Kirby (SSBM)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	G (26) (North America) H (25) (Europe)

“	A puff ball that floats through the sky and boasts a variety of moves.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

Announced at E3 2001, Kirby (カービィ, Kirby) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Although tier-wise, he was the second-to-top character in Super Smash Bros. topped only by Pikachu, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he has been severely nerfed.

Makiko Ōmoto once again voices Kirby in Melee, with some voice clips recycled from SSB, but more higher pitched, along with some new additional voice clips.

Currently, Kirby is ranked 26th in the G tier at the very bottom, an extreme drop from his 2nd position in Smash 64 and his worst placement in the series. While he has several throw options into Kirbycide, a good ground game, a solid defensive game thanks to his crouch and small size and a decent edgeguarding game, Kirby's approach and KO ability are among the worst in the game; slow attacks, a low air speed, an ineffective projectile in Final Cutter, and numerous other flaws both on the ground and in the air prevent Kirby from easily approaching enemies, and he struggles against almost all characters as a result of this. Kirby currently has terrible overall matchups, with seven matchups that are near unwinnable, and only two positive matchups (against Bowser and Roy), and even these can be disputed at length.

Attributes

Kirby acts as a light, weak character that is intended to outmaneuver opponents. While having an average dashing speed, he has a terrible air speed (being tied with Ganondorf as the 3rd worst in Melee), so his small size is intended to act as his primary way to approach. Owing to his low falling speed and high short hop, Kirby has a poor SHFFL, while his high traction gives him a short wavedash.

Despite his poor air speed, Kirby has a great edgeguarding game. With no one to edgeguard him, Kirby can easily recover due to his multiple midair jumps, while Kirby's back air can be used as a rather powerful edgeguarding technique, the Fence of Pain. Assuming Kirby can knock opponents off the edge, he should theoretically have little trouble keeping them from recovering.

Owing to his small size, Kirby also has an above-average defensive game. His small hurtboxes can potentially allow him to avoid attacks, while his small size also lends itself to a large shield, making Kirby relatively safe from shield stabbing. A low crouch also makes his hurtboxes even smaller, and it can be compounded with his down tilt as a potential camping and spacing tactic, as crouching makes him able to avoid most jabs.

Kirby also has above average tilt attacks as well, as Kirby's three tilts, while short-ranged, have a variety of practical applications; his forward tilt and aforementioned down tilt can act as spacing tools, while his up tilt can potentially be used as a combo starter. Kirby also has an above average grab range, allowing him to potentially use his powerful and unusual throws to his advantage; a notable application of his up, back, and forward throws involves Kirbycide, a specific type of Sacrificial KO that forces both Kirby and his opponent to lose a stock. This technique is able to KO opponents at any percentage.

Despite these benefits, Kirby's most fatal flaw, which is often cited as the reason for his bottom tier placement, is his nearly nonexistent approach. With a poor SHFFL, short wavedash, terrible air speed, short range, a laggy, predictable dash attack, and no viable projectiles, Kirby has extreme difficulty in approaching almost all of the cast; this is especially prevalent against characters with disjointed hitboxes (such as Marth) or powerful pressure games (such as Falco). The lack of a projectile can uniquely be rectified if Kirby uses Inhale on an opponent; doing so, however, is risky, due to the attack's start-up and cool-down lag, and some characters will either fail to give him a useful projectile (such as Ness) or a projectile in the first place (such as Captain Falcon). Kirby's small size can also make some attacks inferior to the original character; Fireball from Mario, for instance, has the Fireballs disappear more quickly than Mario's, as Kirby's lower height causes them to reach the ground faster and to have less kinetic energy when they finally hit the ground.

Assuming he can approach opponents, however, Kirby's various attributes also give him a lack of combo ability; a low air speed prevents him from easily pursuing enemies in the air, and almost all of his aerials (except for back air) either have long startup and cooldown periods (down and neutral air), high knockback (up air), or poor hitbox placement (forward air). Kirby's only noteworthy combos are his up tilt juggles and his Fence of Pain as mentioned earlier, and even the latter combo is inferior to Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain due to Kirby's significantly slower air speed, making it risky to use. Kirby's wild card is his aforementioned Kirbycide technique, and even this is unreliable; his up throw requires proper placement at the edge of a stage, and Kirby always loses when performed in a last stock situation. While his forward and back throws are much easier to perform and Kirby always wins when performed in a last stock situation, they are the only throws in the entire Smash series that can be potentially broken out of. As a result, if the opponent can button mash out of the grab and throw quick enough, they will remain unharmed while Kirby loses a stock. To make things worse, after Kirby uses his forward or up throw, he will lose all his midair jumps.

