr. Amano
does attack on his own every time here makes this an indispensable tool for his ground game. This sets up his allies to be attacking while Amano charges forward, potentially covering the foe's options if they tried to duck back or duck below moves such as fsmash, or even just to put extended shield pressure on the foe. At the same time this attack is if anything an even better move to end an assault with if Mr. Amano can charge into the foe after landing an fsmash to go for a shield break - while a little predictable, this is a great mix-up if it doesn't whiff or get read by the foe. The secondary hitbox may even shield poke then, letting Amano and his end lag off the hook.
Mr. Amano can always use the instant dash attack (IDA) advanced technique to segue right into his dash attack out of idle and ignore his dash speed entirely so Amano can for example get his allies to attack, then IDA away as an escape option! This is especially handy in situations where the foe is about to land say, a Ganondorf fsmash right into the Amano Group all together and Amano wants to make a quick escape. The move will push his allies around too if they're in the way, potentially pushing his allies forward or back during their attack, an incredibly useful tool to get his beloved son and Badger helpers out of harm's way. Sometimes however tough decisions must be made! If Lance or the Badger can land a good hit at the cost of some damage to themselves, that's fine too, it's a group effort after all.
Forward Tilt: Slashing Plastic Stock
Amano traces his finger in a quick horizontal slice, signalling for Lance to take back out the same sword prop he has in his jab and slice it in a horizontal swipe for 6% damage and weak knockback, with a stronger sweetspot at the tip of the sword that deals 9% damage and knockback to KO at 120%!. The sourspot is over the rest of the sword and will deal minor forwards knockback at a slight upwards diagonal, while the sweetspot is a semi spike excellent for spacing foes away from Amano. The ftilt can be angled as other ftilts can do to instead aim the sword diagonally up or down, shifting the knockback in that direction. This is dissimilar to the jab in many ways, as it has slightly worse start lag, equivalent end lag and is much less spammable, despite having a little more range than the jab's second hit. Despite that both Lance and a Badger using the attack together can net a few hits all together if the foe is hit together, where it's actually better to land the sweetspot because of the angle of the knockback.
Hitting the foe forwards can result in the largely horizontal swipe hitting them a second time from the other ally of Amano, while the sourspot may well send them into space, where they can no longer be reached. At the lowest percents a foe can potentially be combo'd into the first, overhead hit of jab instead, but this requires a good deal of foresight, even by the standards of commercial genius Mr. Amano. This stops being a true combo around 30% on a midweight, and still can only combo for around 24% or 4 hits from the combined efforts of Lance and a Badger in a relatively perfect set up. The sweetspot can also be more useful to hit the foe into the ground for a ground bounce or forced tech if angling it downwards, which can open up later percent combos, while the upward angle is a decent anti-air, dealing 1% more damage/slightly more knockback for both hits.
The prop sword won't break here and the mechanic does not carry over or affect this move, perhaps Mr. Amano saved his more expensive props for his ftilt? In any case, the prop swords do come into play in their own strange way similarly to the jab. Mr. Amano's allies are not true swordfighters and so inevitably their fingers will slip and they will make a mistake here or there, in this case this means they will accidentally toss forward the prop sword by accident at the end of the attack. This "accident" occurs if the player mashes their ftilt, for example the A button while holding forward with the classic control scheme, and is easily achieved by any player with the right feel for mashing, though any player should probably discover this trick with any play of Mr. Amano. Lance/the Badger will look shocked (in the Badger's case, this is indicated by a visual effect of a "!" appearing over them in their suit's colour) and suffer more extensive, though not horrible end lag, so any combo attempt is definitely over. This doesn't affect their ability to use their ftilt again taking out another prop sword.
The sword deals a slightly higher 10% damage and can KO from 110%, much stronger than the normal ftilt, at a steep vertical, but more diagonal angle. is a little smaller than Toon Link's up special sword hitbox, minus the Toon Link, and shot at a straight horizontal angle at the slow speed of Duck Hunt Dog's Clay Pigeon. The prop sword is thrown as a horizontal projectile (so it can be reflected, though is not an energy projectile so can't be absorbed) and will travel forward a battlefield platform in range before poofing out of existence, a prop so cheap it breaks in thin air. The sword will also be thrown either down at the ground or at a generic diagonal upwards/forwards when the ftilt is angled up. The angle of the ftilt is crucial here as it will let Mr. Amano's allies do quite dynamic combos with the sourspot into a thrown prop sword, even allowing them to at times land combos such as a sourspot hit, a second sourspot hit and then throwing the sword up at the foe, or hitting the foe into the ground, hitting them with the sourspot then throwing the sword forward to catch them out or initiate a tech chase. Depending on percent it can be very fun to come up with different ways to try and entrap the foe, befitting of a corporate politician!
Mr. Amano's solo move has him angrily slap forward in a motion similar to Wario's ftilt, and has comparable (slow) start lag and end lag, so is even more of a read than Wario's move, this deals 10% damage (1% lower than Wario's ftilt) and marginally less knockback than the Wario slap. This is a fun move to throw out and can be angled, however the problem is obvious: Mr. Amano is much taller than Wario and his hand doesn't balloon up in the same way, so the range is far worse! This makes it
even more of a read and while it is fun to land the disrespectful solo Amano slap, it's another desperation move that doesn't even have the speed of his jab, mostly reserved for hitting lower or higher foes where his jab can't reach.
Down Tilt: Argumental Dropkick
Mr. Amano slices the air horizontally with his fingers held together, signalling Lance to quickly perform a dropkick close to the ground, using both legs to kick out an impressive distance for 11% damage and high knockback at the Sakurai angle! The animation is quite similar to Snake’s bair, though not nearly as nimble poking out 0.8x as far. This will KO from 130% though most of the time it will due to the angle simply keep the foe grounded and susceptible to further beatdowns by Mr. Amano's cunning tactics. The knockback is great enough that this will not be further melee moves, unless the foe is struck at practically the same time as being launched.
It's feasible to hit the foe with a jab or ftilt by Lance or a Badger while they're launched away by the dtilt. The dtilt comes out below average for a dtilt and has enough end lag it cannot be spammed, though it is not as laggy as the thrown prop sword in ftilt. Nonetheless, this is unlike jab or the regular ftilt, much slower and a more risky option that will leave the user vulnerable.
This is one of the worse moves so far to gang up on the foe, due to its slower speed, end lag and how it will often push the foe out of range for Lance/Badger. At very low percents it can combo into a jab or ftilt, but in that case, it’s better to just use jab or ftilt as the end lag of the ally who used the move means they won’t be able to get in a further attacks. A better use of the move is simply as a combo finisher either at the end of a low percent jab or ftilt string, to give further utility to the low percent combos Mr. Amano can perform! More than that it’s a risky way to safeguard Amano due to its knockback- if the move doesn’t whiff it will reliably push the foe too far too attack in some cases. In other cases, if the ally in the back uses the move while both are in front of Amano, the front ally can be saved if the foe was pushing them forward with an attack! In that way it acts as a good defensive move if the further back ally uses the attack. For the front ally however, it’s more useful as a poke or soft read against foes trying to approach.
