Editing Kirby (SSBU)

Overall, Kirby is a close-range character who can rack up impressive damage at close range, complemented with his quick frame data, but struggles to make use of his strengths due to his unimpressive range, slow air speed, and built-in lightweight properties. As a result, Kirby is a rarity within the metagame. Nevertheless, he has still seen success from dedicated mains such as {{Sm|Guilheww}}, {{Sm|JeJaJeJa}}, and {{Sm|Konokururu}}.

Kirby is known for being a small [[weight|lightweight]], being tied for the eighth-lightest character in the game. True to his franchise, Kirby is a slow, yet floaty character. He has a slightly below-average [[walk]] speed (31st slowest), average [[dash]]ing and [[Dash#Initial dash|initial dash]] (42nd fastest and 43rd slowest). He also has the 5th slowest [[air speed]], above-average [[air acceleration]], 3rd lowest [[gravity]], the 5th lowest [[falling speed|falling]] and [[fast fall]]ing speeds, and above average [[traction]]. Due to these statistics, Kirby has difficulty approaching opponents. Kirby's [[recovery]] is versatile: despite his slow air speed and low jump height rendering him susceptible to edgeguarding, his five midair jumps, slow falling speed, long vertical airdodge, and [[Final Cutter]]'s decent distance give him good stalling capabilities and decent safety.

Kirby's greatest strengths are his quick frame data, high combo potential, and the versatility of his moveset. The majority of Kirby's attacks are characterized by speed, with his tilts being among the fastest in the game, while his slowest moves instead boast high power as a trade-off, while still being quite fast for their power. Neutral attack and forward tilt are fast and have decent range, allowing Kirby to quickly distance opponents, with the latter being used for tech chase setups. Up tilt's low knockback and high speed allow it to combo into multiple moves, such as itself, an aerial attack, or an Inhale. Down tilt's low power is compensated by its very fast speed and it launching opponents at the [[Sakurai angle]], which allows it to [[trip]] most opponents even over 80%. Should he trip his opponents with it, he can follow up with a variety of attacks, such as a dash attack, grab, or forward smash. Dash attack’s early hit is excellent for whiff punishing and scoring a KO, potentially KOing opponents starting at 90%, while the late hit can set up into an Inhale. His [[smash attack]]s have good range, high power, and great speed, making them excellent at scoring a KO. Kirby is also very small, making him hard to hit, and his very low [crouch]] allows him to avoid almost all grabs and several attacks. As a result, Kirby has an excellent ground and defensive game thanks to his quick frame data and evasive crouch, requiring opponents to be careful when approaching him in neutral.

Kirby's [[special move]]s can provide some unique strengths. {{B|Inhale|Kirby}} is his most notable example; it allows him to either [[List of Copy Abilities|copy]] the [[neutral special move]] of any character he inhales, or spit them out as a weight-dependent [[projectile]]. Depending on what character he inhales, the copy ability can give Kirby a move that helps him in matchups to various degrees, such as useful projectiles to counter-camp his opponent ([[Needle Storm]], [[Charge Shot]], {{SSBU|Wolf}}'s {{b|Blaster|Wolf}}), powerful punish options ([[Giant Punch]], [[Homing Attack]]), a reflector ([[Nayru's Love]]), or other benefits ([[Monado Arts]]). In addition, Kirby's version of the opponent's neutral special has a 1.2× damage multiplier. Kirby can also inhale projectiles; smaller projectiles will be swallowed, allowing him to heal himself, while larger ones (such as a fully-charged Charge Shot) can be stored in his mouth and spat out, essentially giving Kirby a reflector. The spat projectiles can be used to punish opponents at mid-range and can launch them away with high knockback. Inhale can also be used to [[Kirbycide]] or spit the opponent out offstage, although the opponent can escape by [[mashing]]. [[Hammer Flip]] is very powerful, especially when fully charged, and Kirby can move and jump while charging. However, its high startup and endlag, along with its short range and Kirby's already-sluggish movement being further slowed when charging, makes it difficult to land outside of a [[shield break]], covering ledge options, or after a jab lock. Outside his jumps, Final Cutter is his primary means of [[recovery]], granting good vertical distance, as well as a disjoint in front of him during his ascent and descent. It also emits a shockwave projectile upon landing, making it difficult to [[punish]] if the opponent is not behind Kirby. Lastly, [[Stone]] causes Kirby to turn into an object and ignore up to 25% damage. It is also a strong attack, especially in the air, and can be canceled shortly after Kirby begins his descent, although these benefits are limited by its slow startup and ending lag, and Kirby is still vulnerable to grabs while transformed. It can also be used on the ground, where it has faster startup due to creating a shockwave and it launches at a semi-spike angle.