Outside of his abysmal approach, Kirby also has trouble KOing other characters. A majority of Kirby's finishers suffer from poor range, slow start-up (such as his Hammer), weak knockback (such as his forward smash) or have small sweetspots that make them unreliable (such as his Hammer and up smash). Arguably Kirby's only effective finishers are his down smash and his up and back aerials, which themselves require a proper read and correct timing from the player in order for them to be a low-risk attack.

As a final disadvantage working against Kirby, he has major survivability issues, with his endurance being on par with Mr. Game & Watch and Pichu for the worst in Melee. Having among the lowest weights in the game alongside a low falling speed causes Kirby to be easily KOed from both the upper and horizontal blast lines (Fox is especially notorious in the former category). Outside of this, Kirby's recovery is also slow, linear, and predictable, despite granting decent distance as a result of his multiple midair jumps; once again, Kirby is negatively impacted by his poor air speed, and Final Cutter grants almost no horizontal distance, coupled with being very easy to edgeguard against.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

Kirby was known as one of the most dominant characters in Smash 64, even after receiving nerfs in the North American release. This was in part to his amazing power, attack speed, range and priority on his attacks, which subsequently gave him excellent KO and shield pressuring potential. In addition to this, he was also a very simple character to pick up and play (especially compared to the other high tiers); making him a highly solid character to pick up regardless of the player's skill level. As a result of this, Kirby was overwhelmingly nerfed in his transition to Melee.

Kirby's mobility both on the ground and in the air has been noticeably reduced; which has subsequently hindered his approach. The weakening of pivots have also made Kirby's approach worse and he doesn't benefit too much from the introduction of air dodging; due to his high traction and low falling speed. As a result of this, he has an unimpressive wavedash. When combined with many returning veterans having greater approach potential, this has made his approach among the worst in the game; especially in the air.

In general, Kirby has suffered from Melee's universal changes. Apart from the changes to pivoting, Kirby has greatly suffered from the changes to shields. While Kirby is less vulnerable to shield pressure, his own shield pressure is much worse due to the universal reduction to shieldstun and shield damage. Because of this, Kirby's attacks are much less safe on shield (with Kirby lacking any moves which even leave him at a frame advantage on shield) with the reduced damage/increased ending lag on multiple moves along with the weakening of L-cancelling only further exacerbating this. Because of this, Kirby can no longer perform any shield break combos and his attacks are generally much more punishable. In addition, Kirby's out of shield options are also worse largely due to his new neutral aerial; which is much weaker, slower and has less range than his previous neutral aerial. When combined with his shield drop being longer, this means that Kirby either has to use his grab or back aerial to punish a majority of moves out of shield.

Kirby's damage output and KO potential has also been noticeably reduced (even relative to the cast). A majority of Kirby's moves have reduced KO power including his smash attacks, neutral aerial, back aerial, his up throw (his previous forward throw) and Stone. When combined with his lower damage output on most of his moves, this significantly hinders his ability to rack up damage and close out stocks. His smash attacks are slower and weaker, making them less reliable and more difficult KO moves to land and while his new up aerial is rather powerful, it is slow and difficult to land.

Kirby's oppressive up tilt has also seen rather drastic nerfs both directly and indirectly. The move has a shorter duration, much less range and more ending lag which makes it much less effective at stuffing out approaches and generally makes it easier to punish. The move is also noticeably weaker; dealing much less damage. The introduction of DI has made the move much less reliable as a combo move while the changes to shieldstun combined with the move's decreased damage/increased ending lag has immensely hindered its safety on shield; completely removing its shield pressuring potential. Overall while it is still one of his most useful moves, it is not nearly as effective as it was previously.

Kirby in general has worse frame data (especially relative to the cast), as well as his afforementioned up tilt and neutral aerial, his forward smash is noticeably laggier; no longer being the fastest in the game (in addition to being much weaker). His down aerial has also seen a drastic increase to its startup lag and its hits less times which significantly reduces its duration and maximum damage potential. It also greatly suffers from the introduction of meteor cancelling; significantly hindering its edgeguarding potential. Kirby also naturally suffers from the changes to L-cancelling; especially since most of his aerials have worse auto-cancel windows which remove's his neutral, forward and down aerial's ability to auto-cancel in a short hop. When combined with the changes to shieldstun, this significantly hinder the utility and safety of his aerials.