Lance cannot trip with the move, however the Badgers have a slight chance to trip that can definitely come into play. The Proto Badger has a 7% chance, Blue Badger has a 10% chance, Pink Badger has a 7% chance and Bad Badger has a 12% chance. As the move is not spammable like Ness’ dtilt which had a 10% chance to trip, this is not quite as useful, but can make the move far scarier especially with those stronger Badgers and their higher trip chances. This can make it worth throwing out the move in a situation where the foe is not yet at KO percent for the move but above the range for a combo, as if they trip, all bets are off on what Amano can do next! The fsmash alone will check many of the foe’s options out of prone or simply rushing into the foe’s face to start mashing jab or ftilt to try and get a massive Terry-style punish. Besides that, this gives Mr. Amano a chance to restock on his Badger or set off Lance on a lucrative Badger Mobile journey especially if the foe didn’t expect the trip. The fact this only applies to the Badgers and not Lance can make it a lot harder to predict as a mindgame. When Lance is KO’d, having a stress-related breakdown or using the Badger Mobile foes have to watch out for this move.
The solo set Amano move is a simple leg sweep, a fast and amateurish kick that does 5% damage and light knockback, this has poor end lag as Mr. Amano awkwardly pulls back the leg. This comes out very fast for Amano and unlike the Lance/Badger dtilt though like many of his solo moves has bad range and no obvious follow-up out of his own set. This can lead handily into an attack by his allies though, as it sends the foe at a pretty flat angle for low knockback, opening up avenues for a combo. If it’s shielded however it will deal little shield damage and barely budge the foe, leaving Amano open to being punished. One positive of this move is that it can make it safe to throw out dtilts in place so that once allies are down, Mr. Amano can quickly hit an approaching foe away, though it is more of a safety measure than a viable offensive tactic.
Mr. Amano raises one hand straight up in the air, Lance responds by raising first his forward-facing arm up in a similar manner to G&W's utilt, holding up a flag that damages for 6% damage and then after putting it down, holds up another flag with his other hand for another 6% damage on his other side! This has average start lag, better than G&W's move, but just as bad duration and end lag. The first flag combos the foe into the second, which will hit the foe vertically upward and a little forward with weak knockback, good for an aerial follow-up, though little else. This is of course based on Game&Watch's utilt as inspiration, but has far greater range as the flags used are a little bigger and Lance will scoop up anyone immediately in front of him with the first flag. The second flag scoops up foes behind Lance launching them directly above Lance. Lance holds up the flags higher making it a better anti-air. The flags themselves for Lance are a giant monolithic-looking "A" to represent the Amano group for the first flag, while the second is a Bando Land logo that's been compressed to fit onto the flag. Lance seems particularly stressed when he performs the attack, as it is a thinly-veiled excuse to advertise Mr. Amano's businesses!
The Badgers have the same attack, but their flags are instead coloured after their costumes and have their Badger's face on the front. When the Badger attacks and Lance is able to attack with the utilt at the same time, Lance will instead take out a much larger flag for his attack, swiping it backwards in a wide arc for 10% damage and high upwards knockback, to KO at 130%! While the normal flag is comparable to G&W's, a small giddily flag, this is a large, proud flag that's comparable to Ganondorf's "Doriyah" usmash in range, though not nearly as powerful. Lance looks very stressed - dealing
6% to his stress from handling this giant flag! Ironically this more resembles G&W's old utilt from pre-Ultimate. This has worse start lag but actually has slightly lower duration and end lag. The flag is the same blue as Mr. Amano's kimono and has a beautiful artistic rendition of the businessman on it too, giving a welcoming smile!
The new utilt for Lance is important here as there is no chance that the base move could possibly combo even off of the first hit by the Badger. When the first flags go up, Lance would always miss before he could hit the foe from his first flag. As a result the slower start lag lets Lance combo out of the first hit of the utilt by a Badger, hitting instead of the second hit, doing a combined 16% damage. If Lance is stressed, it's possible to hit with Lance's big flag and the Badger's first flag at the same time, dealing the knockback of the bigger flag while dealing a mighty 22% damage overall! This requires good timing, and overall this move requires very good management. Lance and the Badger have to hit the foe perfectly without much room for failure. The first flag does scoop but it doesn't have the greatest range, so largely like the jab or ftilt this acts as a reward as one of the best melee KO methods when Lance and a Badger are primed.
The big flag has a sourspot at its flappy end where the flag thins out into a triangle, dealing 5% damage and light radial knockback. If Lance is particularly delayed either by stress, being out of position or both, this can instead hit foes as they're hit by both the 6% hitbox of the Badger's second flag and the big flag's sourspot. This will instead launch the foe with the knockback of the Badger's second flag, rather than the big flag, so while it deals less damage overall this can be preferable to then convert this into an aerial follow-up or simply to get the foe away from Mr. Amano's delightful flags.
When Lance and the Badger are particularly out of sync, so that Lance uses his utilt while the Badger is doing nothing or another move, then Lance will performs the same move. This is notable as this means Lance's utilt is on the face of it worse, having much higher start lag, but gives him a decent read-based KO option whenever the Badger is out without relying on his laggier usmash or dsmash. Its duration is quite long but it has a very wide arc as an anti-air which can make it better than the usmash which has good but not great horizontal range.
Mr. Amano's solo utilt is an uppercut reminiscent of K. Rool's utilt, dealing 7% damage and good knockback, but only enough to KO at around 170%, a far cry from the crocodile king. As is tradition Amano fails to match the sheer range of the move he's inspired by, being that he is nowhere near as big as K. Rool, but the frame data is surprisingly good mirroring K. Rool's so it serves the same function as in K. Rool's set as a decent anti-air/defensive move. It's still a fairly mediocre move that has even worse KO power than K. Rool's and with no dthrow shenanigans like K. Rool it's nothing too special despite all those self-defence classes.
Neutral Aerial: Circular Argument
Mr. Amano spins around in place awkwardly, dealing a single strong hit of 12% damage to anyone who comes in contact and decent knockback at a radial knockback able to KO from 200%. Amano spins in a horizontal 360, impressive for the over-indulged businessman, though it is not as mobile as other characters in Smash. The start and end lag is low but the move has a decently long duration. The 12% damage decays to an 8% sourspot by the end of the duration to instead only KO at 250%, though this can more easily lead into combos. Mr. Amano spins a single time and tucks in his limbs to help move around faster, needing any help he can get to perform this ever so slightly acrobatic attack.
Upon landing, Amano causes a small quake hitbox directly on the ground next to Amano for 1% damage and enough hitstun to make the move safe as he concentrates in a sumo-like pose. It may deal 1% damage but this is definitely the most intimidating look for Mr. Amano. This has worse landing lag than the move's end lag, though is overall not the worst move with good damage and Amano's good air speed letting him get some momentum as he launches into the spin. Amano's body continues to be a hitbox for the landing hitbox and deals the same 12% or 8% and respective damage, depending on when the sex kick hit the ground, so he can mix up whether going for a late KO/spacing the foe more versus a more juggle-based approach if he can afford to carefully space the move.
