Normal Attacks:
Jab: A bee flies in front of Isabelle, so she shuts her eyes and swings her clipboard in front of her to shoo it away, swinging it back and forth with each button press.
Dash Attack: While running, Isabelle notices a swarm of bees behind her, so she hits the deck as the swarm rushes into the opponent, missing her.
Side Tilt: Isabelle tries to catch an unseen bug in her net and swings it forward in a side-to-side motion. A two strike move.
Up Tilt: Isabelle celebrates being in Smash by pulling out a Party Popper and pointing it skyward, unleashing an explosion of confetti in a quick motion.
Down Tilt: A Ring Toss furniture piece appears before Isabelle, slightly in front of her, and she tries to toss a ring onto it. The opponent keeps getting in the way, though.
Aerial Attacks:
Neutral Air: Isabelle takes out her fishing rod and makes a circular ribbon-twirler motion around her with its line.
Forward Air: Isabelle pulls out a giant foam finger and does a scooping motion, of sorts. She just wanted to cheer, but then the foe got in the way.
Back Air: Allergy season sucks. Isabelle sneezes, shooting her backwards and making her slam into the opponent. This can also work as a last ditch recovery effort, similar to Corrin's back air, but in the opposite direction.
Up Air: Isabelle, enjoying the breeze, pulls out a pinwheel and holds it above her. Its edges are sharp and rapidly hit the foe for damage.
Down Air: Isabelle, being a klutz, drops a bag of bells from her pocket. They hurdle down toward the ground and hit the opponent with a resounding thunk.
Smash Attacks:
Forward Smash: Isabelle knocks over a stack of paperwork about 1.5 times her own height, sending it cascading forward as any foe caught in the move gets launched. This is Isabelle's best kill move...just don't tell her that.
Up Smash: Isabelle adores seashells. In this move, she'll play with the shell the mayor gave her, tossing it up in the air and catching it as it descends. While it's airborne, however, it will spin rapidly, causing major damage to those hit by it.
Down Smash: Isabelle poses in celebration as an archway appears over her, quickly falling from the sky. However, if the opponent was on either side of her when the archway was made...well, they're underneath it now. As they get blasted away, Isabelle, horrified, quickly removes the archway, turning it into a leaf.
Grab, Pummel, and Throws:
Grab and Pummel: Isabelle casts her line and snags the foe with her rod, entangling them. Each pummel has her pull on the rod in an attempt to free the line from them, though this ends up being her pummel.
Forward Throw: Isabelle turns on a giant fan that blasts foes away.
Back Throw: Isabelle tries to unhook the foe but ends up tossing them backward as she looks on in horror.
Up Throw: A geyser bursts out beneath the opponent, blasting them upward.
Down Throw: A flowerpot falls from the sky and smashes into the foe, knocking them toward the stage and sending them upward. Isabelle's gonna have to have a talk with the upstairs tenants.
Special Attacks:
Neutral Special: New Leaf - Isabelle tosses a leaf in front of her, skyward. It slowly descends toward the stage. Pressing the button again as it's either on the stage or in the air will transform it into a piece of furniture: either a small one that can be thrown, or a large one that either crushes a foe beneath it as it falls, or can be used as a stage obstacle for the opponent to have to work around. One light and one heavy object can be on the stage at once per Isabelle.
Side Special: Public Works Projects - Like Shulk's Monado Arts, these can be cycled by pressing the button. A set of four symbols appear above Isabelle as they cycle: a water droplet, a flame, an hourglass, and a bell. Selecting one brings a Gyroid onto the stage, which must be protected at all costs, as it has a health bar. If the Gyroid takes too much damage, it will disappear. After it has been guarded enough, it will transform into a permanent object on the stage. Here are the options and their effects.
— Selecting the water droplet creates a small fountain on the stage. The water effect can interrupt foes attempting to approach Isabelle from the air, due to its windbox effect.
— Selecting the flame creates a campfire. Opponents that touch this will get burned, and all explosives that touch it will instantly explode. Additionally, any projectile, either from Isabelle or from her opponent, that passes through the flames will become imbued with the fire effect, doing slightly more damage and automatically setting off explosives.
— Selecting the hourglass creates a small clockpost on the stage. This doesn't reach the foreground and doesn't impact the fight directly, but it does decrease the amount of time needed to defend a Gyroid before a Public Works Project is created.
— Selecting the bell creates a small bell on the stage that Isabelle can ring by going near it (it will automatically activate when she goes near it). This is a sound based attack that damages opponents, buying Isabelle more time.
Only two Public Works Projects can be on the stage at a time per Isabelle. These structures are semi-permanent. They will stay on the stage unless:
— The stage moves in a way that leaves the structures behind, like a touring stage, or
— Isabelle presses and holds her Side Special while next to a structure, instantly dismantling it.
Plan your "town" wisely and use each project to your advantage.
Up Special: Present Balloon - Isabelle holds onto a present balloon and flies upwards. Unlike Villager, she doesn't have free flight during this, making it a much more linear recovery.
Down Special: Beautiful Town Ordinance - Isabelle plants a sign post into the ground as a fenced off area appears on the stage around her. After five seconds (this can be reduced to three with the clock tower public works project), a small garden appears. Standing in the garden allows Isabelle to slowly heal a bit of health back, but she cannot attack while standing in the garden, making her a sitting duck. But by planning out her PWPs and furniture properly, perhaps she can preoccupy the foe long enough to heal a significant chunk of damage. Unlike her Side Special, this garden is not semi-permanent. If a foe attacks the flower bed enough, it will wither away and disappear. Striking it with a fire move will erase it almost instantly. You can only place one flower bed on the stage at a time.
Final Smash: Bell Boom Ordinance
Isabelle enacts the Wealthy Town, or Bell Boom, Ordinance. In this move, heavy bags of bells rain from the sky before bursting on impact on the stage. This causes massive damage both to the foe and to the economy.
Playstyle Notes:
Isabelle is a very defensive-oriented character. From a cosmetic standpoint, none of her moves are intended to bring harm to the opponent, but the circumstances surrounding the fight make her accidentally bring harm to them.
Where Isabelle truly shines is her set of specials, as they dictate her playstyle: she is a cute and clumsy terraformer, being able to alter the stage to her heart's content. This showcases a key aspect of the Animal Crossing series, which is town planning and interior decorating. Isabelle, being the assistant mayor, oversees a lot of the day to day town planning, and as such she is the perfect character for something like this.