With Light Vs. Wily out, we've had a chance to see some of the maps in deathmatch settings. This has lead to one conclusion:
Atomic Fire is always ridiculously easy to acquire. More times than not, it's placed in the middle of a field (with other less valuable weapons typically in less convenient places). This is a problem because Atomic Fire is unbelievably centralizing, and it tends to drown out the rest of a weapon layout if it's easy to get. I'll put a list of the maps affected by this and, if applicable, weapons they could be swapped with.
MM1CUT: Ironically, the very first map in the game has Atomic Fire in a stupidly easy to access location. With Rolling Cutter also on the map, why is it even here in the first place? If it's to help the player learn about charging weapons (As MM1CUT is known as the "tutorial" map), then weapons like Pharaoh Shot or Homing Sniper may be better choices than Atomic Fire. Hell, you could replace it with Magma Bazooka.
MM1FIR: The placement's better here. It doesn't particularly need it, but you could swap Napalm Bomb and Atomic Fire's positions.
MM2HEA: Another Atomic Fire in the middle of a central room. You could switch its placement with Ice Wave's. Though, that does leave another power weapon in the middle of the room. This one's a bit tough, and you obviously can't take it out. Maybe replace Ice Wave with a different weapon?
MM2DW1: There's not actually much of an issue with this. I just want to point out that this is a pretty decent placement of Atomic Fire (requires jumps and is generally out of the way), and it's the kind of placement that I'm trying to point all this towards. Just figured I'd give an example.
MM3SHA: You could easily swap Remote Mine and Atomic Fire, but why, exactly, are Sakugarne and Atomic Fire on the same map? One of them would need to go; there doesn't need to be two OHKO weapons in one map (though technically Sakugarne isn't OHKO; it's just honorary OHKO since if the enemy hits you once and you manage to not die they'll just stick to you like glue.)
MM4BRI: Blatant example. It's worsened by the fact that Wind Storm is in a spot that would require MUCH more effort to reach despite it being less valuable of a weapon. You could just swap the two.
MM5DAR: Even a map as great as this has a bad Atomic Fire spot. It could be swapped with the nearby Flame Sword.
MM6TOM: Swap it and Power Stone. The last thing a map with heavy hitters like Silver Tomahawk and Super Arm sitting in easy reach is more power just lying around. it's funny because Power Stone starts with Power and it also isn't that bad
MM6KNI: With Flash Bomb, Thunder Beam and Knight Crush lying around, Atomic Fire is barely necessary in the first place. Might be a contender for a MM9 weapon replacement. also this is irrelevant but please for the love of god fix that 1 unit offset error on the green brick on the battlement nearby
MM7DW3: Could be swapped with Spread Drill. Honestly speaking, why is Spread Drill up there in the first place? It's good, but not that good.
MM7DW4: clearly you need to put Atomic Fire down with Guts Man G I don't know if this is getting lumped with some of the other reworked MM7 maps, but it's a tad bit out in the open. You could rotate Magic Card, Atomic Fire, and the two Tornado Holds' placements so that the T.Holds are on the pedestals and vice versa.
MMWTBRG: This map already has Top Spin (which is also placed accordingly with its strength). It doesn't need Atomic Fire, let alone one placed in such an easy spot.
MMWTDW2: Same issue as before: it already has Top Spin. This time, however, Atomic Fire is also placed in an area that players are less likely to travel to, and it's placed with more emphasis on its strength. However, one still needs to go.
Naturally, Atomic Fire isn't the only weapon that should have its placement reconsidered (Why is Hard Knuckle in the middle of a main thoroughfare on MM1DW1), but I'm only addressing this in particular. In addition, I don't know if Atomic Fire matters as much in Duel, so this might not apply there. I'm simply referring to DM/TDM settings, and if it applies to Duel, then great.
I'm aware that this may come off as whining, but I just feel like a weapon as mindless as Atomic Fire shouldn't be mindless to acquire. As stated before, it tends to dominate the player's weapon slots. This even occurs in LMS modes, as the ability to take down an opponent with a single shot isn't something to take lightly.
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