When Amano is in the midst of his Circular Argument, then he can make use of his allies! The neutral aerial like Olimar is the dedicated Mr. Amano attack button and he can then order his allies to attack at the same time, however it is quite dangerous because Amano is left vulnerable by the nair’s end lag – and especially landing lag. He needs to time his nair so that it’s best offensively used and gives proper space for his allies’ aerials to land. Amano will still command his allies if they not even in the air as well or grounded, so he can for example do a short hop nair into foes, while having Lance or the Badgers launch into a fsmash! This way the foe may be caught out of a jump with nair while the allies go for a dtilt read on foes dashing across the ground, creating a powerful barrage of attacks! The risk of this is obvious, putting all of Mr. Amano’s eggs in one basket where all of his investments so to speak are now going to be attacked at once if the foe just shields them all.
The move has some limited offensive use too because of its radial knockback and sourspot. This can easily push foes into Lance or the Badgers as they attack as one of the most direct attacks Mr. Amano can directly perform at any time to get involved in this fight that well, isn’t even his fault really. This is especially good for close range moves like jab or dsmash when Lance or a Badger is right next to Amano, if the foe was being sneaky and trying to dash past Mr. Amano’s dear allies. Now, now, now, no need to recklessly pick fights, but please enjoy our Bando Land music!
Forward Aerial: Ahead of the Game
Mr. Amano points forward – hey it’s in the air this time! – and this makes Lance or a Badger carelessly launch themselves into a Luigi Missile-style headbutt, dealing 11% and good knockback to KO at a fairly flat angle from 135%! When positioned behind Amano in the air Lance or a Badger will launch themselves so that they headbutt forward at the midsection of Amano, around his stomach, and their entire upper half also becomes a hitbox, giving the attack solid range. This is helped further by the Badgers’ oversized mascot heads. The attack does have poor end lag and not the best start up either. Lance or the Badger have to right themselves ending the move in the air, while they have to forcibly get off the ground when landing the move. This will turn around Lance/a Badger to perform forward aerial so will turn them if they were facing Amano.
When Lance is at high stress,
75% or higher, he will instead have a more aggressive missile! He's had enough and using his head as a battering ram makes him so mad, he explodes with rage, launching himself forwards aflame into foes, dealing anyone he hits 17% damage, but if he lands the hit, will deal himself 17% damage too, as well as
15% to his stress! This will KO from 80% at a diagonal angle, and considered how strong it is, that's pretty strong for that fairly bad KO angle. Lance travels an impressive 1.5x battlefield platforms! This is one of the best ways to desync Lance and Amano period due to how much room this creates between the two. The move has much worse start lag however and while Lance travels very fast, comparable to the Misfire Luigi Missile, he will likely have a breakdown at the end and deals himself sizable damage. This makes it a risky option, though if Lance is going to have a breakdown or is already low on HP, it may be time for Mr. Amano to make a tough decision on his son's behalf.
This is a unique move as unlike most of Amano's attacks, this will only launch the first ally upon inputting the move, not both at once. This is largely all that's needed given the nature of the attack but opens up many possibilities with either throwing out two "missiles" at the same time for a high-risk approach, or only using up one ally at a time while putting pressure on the foe with the other. Keeping an ally around to fight their own battle on Mr. Amano's behalf has its own utility benefits too, given how vulnerable Amano is - his recovery especially is really nerfed using up both of his allies at the same time - so he has to be careful in the air. This lets Amano position Lance and the Badger on stage too so that they fall and land on the ground or simply end up lower to attack foes. This is like tossing a Pikmin with Olimar's side B but with an attack like Olimar's fsmash, who then turns into a Nana secondary Ice Climbers as they rush back to their leader's side! On the way, Amano can use them to bully grounded foes if he quickly attacks before they get back in position. There isn't much time to attack like this but makes the area directly below Amano more dangerous for opponents.
Lance will travel a short distance, a little further than Luigi's uncharged missile. The distance that Badgers launch themselves varies. The Proto Badger will travel 1.2x far as, the Blue Badger 1.25x as far, the Pink Badger 1.3x as far and the Bad Badger a mighty 1.5x as far! This has a small impact on knockback in a way, as it means the foe will be launched from further away by Amano, artificially making the horizontal knockback KO sooner. This can be an intriguing mix-up for foes to take into account, but also means these allies end up a greater distance from Amano, even if it's not that great.
Lance or the Badger will always be launched from the same area relative to Amano, at his midsection, but the properties of the move can vary wildly depending on Amano's own location in the air. If Amano is rising, this will hit foes as he travels upwards, acting as a good defensive option for foes trying to follow him into the air. When he is falling, instead it acts as a good offensive as Amano can then combo into his ground moves. As a short hop this can be used to pressure foes either hitting high to shield poke or Amano can delay the attack to even hit lower/crouching foes, so it can be used strategically for a decent amount of precision!
Mr. Amano's own move for his solo fair is a simple one, slapping downwards in a lame imitation of Luigi's fair for 5% damage and decent knockback. Funny how that worked out. This ineffectual slap has poor range though does come out decently fast and has low end lag. If the foe is being particularly careless, the angle going diagonally down can be a very embarrassing weak spike if they're at a high percent or have a poor recovery. It works fairly well at hitting foes down into the allies of Mr. Amano too, for all that's worth.
Up Aerial: One Hand Clapping
Mr. Amano points his pointing fingers up close to his chest, Lance and the Badgers react by leaping upwards in an over-the-top uppercut that deals up to 5 hits of 1% damage before launching foes for 5% damage and decent upwards/slightly diagonal forward knockback, similar to Mario's up special! This has a fast start up but a long duration, with minimal end lag. The uppercut travels far and fast enough to get above Amano’s head a decent distance when they’re next to the genius businessman. The issue with the move is that it only reaches strictly above Amano after a longer period where Lance or the Badger makes their desperate lunge for the air, hitting at first where Lance and the Badger are before they reach Mr. Amano. The ending hit deals moderate knockback to KO from around 120% though can KO much earlier closer to the blast zone, where it's harder to land because of Amano's middling fall speed and poor jumps.
This is an aerial that will use any available allies to Amano at once, both Lance and potentially a Badger at the same time, leaving Amano vulnerable. Lance and the Badger will be raised slightly to perform the move at the right height if slightly out of position, and this only works if both are in the air in the first place otherwise they will perform utilt. It's possible to have Lance or a Badger hit the foe into the other ally's uair, especially with how much base knockback is involved to hit from flag 1 to flag 2 of utilt, and Lance will never use his laggier big flag when the Badger is in the air/unable to use utilt.
The allies will aim their uppercut to meet the other ally if they're performing the move at the same time, the two allies uppercutting into one another! When the two meet in midair at the end, they will clap their hands together in an awkward moment of teamwork, showing how Mr. Amano brings people together. This clap is another small hitbox that deals 7% damage and will send the foe straight up for marginally higher knockback than the regular uppercut. At the end of the move, this will leave Lance and the Badger in slightly less end lag too, as they simply back away promptly rather than recovering from their attack and are spaced more evenly apart to deal with foes. This makes it a decent idea to use to try against more floaty opponents.
