Meta Knight: Difference between revisions

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|image        = [[File:KF2 Meta Knight.png|Meta Knight|325px]]

Official artwork of Meta Knight from ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby Fighters 2}}''.

|lastappearance= ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby and the Forgotten Land}}'' (2022)

The ''{{iw|wikirby|Kirby: Right Back at Ya!}}'' anime depicts Meta Knight as an ostensible underling to [[King Dedede]]; in reality, he has his own higher motives, and only uses his relationship with Dedede as a means of accomplishing them. He often acts as a mentor to Kirby, providing cryptic advice and training him to become a Star Warrior. This appearance is the basis of Meta Knight's personality in ''Smash''. In Japanese, he is even voiced by the same actor, Atsushi Kisaichi.

===Trophy description===

[[File:Meta Knight Trophy Melee.png|thumb|left|100px|Meta Knight's trophy in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''.]]

''The mysterious head of the Meta-Knights, he wields his sword with dignity. He delivered his sword to Kirby and demanded single combat in show of his knightly honor; his strict adherence to his code of ethics makes him a rarity in {{SSB|Dream Land}}. Sometimes he throws off his cape in battle. It occasionally transforms into wings.''

*''[[Kirby Super Star]]'' 9/96{{sic}}

Meta Knight makes an official appearance as a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', and he is available to play [[Starter character|from the start]]. Almost all of his attacks involve his sword, Galaxia, and most of these attacks are extremely fast; for instance, his up air comes out in just two frames (1/30 of a second), referencing his swordsmanship in the ''Kirby'' franchise. Though his overall reach is average, the length of his sword relative to his small body gives him grossly disproportionate disjoints in all of his attacks, giving him excellent spacing options. In addition to fast attacks, Meta Knight is equipped with incredible recovery potential. Like {{SSBB|Kirby}}, {{SSBB|King Dedede}}, and {{SSBB|Jigglypuff}}, he has multiple jumps, but, despite physically resembling Kirby, he doesn't puff himself up to fly. Instead, he transforms his cape into wings to propel himself upwards, and in addition, Meta Knight has the ability to [[glide]] using his cape wings. Furthermore, Meta Knight is equipped with very versatile special moves that not only improve his already stellar recovery but also heavily define his neutral and edgeguard game.

Meta Knight is widely considered to be the best character in ''Brawl'' due to him lacking disadvantageous match-ups (with one documented but heavily disputed even matchup against {{SSBB|Pikachu}}) along with his overwhelming dominance in tournaments. Due to being considered "[[broken]]", Meta Knight had been banned since January 9, 2012 on the [[Unity Ruleset]] and has been the only character in the ''Smash'' series to be banned in standard tournaments. However, after the disbandment of the Unity ruleset, prohibiting him is up to the Tournament Organizer.

[[File:Meta Knight - Brawl Trophy.png|left|thumb|100px|Meta Knight's trophy in ''Brawl''.]]

''The head of the Meta-Knights, and something of a rival to [[Kirby]]. He's quite an accomplished swordsman. Following his code of knightly ethics, he once delivered his sword to Kirby and demanded single combat. His giant cape transforms into wings, giving him the power of flight. He's shown his face briefly before, but his relationship to Kirby is still a mystery.''{{trophy games|game1=Kirby's Adventure|console1=NES|game2=Kirby Super Star|console2=SNES}}

! Characters

| {{SortKey|Kirby Meta Knight King Dedede}}{{Head|Kirby|g=SSBB|s=16px}}{{Head|Meta Knight|g=SSBB|s=16px}}{{Head|King Dedede|g=SSBB|s=16px}}

| {{SortKey|Kirby Meta Knight King Dedede}}{{Head|Kirby|g=SSBB|s=16px}}{{Head|Meta Knight|g=SSBB|s=16px}}{{Head|King Dedede|g=SSBB|s=16px}}

[[File:MetaKnightMask.jpg|thumb|100px|left||Meta Knight Mask.]]

::{{Flag|North America}} ''Kirby's mysterious rival, this masked swordsman appears in several Kirby games. His cape transforms into wings to grant him flight. In Smash Bros., his quick sword skills and aerial agility set him apart. He can jump up to five times in a row, and he has a special move to soar higher.''

::{{Flag|Europe}} ''A mysterious masked swordsman from the Kirby series. His cape can turn into wings, which gives him the ability to fly. His swift swordplay and ability to stay in the air give him an edge in this game. He can combine five mid-air jumps with a special move to make recovering a cinch. If you use him, try to keep battle airborne.''

:'''Meta Knight (Alt.)'''

::{{Flag|North America}} ''Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape lets you teleport, changing where you'll reappear with directional inputs and attacking by holding the button! His Mach Tornado special can draw in and attack multiple opponents. Rise by pressing the button repeatedly, and press left or right to move.''

::{{Flag|Europe}} ''Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape lets you teleport. After vanishing, you can move to reappear somewhere else. You can also keep holding the button to turn it into an attack! His Mach Tornado special can mix up multiple opponents in the fray. Press the button repeatedly to rise up, and move left and right to create extra havoc.''

 

MetaKnightTrophy3DS.png|Classic (3DS)

MetaKnightTrophyWiiU.png|Classic (Wii U)

MetaKnightAltTrophy3DS.png|Alt. (3DS)

MetaKnightAltTrophyWiiU.png|Alt. (Wii U)

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*Meta Knight's appearance slightly differs between the ''Kirby'' and ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. Specifically, the ends of his visor slightly curve inward, the letter M is printed on his left pauldron, and his attire features purple sabatons, a dark purple cape with a bat insignia and a white ridged collar and, as of ''SSB4'', silver gauntlets. Starting with ''Kirby: Planet Robobot'', his appearance as of ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' has been carried over into the ''Kirby'' games, although the gauntlets were shown in his official artwork in ''Kirby: Squeak Squad'' and ''Kirby Super Star Ultra''.

*Meta Knight is the only character in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series whose entire special moveset renders him [[helpless]].

**He is also the only fighter to have two different helpess animations, one with his wings and one without.

*Meta Knight is the only sword-wielding character in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series who lacks both a [[projectile]] and a [[counterattack]].

*Unlike Kirby and [[King Dedede]], Meta Knight's Japanese voice in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series was directly lifted from the anime series instead of any prior ''Kirby'' games, mainly due to the fact he was never voiced in them. To further reflect this, his English voice, albeit different from the dubbed anime, features a slight accent, similar to how his English voice in the anime series has a Spanish accent.

*Meta Knight is one of two characters that leave the victory screen in their victory animation, the other being [[Sephiroth]].

*Meta Knight is the first of only two characters in the entire ''Super Smash Bros.'' series to have been ranked in SS tier, followed by [[Fox McCloud]].

*Meta Knight is the first character in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series (and only character in ''Brawl'') to have a different victory fanfare than other characters from the same universe. This trait would later be shared by [[Bowser]] (starting in ''SSB4''), [[Bowser Jr.]], [[Rosalina]] and Luma, [[Dark Samus]], [[Ridley]], [[King K. Rool]], [[Lucina]], [[Corrin]], [[Robin]] (all three starting in ''Ultimate''), [[Chrom]], [[Piranha Plant]], and [[Byleth]].