Make your amiibo work for you in Super Smash Bros on Nintendo Switch

Got tons of amiibo you want to use with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Here’s a guide to what they do!

It’s fun to have a giant amiibo collection, or even a smaller one, especially as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is compatible with just about every amiibo out there. It only makes sense that gaming’s most ambitious crossover title would have this many compatible amiibo, with almost every one having a unique effect as well. It’s simple to use all of your amiibo with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch, and I highly recommend scanning them all in as soon as you possibly can.

Here’s what they do when you scan them.

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How to scan amiibo

Just about any amiibo can be scanned into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for some kind of reward. To scan them, go to Games and More on the main menu, then select amiibo. You’ll be prompted to scan amiibo over your right Joy-Con’s stick by tapping them and holding them until they scan. That’s all there is to it! You can scan as many as you like, but depending on the amiibo, they will have different effects on the game. There are two types of amiibo: amiibo fighters, and Spirits.

amiibo fighters

Any amiibo that corresponds to an unlockable fighter in the game will scan as an amiibo fighter. This does not just go for the Super Smash Bros. versions of these amiibo, but for all versions. For example, the Yarn Yoshi amiibo will scan as Yoshi. Both versions of Isabelle’s amiibo will scan as Isabelle, even though she does not have a Smash amiibo just yet.

Scanning these allows you to turn them into amiibo fighters similar to the ones in Super Smash. Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Essentially, these are "fighter" characters you can fight against in Smash battles and "train" to fight like you. For example, if you use a lot of airborne attacks, they’ll learn from you and follow suit. You can train them however you like, then battle against them to test your skills or those of your friends.

You can also power them up with Spirits, increasing their stats or giving them certain powers. Be warned, however that using a Spirit on an amiibo will use up that Spirit for good, so choose wisely.

amiibo data is written to the amiibo itself, so when you’re done training you’ll save that data back onto your figure. If your amiibo already has data saved to it from other games, you’ll need to delete that data before you can save new data to it. However, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate does allow you to carry over data from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS as well, so if you’ve trained up a powerful amiibo fighter in a past game, you can keep its strength. You don’t need to do anything special to unlock this – it will prompt you automatically when you scan the amiibo.

Spirits

The other type of amiibo is a Spirit. Any amiibo that does not correspond to a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will scan as a particular Spirit, and add that Spirit to your inventory.

amiibo Spirits are generally very powerful, and are a great help early on especially as you work to conquer the game’s Adventure Mode.

Almost all amiibo will work with the game as Spirits, though a few (such as the Monster Hunter amiibo) will not. It’s worth it to scan your entire collection for the game’s best Spirits!