The Proto and Badger have slightly different, somewhat mirrored endings to the combined move than Lance has with the other badgers. The Proto Badger will instead be launched away by the clap, losing his “balance” a little in midair as he is pushed back by Lance, who is not exactly physically strong. This will turn Proto Badger’s hurtbox into a hitbox that deals 6% and high radial knockback to KO from 120% as he is launched back half a battlefield platform over a short time frame, not enough to make it horrible end lag wise. This does move the Badger a good bit further away. I guess Lance is not a fan of the Proto Badger… or Proto is simply that pathetically weak.
The Bad Badger has the opposite effect to the Proto Badger, pushing Lance away, who turns into a hitbox the same as the Proto Badger. Unlike the Proto Badger this has some negative effect as Lance’s stress goes up by
10% from the very Bad Badger’s disrespect. This can all work to Mr. Amano’s advantage by shuffling around his allies for offensive or defensive purposes, and to cover the foe’s own options in the air so they can’t dodge the two allies. If the positioning all goes too wrong, a Now. Now, Now is all he needs to set things right in the group politics.
Mr. Amano’s solo up aerial is a very fast sweep of his arm over his head, somewhat comparable to Mac’s up aerial and has comparably poor range and does 4% damage and low upwards knockback. The saving grace of this move is that it is very fast coming out frame 2 and has low end lag. It’s very hard to land, despite its large range as Mr. Amano only has the reach of an average human, and thus it is best only to use in defence or to maybe set up for his allies to go for a juggle. It does have some use as a means to hit foes into the incoming up aerial by the allies of Mr. Amano when they’re close range. There’s a short window of opportunity to juggle foes into the two allies at the beginning of the attack and in general the move isn’t too bad to use in this way. It’s generally not the worst combo starter in this way too if Amano is forced to help his son and allies fight.
Mr. Amano swipes a chop with one hand behind him, so that Lance takes out one of the chairs from behind-the-scenes at Bando Land and swings wildly, dealing 12% damage and high knockback able to KO from 105%! This deals knockback at a largely horizontal but slightly upward angle, making it a little worse for KOs, but is one of Amano's stronger aerials besides Lance's more powerful forward aerial. This the sweetspot at the end of the chair, where a glint appears, but the majority of the chair closer to Lance/a Badger deals 10% and will KO instead at 115%, still strong, but at an even more vertical angle, at a 50 degree angle. The fact it's so much worse of an angle but KOs only 10% later shows you how good the base knockback is compared to the sweetspot and is great at low percents to juggle foes for further anti-air assaults by Mr. Amano and his allies, as well as making space to summon a stronger or replenished Badger.
The range of the chair is good, comparable to Dedede's back aerial in size, though the chair is not fully facing the screen to not be as big as it may sound. This has average start and end lag but comes out fast, making it a reliably fast attack for its power, and has low end lag. The downside is that landing the back aerial in general can be hard as Mr. Amano will turn his allies around like his forward aerial, so the foe has to be directly behind them, not Mr. Amano. This means while the move is very strong it has to be to justify the heavy read or combos Mr. Amano has to set up to land the move, or just the sheer predictability of the foe.
This is like the forward aerial only using one ally at a time, so will not make Lance perform any attack while the Badger will use his back aerial. This can mean that positioned well, the foe can be put under huge shield pressure by Lance and a Badger's chair shots if they can get the foe in an awkward spot. Mr. Amano's allies will follow Mr. Amano into the air to perform their aerials, if
they are in the air they will only perform their aerials, so this has to be timed and pulled off with good executions. If all of this goes well however the foe can be caught in a very strong string of chair shot shield stun due to its low lag, high damage and great reach.
The shield pressure makes bair surprisingly one of the better aerials for Mr. Amano's advantage state if he can get the foe in a close range trap of bairs, much like his ftilt or jab, but requires much more careful timing. On the plus side though the sweetspot is so powerful that Mr. Amano can just end the stock right then and there if he can land the bairs on a shielding foe. On a regular foe it also still deals enough damage and knockback to be worth it poking shields or of course, simply hitting the foe away. If not just trying to hit shields the bair comes out so fast alongside moves like jab or ftilt that they can easily catch rolls and especially jumps, depending on what the foe does in response to the grounded ally. While the bair is not strictly spammable it has very little lag and the high range makes it one of the safest options available to Lance or Badgers.
Mr. Amano's solo bair is a weak looking kick where Amano tries to kick out of the back of his kimono and seems to be struggling to even do that, dealing 3% and low semi-spike knockback. This is very unsafe on shield, and bordering on unsafe on hit, while it is fast enough that it is also technically one of Amano's fastest moves, largely accomplishing nothing. Accomplishing nothing in the world of business is not always a bad thing however as just delaying the foe in shield or hitting them a short distance can actually be a good thing when allies are nearby to put their own pressure on the foe once they're out of lag or come back online after a good Lance cry. This makes it another surprise as a decent way for Amano to directly combo into his allies' attacks, a necessary boon when the move is on its face pretty pathetic. This bair has Mr. Amano's trademark poor range, despite sweeping a decent quarter-circle of air.
Down Aerial: Stamp Your Feet
Mr. Amano points both fingers downwards similarly to his up aerial but mirrored, making Lance repeatedly kick downwards in midair dealing 1 hit of 3%, 1 hit of 4% damage and one final hit of 9% damage for a total of 15%! The last hit will knock the foe away at a slightly upward angle, so will almost never KO unless Lance was going deep off stage and Mr. Amano was being particularly ballsy. The move is very comparable to Snake's dair which has 1 more hit, so lasts a little longer and deals a far greater 20% damage. By comparison for the animation Lance and the Badgers kick out more desperately but has marginally worse range due to the longer legs of Snake, having the same disjointed hitboxes to extend the legs greatly, and moving down Lance/the Badgers a little during the move to further help properly combo the various hits.
This is like the uair a move that will use up the two allies at once if they are both in the air, which can be really powerful given the nature of the move and how strong it is already on Snake. This comes out on frame 3 just like Snake's dair making it the fastest start up equal to Snake's dair in the game, while this can be nerfed slightly when Lance is stressed out adding important frames to the start up. The duration and end lag is a little lower than Snake's and the move can still be auto-cancelled too due to the forced movement, making it great out of short hop for Amano. This lets him do a short hop then as his ally is still in the air as Amano lands, performing "dair" for his allies to his back to catch out foes trying to roll behind or go over Amano's head!
This is as you'd expect very powerful when Lance and the Badger can land both their dairs at once on the foe. This is devastating on shields dealing 6 hits for up to 30% damage in one combined attack and Mr. Amano has a decent amount of time, even with it being shorter than Snake's dair, to do his own attack to potentially shield break! This is a unique case where Mr. Amano can contribute hugely to the team with his own set if the foe is caught in shield, or even in general by these many hits. Amano's allies can be moving forward during the attack to trade between each other - the Badger when in front can land his first two hits, and if he's moving forward, then pass on to be hit by Lance performing the same move, aided by delays and intelligent play by Mr. Amano. This will give Amano a ridiculous advantage to attack the foe as they're in hitstun to go for his own attacks or to simply space for the first actionable frame of the Badger or in rarer cases Lance to finish the foe off. All in all, this can be another scary move in the vein of jab, ftilt and bair when spaced right and is arguably the easiest to pull off so long as the foe shields the attack.
Mr. Amano makes even the most counter-intuitive possible, as it is plausible to land both a dair and dtilt despite the two being seemingly at odds. This is because as the dair lands on a landed foe they will be carried across the ground and can still be hit by the other ally's dropkick, ironically another move similar to a Snake move (his bair) with worse traits. This is largely not that relevant as neither move is that damaging or powerful, though it is good. The main effect of this combo is more shield pressure and an easier shield poke if the foe tries to aim their shields to counter either of the hits. This would normally be an effective counter to attempts to shield poke the top of the foe's shield but an ally on the ground can make this unviable. A simple delay too, either to do an "empty jump" (land) and do dtilt for the first ally while having the other ally perform dair as planned, makes the sheer act of Mr. Amano's allies landing around the foe a scary prospect.
The solo move of Mr. Amano's is arguably his strongest - Mr. Amano tucks in his legs and arms into a sitting pose, resembling a peaceful praying portly man, as he then falls after a brief stall to relax dealing 12% damage to foes he hits and a 13% landing hitbox on the ground. The first hit will KO from 107% straight upwards while the landing hit KOs at a largely flat angle at 123%. Neither of these are easy to land but as hard reads, it's by far Amano's most viable melee option. The stall is average length for a stall then fall as Amano, who has no stress at all over this match, takes a break in a moment of zen. The fall goes as fast as Bowser's dair which is ridiculously fast for a human. This can be cancelled after falling 0.7.x the height as Kirby's Stone down special, which can definitely lead to SDs if misused. The fact it can SD makes this a bit dangerous off-stage particularly when allies are being attacked and keeps in check how powerful the two dairs off-stage can be as a gimping move. When Mr. Amano can accidentally dair if they're interrupted, and even making it back on stage normally can be difficult, this balances things in the other direction.
Allies will try to follow Mr. Amano downwards but sometimes it's good for Amano to leave his allies to fend for themselves. Now, now, now, this is really Lance and the Badgers' fight after all. When he's falling he can then use his allies to attack foes. The fight can remain in the air while Mr. Amano parachutes out, making it a great utility in Amano's playstyle. The landing lag of the move is predictably bad however as Amano continues to enjoy his peace, as bad as Bowser Bomb. This can make it preferable to use higher in the air to get the most out of it and not go into the painful landing lag. This can definitely combo as well because of the upwards knockback of the first aerial hit dealing 12% damage, hitting into allies above Mr. Amano. This can also deal huge shield damage if the foe shields both hits. It's not hard to hit a shield with a falling well fed businessman, but with his allies' help, it can be a decent strategy to pressure shields or simply to steward foes where Mr. Amano wants them to occupy space. A solid move, good work Mr. Amano!
Grab and Pummel: Arrested Development
Mr. Amano points forward telling Lance or the Badger to grab forward, only doing so if they are close enough to be able to shuffle out in front of Mr. Amano and grab for very good range with a simple swipe, though with bad end lag if they whiff. Their handcuffs comically fly off into the air above as they use both hands to try and grab the foe two-handed - when this whiffs, they looked shocked and hold out their hands to catch the handcuffs back on their wrists. When the foe is grabbed by an ally Mr. Amano will rush forward and grab the foe himself, his ally letting go and applauding the genius Mr. Amano's strategic grab. It was his idea after all! The allies will like the Nana/Popo who are not actively played in Ice Climbers' moveset, stand aside and celebrate Mr. Amano's grab, in this case able to lend their help to Amano during his throws! This makes the grab a good way to passively bring the team back together as they will approach Mr. Amano during the grab if they had gotten separated. Mr. Amano holds the foe lightly by the shirt/chest area as if he is above them and the match.
The range when an ally is used for the grab quite picky and only one ally will grab at a time, the Badger with both Lance and a Badger or solo Lance. If the two allies are not in close range at the start of the move, Mr. Amano will instead grab forward. His grab is a very average grab and has poor range, comparable to Hero's grab, though largely is unremarkable. In either case, Mr. Amano or his allies initiating the grab, the outcome of the foe being grabbed by Mr. Amano is the same as the default grab.
For the pummel Mr. Amano will slap the foe for 1.5% in a slow and methodical pummel, mirroring the rhythm of his “Now, Now, Now” attack, for an overall poor pummel. When an ally is near enough he will instead cross his arms and allow them to give the foe a beating with their prop sword by bashing them over the heads for a quicker 1.2% damage, for overall good damage. A second ally will do the same in a slower individually, but dealing 1.2% damage more rapidly for a very good pummel that’s stronger than any of the Ultimate pummels by a decent margin. This only occurs with an ally behind Amano will step forward in front of him to hit from the other side. Mr. Amano’s throws are unaffected by the pummel, though will make use of any allies that happen to be involved in the grab, whether pummelling or cheering on their leader.
Forward Throw: Balloon Payment
Mr. Amano flings the foe away weakly for 2% damage, knocking them into the air a short distance forwards in a fast motion. Amano kicks forward a colourful light blue and light pink pump connected to a device of some kind in the background, stamping down on the pump - this causes a giant contraption to burst to life, a Blue Badger with the iconic Ace Attorney pointing finger that hits the foe away for a much stronger 5% damage and good knockback at a semi-spike! The Blue Badger figure is a balloon and Bando Land written on its arm up to its finger, written in the same fashion as the writing on the fountain near Bando Land’s entrance! After launching the foe away the Blue Badger will quickly deflate and dissipate by the time Mr. Amano can act. The Blue Badger is decently large, but seems only semi-inflated, roughly comparable to Bowser's ftilt in terms of size though with much of the balloon deflating in a sad looking sag below the Blue Badger.
The throw is mostly good for combos due to the weak knockback of the move, only capable of KOing at ridiculously high percents. The semi spike knockback does help at the ledge to get the most out of the knockback. Besides this, the throw is largely unremarkable. Mr. Amano will be out of lag quickly once the throw is over and can easily buffer attacks for his allies to attack the foe if they're close by. The throw launches the opponent high enough that they are hit over any nearby allies, as the pointing finger of the Badger balloon is quite tall. This means to fully take advantage to directly hit the foe right off the bat the allies need to be in the air, and as the throw has a high duration, this is hard to set up. It's easier at low percents to combo into anti-airs out of the fthrow such as usmash or utilt, and at 0% this can lead to a nice few hits of utilt between the allies. It can also hit into usmash at low percents, largely giving Amano the choice of pure damage or starting off a juggle.
The throw greatly changes when the fthrow is mashed when the allies are near, this is signalled by a glint on the HUD over Amano's closed eye like other moves in Smash Ultimate. After he throws the foe Mr. Amano will start to aggressively snap his fingers when he kicks out the pump. This will immediately cause Lance/a Badger to stomp down several times on the pump as fast as Amano stamped once. This causes the Blue Badger balloon to blow up much larger than the normal one, growing to 1.5x the size of Bowser's ftilt, and growing that iconic pointing finger to point a whole battlefield platform further! The sagging balloon is almost totally filled out now and it deals a stronger 5% damage, bringing the total damage to 7% damage! The knockback of the move also improves partly because the foe is now launched from further away, though at a more generic slight upward diagonal angle. This will start to KO from 200% at the ledge. This is not a great KO throw, but is great to hit the foe off stage. This will only use Lance if he is available, leaving the Badger to defend Mr. Amano solo as Lance suffers from extended lag as the balloon Blue Badger pops in his face. This has a decent chunk of end lag for Lance but is “frame neutral” with the foe recovering at the same time as Lance.
Amano can continuously snap his fingers when the button is pressed repeatedly, the 7% hitbox only being for one extra press of A. Amano will snap his fingers aggressively another 2-4 times, each time Lance/a Badger will stomp down even harder on the pump, causing the Blue Badger balloon to inflate more and more! This has marginally longer lag for duration, but is otherwise the same. For each snap, the balloon finger will deal an extra flat 2% damage, so coming out to 7%, 9% and 11% respectively, adding another 2% for the total damage from the initial throw by Mr. Amano. On top of that, the balloon itself will inflate more and more to the point at its max, it will be 1.5x battlefield platforms long and as tall as Ganondorf. It can barely hold in all that air! This will increase the knockback a little bit, but most of the strength comes from simply having the foe launched from the now much farther away finger. The angle of the knockback still makes this not that strong of a gimp on characters like Mac but now does a fantastic job of hitting foes off stage either to summon a better Badger or to set up a ledge guard situation with the Badger Mobile or moves like fsmash. On the downside, this marginally increases the lag of the ally each time, trading combo potential for simple follow up potential.
Every snap will decrease the aforementioned 200% KO potential at ledge by 10%, going to 190%, 180% and finally 170%, a pretty good KO percent for a throw! The cost of these much stronger versions of fthrow is the toll it takes on Lance and having to perform such a strenuous task as stomping on a pump. Each time, Lance will take an additional
5% hit to his stress level. This can add up to another
20% bonus stress if all the pump commands are given by Amano. The Blue Badger balloon will blow up and up visually getting the point it's practically bursting from the seams because of the excess air.
When Lance crosses the threshold into having full on breakdown while pumping up the Blue Badger balloon, he will start to violently jump up and down on the pump in a rage!
Mr. Amano looks shocked at this out-of-character display. The jumping has significantly longer start up, with the foe almost escaping from the balloon popping up, but then the balloon explodes! Poor Blue Badger, he was only a quarterly report away from retirement. The balloon popping deals 10% damage to both the foe, Lance and any foes close to the balloon, dealing strong 90 degree forwards/up diagonal knockback to both, able to KO the foe from 180%! Not a bad cost to pay for the stress. This also puts both the foe and Lance into the air. Lance does immediately go into his breakdown, but this can be good as the foe has to focus on landing versus Amano and possibly a Badger, so might be forced to hit him out of the breakdown. When Lance is at low HP then the foe won’t necessarily have the time to attack a falling, breaking down Lance, who will spare no time in breaking down in the air because of the potential for Amano to punish their cruel attacks on a brilliant young man.
Up Throw: Generosity Lifts Us All
Mr. Amano grabs the foe tighter, glaring at the foe, then tosses them up simply into the air with all his strength, a similar animation to Hero's uthrow! It doesn't look quite as impressive on Amano and it deals 5%, a weak up throw that will only KO at ridiculous percents. There's even a funny little crack sound once Amano throws the foe, and he grabs his back for a moment during the end lag! The positive side of the low knockback is that it will combo into even the very low range Mr. Amano solo usmash, despite him grabbing his back, but only at 0% or close to it. At low but not 0% low percents, it's also possible to combo into the Lance or Badger usmash, and at relatively mid-range percents up to even 40% can combo into utilts.
The combos naturally are the primary reason to use the move at all, though it doesn't result in a huge amount of damage racking compared to a fully-pumped fthrow. These can also depend on if Mr. Amano can land a dash grab and then uthrow the foe immediately in the case of the Badger's usmash, as the sign pole will otherwise not reach the purely vertical hitbox. On the other hand, Lance's scooping hitbox will hit foes, but being able to slide into foes with a dash grab is a more guaranteed combo, otherwise it might hit the sourspot at the back of the hitbox. This may not seem that viable as a strategy because of Amano's awful dash speed, but his initial dash is actually quite good and his dash attack will force the foe to be hesitant about being too aggressive when in range of a hard dash attack read. This makes it possible to condition foes to get overly defensive and land a quick dash grab to get these truly impressive uthrow combos.
A glint will appear over Amano's eye when he has allies available during the start of the move. When he grabs the foe Amano will look to his ally, Lance or Badger whoever is the "front" ally. They will then grab Amano himself and raise him as high as they can into the air! Using this increased momentum Mr. Amano is able to put more strength into the throw to toss the foe for 7% damage and higher knockback! This isn't actually that much stronger, but with how the Badger or Lance hold up Mr. Amano, it improves the strength of the throw to KO from an ever useful 210%. This is made better of course by platforms. The upside of this is that Mr. Amano has even less end lag than the normal throw as his
ally's back cracks from lifting the well-fed Amano, putting themselves in that end lag instead! While the foe is thrown further and can be KO'd realistically now, this opens up aerial follow-ups instead! A low % nair out of uthrow is now plausible, as is a cheeky uair for both solo Amano at super low percents! This is very plausible too given the ally will be in enough lag to immediately buffer a solo Amano move. This can combo a few times too, potentially comboing the Amano uair into the ally uppercut if landed at very low percents, usually not viable. When two allies are available this instead turns into more of a hard read scenario as Amano can use his always available nair but has to have his ally use a utilt/usmash or guess at the foe's DI with the laggier Lance/Badger uair.
Back Throw: Coin Flip
Mr. Amano performs an amateur judo throw, dealing 4% damage and throwing the foe behind him lightly into the air, then tosses a ball of coins at the foe that deals a further 4% damage and launches the foe even further! Amano's judo throw will send the foe in a quick loop before they are properly launched, alongside dair perhaps a sign of some meagre knowledge of martial arts in his distant past. The light knockback gives the foe a good deal of base knockback while the ball of coins, roughly the size of a Smash ball, launches the foe at a sharp diagonal to KO from 215%. This is not an unusable bthrow for KO power but definitely on the weak side. The coins explode on contact with the for and shower down in a purely visual effect, as they dissipate they can be seen to be branded with the Blue Badger, so have no real worth - Amano would never throw away money for no good reason!
The ball of Bando Land coins will always hit the foe but works in the same way as the laser throws of the Star Fox characters. In this case it most strongly resembles Falco's bthrow where the ball
can miss foes at certain percents. The ball is thrown at a sharp angle which at most percents will directly hit the foe or will force the foe to be hit but not when they are nowhere near the ball. In Amano's case, this is at low percents where the foe is launched so weakly by the incompetent judo throw, they are not high enough to be hit by the ball of coins. The other case is when the foe is at middling percents, 70-110% for a midweight, scaling differently for heavier foes. This is due to the weird lobbing arc that Amano sends the foe in as part of the judo throw, where they will be looping around in such a way they miss it, though this window is narrower for particularly large foes as they just get hit anyway.
The effective point of the foe not being hit by the coin ball is that they are then dealt less hitstun naturally, and are out of the move faster, but also much closer to Amano who still has a slight frame advantage. This makes it possible to combo at very low percents, which is not much different from uthrow but behind Amano, or at the more dynamic middle percents. That this varies depending on size/weight makes it more match up dependant, this is more useful on heavier foes who will largely never be KO'd by the bthrow anyway. This opens up a few very different follow-ups for Amano largely revolving around trying to cross up the foe with allies on either side of the foe to juggle and doing quick air-to-air nairs or predicting them with a uair on light foes. Heavier foes or fast fallers are in more danger as they can fall to the ground faster and then be hit by a jab or ftilt to trigger a massive combo, and as the middle percents are much less defined than the lower ones, this is something foes just have to learn.
Mr. Amano gets that same glint in his eyes when he throws the ball and will point at the ball if the A button is pressed at this point if an ally is close to Amano. The first ally in line if they are close will jump at the coin ball! They grab the ball and look surprised as it's shattered into many of those Bando Land coins all over the place, then look saddened by no easy money, while the foe is hit by their body blow for 8% damage and high radial knockback, this will KO at a marginally better 205%. The ally don't really think it's money either, they are just helping their leader. The ally's knockback angle depends on their exact location and the further they are from the foe and behind Amano, without being too far to not activate the move, the stronger the move is! This is again something Amano simply has to get a feel for, much like the jab or ftilt, and can lower the KO% to around 190% with a perfect position. The ally can completely miss the foe at the same percents as the money ball, though again there is less room to miss for bigger foes. This leaves the ally in the air where they can then be commanded aerially, similar to Lance's breakdown-induced uthrow, though with no downside.
Down Throw: Cuff Em
Amano takes out a pair of handcuffs and harshly slaps them onto the foe, if not on their hands then onto another part of their body, slapping on the cuffs deals a weak 1% damage. Mr. Amano looks around angrily if he has no allies, quickly flashing a wad of cash and summoning a Proto Badger to the match who is attached on the other side of the handcuffs. The Proto Badger desperately charges forwards into the ground in a body slam motion, an impatient-looking Amano giving him a harsh glare, as the foe is dragged along the ground for 3 hits of 3% damage and launched weakly. The Proto Badger collapses into a pile with a confused look on his face, with stars circling his head as he disappears. This will pop the foe into the air just in front of Amano primed for combos! At 0% this pretty much combos into anything… to bad that the allies not being around makes it fairly pointless. Instead Amano has to use his throw opportunistically when his allies aren’t around for the throw, but directly after, one way or another. Then he can perform truly impressive combos! This will require some masterful manipulation and makes it a much harder sell to use than the other throws that lead to much easier combos at any given percent, though nonetheless, even without a guaranteed combo it’s 10% and a good chance at a follow-up.
You may be thinking, now is the time for a classic handcuff throw! Well that would be the case… but I already said earlier these aren’t real handcuffs, they break with much of any friction, and they’re exceptionally short too! So trying to cuff anyone to Lance or the Badgers is sadly not on the table unless Mr. Amano takes out a pair of real handcuffs and well, who would do that in a moveset?
What happens when an ally is nearby depends on the ally, ranging from Lance to all the various different Badgers. Mr. Amano will clamp down the handcuff on the foe before the ally performs the throw. The Proto Badger will perform the same throw as the one that Mr. Amano summons, only sticking around at the end in moderate end lag before getting back on their feet.
Lance will perform largely the identical throw, this deals 3% damage for the 3 hits dragging the foe across the ground and Lance or the Badger collapses on the floor at the end launching the foe as they are released from the handcuffs. Lance will however take
3% to his stress for each hit against the ground accounting for
9% overall! That’s a hefty sum, though given that this will guarantee combo into some great stuff at 0%, when Lance is likely to be low on the stress meter anyway, it’s likely a worthy trade-off to immediately use Lance. However, Lance alone is nice, but not as nice as Lance plus a Badger, and if a Badger is present instead, this isn’t quite the same.
The Blue Badger follows the ideals of justice and undoes the handcuffs! Striking a pose, he quickly looks to a non-plussed Mr. Amano and quickly perform an uppercut on the foe instead for 6% damage and low upward, steep knockback. This is a weak launcher that puts Mr. Amano into less end lag than the regular move with the Proto Badger, but results in more lag for the Blue Badger so that ideally Lance will have to make up for this, which can be advantageous if Lance was in front the whole time. This puts the foe higher in the air, but closer to Amano meaning technically it can lead into more grounded combos and follow-ups, at the cost of only having Lance as the reliable one to start anything.
The Pink Badger will go along with this attack but instead of slamming the foe will dunk them onto the ground in front and leap into the foe instead, causing tacky pink stars to erupt (from the costume perhaps?) as they both slide across the ground together. The foe slides a little further, roughly half a battlefield platform in distance before launching the foe for a slightly stronger 4%... in the opposite direction at a steep diagonal towards Mr. Amano. This goes without saying, leads to some interesting set-ups with or without Lance, though is very different from the usual move. You can try for the utilt or usmash, or fsmash at lower percents when the foe will hit the ground sooner. The problem with this is that the foe will largely not get close enough at low percents, so this fits the niche of the middling percents before bthrow comes online, but after the already good 0% combos from dthrow, but this depends on if Lance is around.
The Bad Badger will as you’d expect for the Bad Badger not play by the rules, ramming his foot into the foe and kicking them away hard enough the fake cuffs break, dealing 9% damage and high knockback at the Sakurai angle! Bad Badger will get out some new cuffs immediately, so he doesn’t suffer much end lag for this show of rebellion. This is your standard Sakurai angle throw, but can KO starting at 200% too, unlike fthrow not requiring so much involvement to do it though at a far more horizontal angle so technically less base knockback, scaling faster than the fthrow. As your Sakurai angle throw it will lead into some great tech chases potentially with the foe being hit across the ground, easily leading into moves like fsmash, jab, ftilt, a re-grab and other magical follow-ups if Mr. Amano can correctly read the foe. This will leave Bad Badger is slightly worse end lag than the Proto Badger however, so he will have to follow up behind Mr. Amano and possibly Lance if he’s up.
The dthrow is the most versatile throw by a mile due to all the various versions. Each version lacks a key component to make it truly devastating and instead fills a particular niche that is lacking throughout the rest of Mr. Amano’s grab game, giving him a plethora of combo starters, pressure tools and ways to manipulate his allies to his desires. The issue for the match is the foe has to keep track of who is up, be it Lance or one of the badgers and react accordingly. The foe will probably expect a dthrow at low percents as the most obvious options but this is not always available, it’s quite counter-productive for Amano that at the start of the match he’s also unlikely to have a badger out to make the most of all that dthrow offers, and certainly not enough time to roll for a good badger with his Buy the Badger Patrol neutral B! This largely makes the dthrow into a wild card sort of throw where Mr. Amano can mix up how he fights the foe to change the pace of the match, especially if he doesn’t have a Proto Badger in the front, giving a unique edge to each of the other 3 badgers and Lance.
Lets Come to an Agreement
Mr. Amano throws money devilishly into the air above him as a parade of badgers – Blue, Proto, Pink and Bad – rush across the stage in a giant crowd! The crowd is huge, ranging two BF platforms in width and as tall as the ones in Amano’s set, and will rush forward ignoring if there’s even no ground there! Mr. Amano continues to throw wads of money into the air for the duration to keep them motivated, looking on disappointed if the foe is not hit. Any foe who is hit by the crowd is launched off into the cutscene portion of the final smash and dealt 12% damage by the crowd, who will themselves disappear after rushing forward an impressive FD in range at Fox’s dash speed, ignoring shields.
The foe is hit into the Ace Attorney courtroom, landing in the witness box facing the judge, who looks down on them scornfully! On the defence side is Mr. Amano, who is as always not particularly concerned about the conclusion of this trial, but in fact is in the middle of the argument. On the opposing side is Winston Payne who spends the final smash looking at a stack of dollar bills for some odd reason. The trial seems to go very quickly, not much longer than your typical final smash cutscene. It would seem that Mr. Amano is begging the court for forgiveness for the foe, he is on his side after all, doing his best “Now, Now, Now” to help them out.
After much deliberation the judge decides to go lenient on the foe, sentencing them with a slam of the gavel. A giant cannon branded with the Bando Land logo pushes out of the front of the judge’s bench and shoots the foe point blank for a powerful 25% damage to KO from 70%! See, this could have been a much stronger final smash, some of them can even KO in one hit sometimes! Mr. Amano is nothing if not a very fair mediator. The foe will be launched at a high angle by the cannon upon returning to the stage, and Mr. Amano dusts off his kimono and returns to his business of running his affairs for his allies who are the ones who are actually fighting the foe after all.
Playstyle: The Stress of Teamwork
Mr. Amano on the face of it is a complex character, straddling several mechanics. Lance and the Badger alone may seem intimidating at a glance. The stress meter that Lance always carries around is another intimidating factor for new players to grapple with. The fact Mr. Amano has his own set, even with the ability to set it on or off when allies are available, is another daunting element f the set. Mr. Amano is deceptively simple however and while he definitely is a complex character mechanically is designed to be able to be played in quite a mashy and chaotic way because of his plethora of options and surprising amount of combo potential.
By far the most important mechanic in the set is the use of Lance, the Badger or both. Mr. Amano can manipulate exactly where they attack from and this is crucially important because it means he can focus on either defence with them stationed between him on either side or to catch cross up attempts (which are extremely bad for Amano). The offensive position of putting them in front will let him go more aggressive. Moves like utilt, uair and usmash revolve around this basic position and can be versatile in ho they’re used. The HP and stress of Lance is something to keep in mind too, and the HP is not shown, so like Nana just has to be kept in mind. Once you master this mechanic, the rest of Amano’s playstyle is not far beyond that.
Mr. Amano largely ranges from three different modes. The first is his solo set, a very bad set that’s about as bad as SoPo, swapping his decent range for more power, and his weight makes him a lot more viable to survive long enough to re-summon his allies. He’s at least fast and strong at times here, but this is absolutely where you don’t want to be. Mr. Amano and Lance is the next mode, and that is a semi-competent character, which is significant as this is the most likely mode for Amano to be in for most of the match, even if Lance does go down for much of it, this is also highly comparable to just having a Badger out for when that happens. This is however not the most desirable outcome, you clearly want to have a Badger out at all times too, and even a Proto Badger is much better than no Badger!
The Badgers themselves are largely to make it less predictable for the foe, as they have differing attributes and some different move variations. They are not nearly as important as Lance arguably, solely because of fair and fthrow acting as strong game changes when Lance is at the right percent. These surprise KO moves break the monotony of comboing the foe into the eventual later KO moves like fsmash that reliably hit, as Amano’s KO potential not that the greatest, but these moves change that. The badgers are still invaluable and their differences mean the foe always has to stay on their toes as just swapping them out can change not only certain moves but how some combos connect and how early some moves KO depending on the badger.
When you do have a Badger out and understand all the mechanics Mr. Amano can be an outright broken character… with quite a few asterisks on that brokenness. Mr. Amano at all times with his allies presents a huge amount of hurtboxes for the foe to chew away at and for Mr. Amano to get confused by as he tries to bring them all together in concert. The fact he can turn off his own set acts as some basic training wheels for the player. Badger Mobile can be worth giving up this powerful moveset for a short time if Mr. Amano can play well enough to force the foe into the badger mobile or pressure around it, and acts as a nice way to relieve the pressure on Amano to land a close range hit. The most obvious thing for Mr. Amano to do is just get close to land a jab or ftilt. Depending on how close he gets, this will alone shut down the foe in the same vein as an ICers with good combo knowledge or as stated in those moves, a Terry primed to combo into his FF inputs! However the simple act of getting in close on the foe, with all those bodies to walk around and manipulate, that’s the real difficult part in mastering Amano.
The neutral game is where Amano can be a great or mediocre character depending on how the minutia of all his depth is utilized by the player. His many disjointed attacks using his allies have to be able to bait in foes close enough to punish, as well as dangling the allies around temptingly enough that the foe will come in and fall for the actual attack. Mr. Amano is always the king of this chess match and if the foe manages to chip away to get an unacceptable 1on1 with the master himself, the stock may well be lost right there. From the beginning of the match Mr. Amano has to fight the foe away from depleting his resource – his son and his very low committal badger allies – so that he doesn’t find himself in a compromised position.
Mr. Amano then plays exactly how his personality would be portrayed: it’s not his fight, but he’s going to win it! The more he can put his allies in harm’s way but not get them harmed and punish the foe for trying to get through to him, the better. But the thing is Mr. Amano can absolutely fall apart in the face of rushdown or just a couple of mistakes to leave himself open. What stops this getting too one sided either way is that solo Amano while bad,
can mount a comeback, putting the impetus on the foe to make the most of this rare opportunity to duke it out with the king of the middle ground. Mr. Amano has to fight to keep his position on the fence through any means necessary.
Ultimately Mr. Amano has to conduct his team in spite of how chaotic it can become with all the variables, much like a good Ice Climbers or Olimar player. There’s still plenty of consistency to this plan, only the badger summon is random at all, but there’s so many small factors that go into how the two allies will attack. Whether it be the slight stress delay, the different badgers, Amano’s own set and how the player utilizes it, the ordering of the allies and their position, they all have to come together. It’s in this execution that Mr. Amano’s playstyle shines, trying to expand his control to the very match itself and staying above it all, while picking his moment to make the foe’s comeback insurmountable! The potential for dominance is as terrible as the potential for absolute failure, but Mr. Amano’s slow and calculated set full of careful planning betrays that, as he is swimming in deep mechanics. So long as he doesn’t make a big splash and swims with the tide, he can excel. Now, now, now, please direct all of your praise to Mr. Amano and Lance will be handling all of the criticism.