Kirby's most notable flaw, however, is his poor approach. Characters who have high mobility or who can camp with projectiles can wall out Kirby, such as {{SSBU|Sonic}} and {{SSBU|Samus}}. Kirby's lack of reliable burst options makes his approach in these matchups problematic and sometimes predictable. In addition, characters with long [[disjointed hitbox]]es such as {{SSBU|Cloud}} can outrange and wall out Kirby since his range is short relative to the cast. Final Cutter's projectile has decent range and moves quickly, but has somewhat slow startup due to it requiring Kirby to perform the entire rising and falling portions of the move beforehand, and he lacks other projectiles outside of spitting inhaled projectiles/opponents, or from a copy ability. This requires conscientious use to avoid punishment. Despite having great air acceleration, Kirby's air speed is also too slow for him to take advantage of it, hindering his aerial approach and recovery despite possessing five midair jumps. Kirby also has several KO moves, but some can be hard to land without a setup due to their short range. [[Rage]] further compounds these issues, as Kirby will be launched even further by a high-damage opponent, and his low weight means he will sometimes not survive long enough to take advantage of his own rage.

The universal reduction to [[landing lag]] has also greatly benefited his aerials, which already had among the lowest landing lag in ''SSB4''; his aerials are not only safer, but now capable of leading into followups, with [[forward aerial]]'s first two hits now being able to follow up into a grab or forward smash. His neutral aerial (being one of his most situational attacks) is now faster, has more range, has less endlag, and deals more knockback (the clean hit being one of the strongest neutral aerials in ''Ultimate''). Up aerial received many of the same buffs as neutral aerial and both it and forward aerial deal more damage, regaining some of their lost KO power from ''Melee''.

However, Kirby has also received several noteworthy nerfs. The most notable were to his [[grab]] game: his already mediocre grab range has been worsened (most notably on his pivot grab), and [[forward throw]] has him jump up higher after the throw, which runs the risk of possibly landing on top of a soft platform, negating all follow-ups when it happens too early (although following up neutral air or up aerial can allow more follow-ups), while [[back throw]] has lost most of its combo setups due to changes to the animation. Altogether, this grants Kirby a less effective combo game off of his grabs overall. Other nerfs include: Stone no longer hitting shielding opponents twice, reducing its shield pressure considerably; [[back aerial]] deals less knockback (although it has more range and the clean hit now lasts for slightly longer to compensate); and [[down aerial]], one of his most reliable combo starters in ''SSB4'', has more range on the looping hits, but slightly less on the final hit and is less advantageous on landing due to the removal of [[frame cancel]]ing, reducing the effectiveness of its follow-ups since its landing lag was not reduced enough to compensate properly. Furthermore, Kirby still retains many of the same issues that plagued him in ''SSB4'', with mediocre range, sluggish aerial mobility and a high susceptibility to being camped.

|fsmashdesc=Based on the Spin Kick from the Fighter ability from ''Kirby Super Star''. Due to becoming active at frame 13, it is quite fast for a forward smash. It can be angled, moderately moves Kirby forward, and the clean hit is slightly disjointed, giving it deceptively good range. Its clean hitbox also deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth, which makes it a powerful and reliable KOing option. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights starting at around 70%. However, its late hitbox lacks reliable KO potential due to its high base knockback at the expense of very low knockback scaling. The hitbox also has a deceptively short duration, and it has noticeable ending lag (29 frames), making it unsafe on shield and punishable if not used correctly. A powerful punish option that is also capable of 2-framing reliably if angled downwards.

|usmashdesc=A bicycle kick. It can hit behind Kirby, while its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth akin to forward smash, KOing middleweights at around 100% from anywhere on Final Destination. Kirby's foot is also rendered intangible throughout its duration. Has moderate startup and ending lag, coming out on frame 12 and having 27 frames of ending lag, which gives it the fastest interruptibility of Kirby's smash attacks. Its middle hit is noticeably weaker, but still has surprisingly respectable KO power for an up smash and launches at a more favourable angle, KOing middleweights at around 120% from anywhere on Final Destination. The late hit has extremely low knockback, not KOing opponents even at Sudden Death percentages, and the move has a sourspot at the tip of Kirby's foot that deals less damage.

|dsmashdesc=A spinning split kick. It hits in front of and behind Kirby, and its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth like his forward and up smashes. Comes out on frame 7, with the fastest startup of his smash attacks. It semi-spikes with above average power, with its clean hitbox KOing middleweights starting at around 100% from the edge of Final Destination, and is additionally a reliable 2-framing option that is very useful for edgeguarding as a result. It also renders Kirby's feet intangible starting from frame 3 until the clean hit ceases at frame 11. However, its late hitbox has significantly lower KO potential due to its lower damage, not KOing middleweights on the ledge of Final Destination until around 140%. Due to it having 31 frames of ending lag, it has the highest ending lag of Kirby's smash attacks, and combined with its long duration, it's very punishable if shielded or whiffed.

|dairdesc=A diagonal corkscrew dropkick. A decent combo starter on grounded opponents due to its low ending lag. The final hit is a weak meteor smash, which makes it useful for edgeguarding and allows it to gimp characters with short recoveries. It can even lead into a [[footstool jump]] on fast-fallers and heavyweights. While it has the highest amount of start-up lag out of Kirby's aerials due to coming out on frame 18 and can't auto-cancel in a short hop, it has landing hitboxes, giving Kirby a decent window to safely land. The landing hit has low fixed knockback, giving it some combo potential. While possessing a rather good auto-canceling window and being good for edgeguarding, its usage offstage is only serviceable against characters with slow or exploitable recoveries, as the final hit cannot reliably KO characters even as high as 180% offstage due to its weak damage output. It has the highest landing lag of of Kirby's aerials and, despite its low endlag, it's unsafe on shield due to the final hit's low damage output, making it punishable when used recklessly.

|grabdesc=Reaches out with one hand. Based on the startup animation of the Torrent Lariat from the Suplex ability from ''Kirby Super Star''. It's one of the fastest grabs, but has somewhat short range.

*{{Sm|Guilheww|Mexico}} - One of the two best Kirby players in the post-online metagame, being the only solo Kirby player to ever be ranked in the top 100 of a notable global ranking, ranking 93rd on the [[LumiRank 2024.1]]. His 13th-place finish at {{Trn|S Factor 11}} is the highest placement for a Kirby player at a major event. In addition, he won the superregional {{Trn|Trick or Fortune}}, the first Kirby player to win a superregional.

*{{Sm|JeJaJeJa|USA}} - One of the two best Kirby players in the post-online metagame, having placed well at many events, including 33rd at the supermajors {{Trn|Super Smash Con 2022}}, {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2023}}, {{Trn|Collision 2024}}, and {{Trn|Riptide 2024}} as well as 17th at {{Trn|Port Priority 7}}. He is the first Kirby player to win a ranked event, doing so at {{Trn|Afterburner 2024}}, and has also won the superregional {{Trn|Ring Out}}. In addition, he was ranked 115th on the [[LumiRank 2024.1]], the second-highest Kirby player ranked on a global ranking.

*{{Sm|Jesuischoq|France}} - Considered the best Kirby player in the early metagame. Prior to his inactivity, he regularly placed highly at European events, including 2nd at the regional {{Trn|Smash4Glory - Ultimate Edition}} upsetting {{Sm|Glutonny}}, and 13th at the superregional {{Trn|VCA 2019}}.

*{{Sm|Konokururu|Japan}} - One of the best Kirby players in the world in the post-online metagame and the best Kirby player in Japan. Although his placements have been less consistent than JeJaJeJa and Guilheww, he has placed well at several supermajors including 17th at {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}, 33rd at {{Trn|Kagaribi 9}}, and 25th at {{Trn|Kowloon 12 with Kagaribi}}.

Kirby later received many significant buffs in balance patches, more than almost every other character, especially in patches 6.0.0 and 8.0.0. These patches greatly improved his overall frame data, KO power and versatility to many of his attacks, allowing him to be more consistent in closing stocks and starting combos. In addition, although Kirby's representation remained rather small and was often in the bottom 10, he began seeing more success both online and offline from players such as {{Sm|Guilheww}} and {{Sm|JeJaJeJa}}, who were able to achieve strong results with him in national tournaments and in majors. These small positives were enough to raise opinions on Kirby's viability slightly. As such, although Kirby continues to have little impact on the metagame, he is usually not thought of as a candidate for the worst character in the game. This is reflected in Kirby's placement on the first tier list, where he is ranked 76th as a low-tier character. Although he only rose one spot to 75th on the second tier list, gradually improving results from dedicated players had led some players to believe Kirby should be ranked higher thanks to his improved advantage state.