Kirby is also the character who benefits the least from having an expanded move list. Kirby's grab game is now one of the absolute worst in the game. His new forward and back throws can be used as a sacrificial KO however, they can be escaped from at any time, which can lead to Kirby either self-destructing or at least leaving himself in a vulnerable position after simply using the throws. As a result, his forward and back throws are completely useless; being easy contenders for the worst throws in the game. Kirby's up throw is much weaker than his previous forward throw and it has gained two new issues; the move can no longer land on platforms above Kirby unless they are very close to the ground and Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using it (his new forward throw also has this issue); which has hindered the utility of the throw and has made it an unreliable KO option. Kirby's only useful throw is his new down throw; which can set up tech-chases although it is still not as useful as numerous other down throws. His new side special [Hammer]] is a very slow (yet powerful) move on the ground while in the air, it is a very inconsistent and easy to escape multi-hit; giving it very low utility compared to other side specials.

Lastly, Kirby's few flaws from the previous game have not been properly addressed. While his endurance has slightly improved due to his increased weight and falling speed, it is still among the worst in the game. Kirby also still struggles to deal with opponents above him, especially with the nerfs to his up tilt combined with the universally increased falling speeds. His already limited combo options have been reduced even further due to the changes to his up tilt and his forward aerial; combined with the introduction of DI. His recovery has also become worse. His air speed and jump height have been reduced and Final Cutter covers much less distance, resulting in his recovery becoming very poor.

Kirby has received some buffs. Kirby has greater access to his Kirbycide as he can move around when swallowing his opponents (in addition to Inhale having reduced startup lag) and his new forward and back throws are more reliable tools to Kirbycide with (although this is completely nullified by the fact that those throws can now be escaped from). A few of his moves are also either slightly faster or stronger, such as his new up aerial, which is much stronger and has much less ending lag. All of Kirby's aerials also have less landing lag; with his average landing lag now being among the lowest. This makes the weakening of L-cancelling hinder him less than most other veterans/it otherwise would have.

Overall, Kirby's few weakenesses from the previous game; including his limited combo options and significant survivability issues have been further exacerbated and he has received numerous new weaknesses as well (including poor KO potential, poor range, an extremely ineffective grab game and poor approach). His only remaining strengths are that he can abuse his small size to avoid attacks, his tilts are solid and he still has decent edgeguarding potential although the latter two points are still not as effective as they were previously. Lastly, the universal changes have hindered Kirby more than almost any other returning veteran, with his approach, combo and shield pressuring potential particularly being hindered by these changes.

Due to these changes, Kirby not only the most severely nerfed character from Smash 64 to Melee but arguably the most nerfed character in all of the series. As a result, he is arguably the worst character in the entire game and he is non-viable in competitive play; with Kirby players rarely making it into top 64 in major tournaments, let alone top 32.

Attributes

• Kirby walks slower (0.35 → 0.85).
• Kirby dashes slower (48 → 1.4).
• Kirby's already low air speed has been decreased even more (28 → 0.78), hindering his recovery, edgeguarding and ability to escape aerial pressure.
• Kirby is slightly heavier (68 → 70) improving his endurance.
• Kirby's falling speed is higher (48 → 1.6).
• Kirby's gravity is higher (2.4 → 0.08).
• Kirby's fast falling speed is lower (76 → 2).
• Kirby's traction is higher (1.4 → 0.08) going from the third lowest out of 12 characters to the 7th highest out of 26.
• Kirby's short hop is lower (short hop air time: 47 frames → 38).
• Kirby's full hop is lower.
• All of Kirby's mid-air jumps grant less height.
• The changes to pivoting have considerably hindered Kirby's grounded approach particularly with his up tilt.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first two hits of neutral attack have less ending lag (FAF 18 → 16 (hit 1), FAF 20 → 17 (hit 2)).
  • The second hit launches opponents vertically (361° → 70°) improving its ability to lead into the rapid jab.
  • The second hit of neutral attack has a shorter duration (frames 3-5 → 3-4).
  • The loop hits have more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
  • The loop hits only hit five times instead of six.
    • However, this decreases the move's ending lag if it is not held (FAF 45 → 38).
  • There is a shorter gap between the first loop hit and the second loop hit (4 frames → 2).
  • The loop hit's ending animation is slightly longer (9 frames → 10).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt now deals consistent damage (11% (up)/10% (non-angled)/9% (down) → 11%) improving the non angled and angled down versions' KO potential.
  • Forward tilt has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-9 → 5-8).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's clean hit's angle has been altered (96° → 92°).
  • Up tilt deals significantly less damage (14% (clean)/10% (late) → 8%/6%) without full compensation on its knockback (30/20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/(118/114)) hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
  • Up tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-5 (clean)/6-11 (late) → 4/5-7).
  • Up tilt has more ending lag (FAF 18 → 24).
  • Up tilt's infamously disjointed hitboxes have been made much smaller with the move now only being slightly disjointed.
  • The universal decrease to hitstun combined with the introduction of DI and its increased ending lag have significantly hindered up tilt's combo and juggling potential.
  • The move's lower damage and higher ending lag combined with the general reduction to shieldstun/shield damage have drastically hindered the move's shield pressuring potential with the move going from giving Kirby a rather significant frame advantage on shield to now being fairly punishable on shield.
    • This naturally removes the move's ability to perform shield break combos.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (9% → 10%).
  • Down tilt has increased base knockback (0 → 40) making it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, its knockback scaling is much lower (110 → 30) greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-10 → 4-7).
• Dash attack:
  • Kirby has a new dash attack: he lunges forward in a fiery spiraling headbutt.
  • Dash attacks can now travel off ledges.
  • Dash attack deals less damage (10% (clean)/8% (late) → 8%/5%) and shield damage (1 → 0).
  • Dash attack has more startup lag (frame 5 → 9).
  • Dash attack has a longer total duration (FAF 41 → 60).
  • Dash attack launches opponents vertically (361° → 105°) hindering its KO potential and removing its edgeguarding potential.
  • Dash attack has altered knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 70/66 (clean), 50/66 (late)).
    • This makes it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, this hinders its overall KO potential.
  • Dash attack has much larger hitboxes.
  • Dash attack has a longer duration (frames 5-8 (clean)/9-18 (late) → 9-15/16-43) which decreases its cooldown.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's late hit deals more damage (12% → 13%).
  • Forward smash can be angled now.
  • Forward smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 10-13 (clean)/14-23 (late) → 13-15/16-21) no longer being the fastest in the game.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 50).
  • The clean hit deals less damage (17% → 15%) and significantly less knockback (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 24/96), going from the strongest non-angled forward smash in Smash 64 to the sixth weakest in Melee.
  • The clean hit no longer deals extra shield damage (1 → 0).
    • When combined with its higher ending lag and the changes to shields, this significantly hinders the move's safety on shield going from giving Kirby frame advantage on shield to leaving him at a huge frame disadvantage on shield making the move easily punishable and naturally removing its use in shield break combos.
  • The late hit deals less knockback (12 (base), 120 (scaling) → 18/96).
  • The late hit now launches opponents vertically (361° → 75°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential while still not being a reliable combo starter.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 14-23 → 13-23).
    • However, the clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 14-17 → 13).
  • The clean hit deals less damage and has received a sourspot (16% → 15%/13%) without full compensation on its knockback (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/(118/110)).
  • The clean hit sends opponents at a less favourable angle (90° → 75°) which along with its lower damage slightly hinders the sweetspot's KO potential despite its compensated knockback.
  • The clean hit now has a slash effect when the sweetspot connects.
  • Up smash has received a mid hit which lasts two frames, deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 14%/12%) and has higher base knockback (10 → 20) compared to the previous late hit.
  • The mid hit launches opponents vertically unlike the previous late hit (361° → 88°).
  • The late hit deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 13%/12%).
  • The late hit has much less knockback scaling (100 → 50) and sends opponents at a less favourable angle (361° → 50°).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 56 → 50).
  • Down smash has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 7-9/10-22).
  • Clean down smash deals less damage (18% → 14%) although its sweetspot's knockback scaling was mostly compensated (75 → 100).
    • However, the move's increased knockback scaling makes the late hit much stronger.
  • The sweetspot now launches opponents vertically (34° → 76°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential.
  • The clean hit's sourspots' knockback was barely increased (30 (base), 75 (scaling) → 20/80) making it much weaker due to its lower damage.
    • However, the sourspots launch opponents at a lower angle (35° → 28°) improving the late hit's edgeguarding potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (16 frames → 15 (neutral), 30 frames → 20 (forward), 30 frames → 15 (back), 20 frames → 15 (up), 37 frames → 20 (down)).
• All aerials except up aerial auto-cancel later (frame 31 → 38 (neutral), frame 29 → 38 (forward), frame 26 → 28 (back), frame 33 → 48 (down)). When combined with Kirby's lower short hop, this prevents him from auto-canceling neutral, forward and down aerials out of a short hop which is further exacerbated with the weakening of L-canceling.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Kirby's previous up aerial from Smash 64 has been moved to his neutral aerial.
    • Because of this, neutral aerial's animation is significantly longer (49 frames → 79) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 3-6 (clean)/7-30 (late) → 10-17/18-29/30-34).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged giving it less ending lag.
  • Neutral aerial has much less horizontal range.
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (15% (clean)/10% (late) → 10%/8%/6%) and knockback (30/10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/80) significantly hindering its KO potential going from one of the strongest neutral aerials to one of the weakest.
  • Neutral aerial no longer has a landing hit.
  • Neutral aerial's hitbox has better coverage around Kirby, allowing it to hit opponents above him more reliably.
• Forward aerial:
  • Kirby has a new forward aerial: he kicks three times in front of him, instead of drilling in front of him.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag (frame 8 → 10).
  • Forward aerial has a shorter duration overall (frames 8-9/11-12/14-15/17-18/20-21/23-24/26-28 → 10-11/17-18/25-26).
    • As a result of this, forward aerial has more ending lag overall.
  • Forward aerial's new animation is longer (39 frames → 49) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage overall (2% (hits 1-7)/6% (hit 8)/20% (total) → 5% (hits 1-2)/8% (hit 3)/16.83% (total)).
  • Forward aerial has less range.
  • The knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/70) and angles (361° → 60°) for the first two hits have been altered which along with their higher damage, the wider gap between them/the final hit and the introduction of DI; makes forward aerial connect less reliably.
    • Altogether, these changes combined with the weakening of L-canceling have hindered forward aerial's combo potential.
  • The last hit deals more damage (6% → 8%) and knockback (10 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/130), improving its KO potential.
    • However, this also hinders its combo potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 36).
  • Back aerial has a shorter duration (frames 6-9 (clean)/10-25 → 6-8/9-20) slightly increasing its ending lag.
  • Back aerial deals less damage (16% (clean)/12% (late) → 14/10%), hindering its KO potential.
  • Back aerial has a new animation which is longer than the previous animation (39 frames → 43).
  • Back aerial's hitboxes are smaller which makes the move cover less of Kirby's body (especially the late hit).
• Up aerial:
  • Kirby has a new up aerial: a bicycle kick.
  • Up aerial deals much more damage (10% (clean)/8% (mid)/6% (late) → 15%) and no longer has set knockback (10 (base), 100 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30/0/100), making it his best KO move (being as powerful as his previous neutral aerial).
    • However, this hinders the edgeguarding potential at lower percents.
  • Up aerial has more vertical range.
  • Up aerial has drastically lower ending lag (FAF 80 → 36).
  • Up aerial auto-cancels much earlier (frame 46 → 17).
    • However, it can no longer auto-cancel while its hitboxes are still out.
  • Up aerial has more startup lag with a much shorter duration (frames 10-79 → 11-13) with its hitboxes no longer lasting the entire animation once they have been activated.
  • Up aerial has a smaller hitbox which along with its shorter duration, makes it much harder to land unless Kirby's opponent is above him.
  • Up aerial can no longer hit opponents below Kirby.
    • As a result of these changes, up aerial is significantly less safe.
• Down aerial:
  • Due to the increase to the tumble threshold, down aerial does not put opponents into tumble until much higher percents; making it more reliable against grounded opponents.
  • Down aerial only hits 6 times instead of 10 which in turn:
    • Makes it deal much less damage (30% → 16%).
    • Shortens its duration (frames 4-5/7-8/10-11/13-14/16-17/19-20/22-23/25-26/28-29/31-32 → 18-19/21-22/24-25/27-28/30-31/33-34).
  • The landing hit deals less damage (3% → 2%).
    • Due to the changes to L-canceling, the landing hitbox will now appear when the move is L-canceled (as well as naturally having higher landing lag) making it more difficult to combo with.
  • The landing hit has reduced set knockback (80 → 60).
  • Down aerial has much more startup lag (frame 4 → 18) as well as increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 55).
  • Down aerial's angle has been slightly altered (-90° → 270°) which when combined with the introduction of meteor canceling, makes the move much less reliable for edgeguarding.
  • The changes to shields combined with the weakening of L-canceling has significantly hindered down aerial's shield pressuring potential no longer being able to led into shield break combos.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
• As with all returning veterans, Kirby has gained an up throw, down throw and a pummel.
• As with all returning veterans without a tether grab, Kirby's grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
• Kirby's new forward throw and back throw can now be escaped at any time before the animation ends, leaving Kirby vulnerable and wide open to a punish. This can also result in Kirby Sacrificing himself while his opponents easily survive.
  • As a result, this makes Kirby's forward and back throws completely useless; being easy contenders for the worst throws in the entire series.
• Forward throw:
  • Kirby has a new forward throw: he suplexes the opponent forward. It is based on the Pile Driver from the Suplex ability. It is faster than his previous forward throw and can set up into a Kirbycide more reliably but it is also weaker.
  • Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using forward throw.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has been altered: Kirby now jumps up and moves slightly backwards.
    • Because of this, it can now be used as a Kirbycide although since the throw can be escaped, this hurts the throw overall.
  • Kirby releases his opponent from back throw later (frame 24 → 29).
    • This gives the throw less ending lag if it connects.
    • However, this gives the opponent more time to DI or (more importantly) escape the throw.
  • Back throw deals much less damage (16% → 8%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 80/50).
• Up throw:
  • Kirby's previous forward throw is now his up throw.
    • In the process, it deals damage (13% → 10%) and base knockback (100 → 70) considerably hindering its KO potential despite it sending opponents at a higher angle (70° → 90°).
  • Kirby releases his opponent from up throw earlier (frame 58 → 51).
  • Up throw deals less damage to bystanders (7% → 6%).
  • Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using up throw.
  • Kirby's up throw can no longer land on platforms above him unless they are close enough to the ground (such as the lower platforms on Fountain of Dreams or Yoshi's Story).
• Edge attacks:
  • Edge attacks deal more damage (4% → 6%).
  • Edge attacks have less set knockback (100 → 90).
  • Under 100% edge attack has slightly reduced ending lag (FAF 57 → 56).
  • Under 100% edge attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 15-24 → 19-23).
  • Kirby has a new slow edge attack: he does a split kick instead of a lunging headbutt. It has more horizontal range but less vertical range.
  • Slow edge attack has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 60-67 → 43-59).
  • Slow edge attack has less ending lag (FAF 95 → 80).

Special moves

• Swallow:
  • Vacuum has been renamed to Swallow.
  • Inhale has less startup lag (frame 20 → 17).
  • Kirby can now walk and jump after inhaling an opponent.
  • Swallowing an opponent to obtain their copy ability deals more damage (6% → 8%).
  • After the opponent breaks out of Inhale, Kirby and his opponent will now go into a grab release state rather than both characters going into a tumble state.
  • A spat opponent now deals damage typically based on their weight rather than consistent damage independent of the opponent (17% → 8-19%), making it less reliable in doubles or free-for-alls.
• Hammer:
  • As with all returning veterans, Kirby has gained a side special move: Hammer. Kirby takes out a hammer and swings it. It has a powerful sweetspot and can be used in the air also to quickly rack up damage although the grounded version is slow while the aerial version can be escaped very easily.
• Final Cutter:
  • Kirby can now reverse Final Cutter.
  • The rising hit has a longer duration (frame 23 → 23-24).
  • The rising hit has slightly lower set knockback (121/105 → 117/102).
  • Final Cutter travels less horizontal and vertical distance, hindering its recovery potential.
  • The falling hit's first hitbox has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 46-49 → 47-49).
  • The falling hitbox has significantly reduced set knockback (200 → 100) along with a slightly altered angle (-85° → 275°).
    • When combined with the introduction of meteor canceling, this significantly hinders its edgeguarding potential.
  • The wave deals much less knockback (70 (base), 50 (scaling) → 60/30).
  • The wave no longer does extra shield damage (1 → 0).
• Stone:
  • As well as a Stone, Kirby can also change into a block, a spiky ball, a 100 ton weight or a thwomp when using Stone.
  • Stone's angle has been altered (50° → 70°).
  • