Mii


 * For the universe, see Mii (universe).

A Mii is a personal digital avatar character that players can create and use in certain Nintendo games. Miis were introduced for the Wii alongside the system's launch late in 2006, and have since appeared for use on the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, and even certain Nintendo DS titles and mobile apps. Miis often make cameo appearances - playable or not - in Nintendo games and are sometimes the focal point, such as software like and the  series, and gained representation in the lineup for Super Smash Bros. 4, and later Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, eight years after their original introduction.

Origin
Miis debuted along with the Wii in late 2006. They can be created using the Wii's Mii Channel application, and users are able to customize many aspects of their appearance and facial features, such as their height, hairstyle, and eye color to resemble friends, family, and celebrities, or - with creative enough use of the provided facial parts - animals, fictional characters, and inanimate objects. Once created, Miis act as avatars for players in a variety of titles, including both first party releases such as and ' and third party titles such as ' and , and as a way of keeping track of individual players' scores. Miis saved onto a console are also capable of appearing as NPCs in games, usually acting as bystanders or spectators. Players could also save Miis onto their Wii remote and transfer them to another player's Wii, or submit them online using the Check Mii Out Channel. While initially exclusive to the Wii, Miis would also see use in a few Nintendo DS games (the most notable example being the Japan-exclusive ), and later in several games on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the latter two being made using the Mii Maker application preinstalled on the system. The 3DS Mii Maker would introduce the ability to save a Mii as a QR Code to share on any website and download using the camera. Miis would return on the Nintendo Switch, but were made less of a focal point within games themselves early in the system's lifespan, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being one of the first to include Miis within the gameplay. Color choices were greatly expanded on, and Miis were available from launch as options for profile icons with a variety of facial expressions and poses. Later games such as ' and ' once again saw Miis as focal playable entities, with the Switch version of Miitopia introducing a highly robust Mii creation studio. Miis also returned as playable characters in , though they were no longer the default characters of the game, that role being taken by a new set of characters known as "Sportsmates", which have more outfits and hairstyles available than Miis, and provide the option to play as anthropomorphic animals, but also have streamlined facial features.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
While not playable, any Miis saved on the Wii console could be used as personal icons in the game's Friend Roster.

There exist multiple rumors on the inclusion of Miis in Brawl, with most claiming that Masahiro Sakurai did not want Miis in the game, saying "They have an innocent charm to them that could be ruined if they were in a fighting game." No website or print source, however, is known to corroborate these claims. This quote was, however, used when explaining why Villager or another character wasn't added in Brawl.

During E3 2014, when introducing the Mii Fighters, Sakurai claimed that Miis were considered as potential playable characters in Brawl, but were ultimately not included because "it didn't seem right at the time for Miis to be punching and kicking".

As a playable fighter
Miis, under the name of Mii Fighters, are customizable fighters in Super Smash Bros. 4. They can be one of three types: the Gunner, which places emphasis on long-range attacks; the Brawler, with its close-range fighting style, fast movement, and powerful physical strikes; and the Swordfighter, the weapons master. Each of the three types has access to twelve unique special moves, and can also be customized with different clothes and accessories.

The height and width of the Miis used also determines their attributes in game. Smaller/skinnier Miis are faster (having better mobility and less ending lag on their attacks) in exchange for having less range, being slightly lighter and dealing slightly less damage, while bigger/wider Miis are slower (having worse mobility and more ending lag on their attacks) in exchange for having more range, being slightly heavier and dealing slightly more damage. Smaller Miis are considered to be the most effective overall, as their greater speed more than makes up for their largely minor shortcomings in comparison with larger Miis. Small Mii Brawler in particular was considered to be a very strong character as the character was small, had incredible mobility and they had a very strong combo game which along with their custom moveset, could easily allow them to KO opponents at very low percents from a grab combo. On the flipside, larger Miis are considered to be the least effective, as their slower speed and larger size are much more detrimental than the minor advantages they gain. After however, only the default sized Miis have generally been allowed in tournaments.

On the fourth and current tier list, which does not take custom special moves or sizes into account, the Mii Fighters are unranked, though, on the previous tier list, Mii Gunner, Mii Brawler, and Mii Swordfighter ranked 54th, 56th, and 57th respectively. Mii Brawler possesses good mobility, attack power and speed, yet has a lackluster reach and poor recovery. Mii Gunner has generally quick attacks and high reach, especially with its forward smash and up aerial, yet has a terrible grab game due to a lack of damage and an inability to start combos, along with mediocre mobility and a lack of ranged KO options. Mii Swordfighter has a disjointed range, quick grab, and versatility in its various special moves, but suffers from a lag-filled moveset and difficulty in KOing. However, the biggest drawback the Mii Fighters had for most of the game's lifespan is the banning of custom moves in most tournaments (along with restricting Miis to only be their default size), which was in effect for most tournaments throughout the game's life. Due to this, they were often forced to use only their default movesets with their default size, rendering their viability poor. Some tournaments late in the game's life did allow Miis to use their custom moves (such as events starting from 2018) but this was too little too late for the Miis (and they were still restricted to their default size). As a result, all three Mii Fighters have some of the worst tournament representation out of the game's entire roster.

Stage appearances
Mii characters also appear in the background of several stages. In these cases, the Miis featured can either be those already on the console, or random Miis generated by the game.
 * Find Mii: As in the game of the same name, players' Miis appear in cages.
 * Pilotwings: Miis appear in the background of the stage, flying using Rocket Belts.
 * Tomodachi Life: Miis may appear in the rooms behind the fighters.
 * Wuhu Island: Miis appear in the background of the stage playing minigames.

In Multi-Man Smash
Additionally, Mii Fighters appear as enemies (under the name "Fighting Mii Team") in the game's Multi-Man Mode, as well as the retooled Classic Mode. Succeeding the Fighting Alloys from Brawl, members of the team are taken from Miis in the player's Mii Maker, though randomly generated Miis are also present in the mode. All Miis featured as Mii Fighters are randomly chosen to be Brawlers, Swordfighters, or Gunners, but they cannot use special moves or grab ledges.

Mii Fighters have a unique costume when fought as part of the Fighting Mii Team, consisting of a black shirt with a large, white M on it, as well as stylized trousers featuring some stripes shaped like the lowercase letter I. These Mii Fighters also do not change facial expression when attacking or attacked, as if the Mii faces are nothing more than masks.

In Smash Tour
Miis are used as the players' tokens in the board game-like mode, Smash Tour, simply being used to move around between spaces and collect pick-ups. They appear to wear the same outfits that they do in the Mii Maker as opposed to their standard Mii Fighter uniforms, though they will wear a shirt that is either red, blue, green or yellow depending on their port colour. The Miis that are automatically loaded as representatives for CPUs are chosen at random, and the chances of a Guest Mii being chosen depends on how many Miis have been created on the console in question.

As a playable character
Miis return in Ultimate. Their proportions have been altered so that they have smaller heads, and they now have 12 different voices to choose from. They are once again customizable characters but are now the only ones with this distinction, and the height and width of the Miis used no longer affects their in game stats. Mii Fighters can choose from one of three special moves for each slot, some of which are new or altered from their SSB4 counterparts. Additionally, unlike the previous game, each Mii Fighter class is selected separately on the character select screen instead of sharing a slot, unless the character select screen is set to stack Echo Fighters.

Stage appearances
Miis reprise their role as background characters on Tomodachi Life, Find Mii, Pilotwings and Wuhu Island.

In Mob Smash
The Fighting Mii Team once again appears as the opponents in the game's Multi-Man mode, Mob Smash.

Trivia

 * Mii Fighters do not appear in All-Star Mode, making them the first and only playable characters with this distinction.
 * As mentioned above, Miis do not actually originate from a game. They share this trait with R.O.B.; however, Miis debuted in software that is compatible with games starring Miis, such as, Miitopia, and , whereas R.O.B. debuted as a peripheral for two games that do not star R.O.B. himself.
 * They are the first playable fighters with the Super Smash Bros. insignia.
 * Mii Fighters are the only characters to start off voiceless and gain a voice in the next game.
 * They can, however, remain voiceless in Ultimate, should the player choose to leave their Mii Fighter without one.
 * In some languages, Mii Fighters have two different names to refer to the male and female versions. Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Inkling, Byleth, and Pokémon Trainer also share this trait.
 * In Ultimate, the Mii Fighters have the most voice actors of any character in the series.
 * They also share the most voice actors that have voiced a veteran in the series, with a total of 9, including:
 * Michihiko Hagi, Yuji Kishi, Takashi Ohara, Kiyoyuki Yanada, Hideo Ishikawa, Ayumi Fujiwara, Makiko Omoto, and Minami Takayama, the Japanese voice actors of Ike, Ken, Fox, Richter, Simon, Zelda/Sheik, Kirby/Ness, and Pit/Dark Pit, respectively.
 * In addition, Ryotaro Okiayu voices the Assist Trophies Zero and Alucard in the Japanese version.