What’s it like to use amiibo in Smash Bros for Wii U ? IGN went hands-on to find out how Nintendo’s answer to toy-infused games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity works.

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In Smash Bros., A.I.-driven amiibo learn how to fight based on your behaviors. If you’re the kind of player who quickly runs around the stage to grab and use items against opponents, amiibo will adapt and do the same. They learn all types of moves and strategies based off of how you play. A Nintendo rep told us if you play matches without items, your amiibo won’t know what to do with them. We were also told they level faster when fighting other amiibo, so take all that into consideration when training.The amiibo figures themselves feel solid and well built. When we first saw amiibo behind plate glass at E3 2014, it was hard to tell just how resilient the figures would be. The models we were given access to have undergone some slight changes since then. Link is held firmly in place by a stiff yellow piece of plastic. Wii Fit trainer has a clear plastic cast surrounding her right foot to keep her from being ripped off it's base. Other amiibo like Kirby, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong feel extra durable, and could probably survive a couple of accidental drops.When you first use a new amiibo, they have to be registered with your console. So get used to traveling over to Games & More to scan the figures in, set a specific profile on the system as the owner, and give the amiibo a unique name. When you’re done, watch a quick video as your newly registered amiibo comes to life. Now you can go ahead and adjust their equipment and custom moves, or even feed them leftover equipment to increase their stats and levels. The new data needs to be written to the figure before you can start using it in Smash.Amiibo can be used in many modes of Smash Bros Wii U, from the chaotic 8-player Smash battles to Team Smash, and the stats and rewards earned are written to each figure whenever you quit out of a mode. If a figure loses contact with the touch sensor while saving amiibo data, the system will ask to recover the data and re-write it to the toy. Now you can run off to fight in the many, many modes of Smash Wii U.After you exit each mode, data (including cool rewards from the fight) must be written to the figure. The process is simple, and it’s smart enough to recognize if you’ve accidentally tried to scan the wrong figure. There’s even an option to reset the amiibo and start the whole process over.

Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on Twitter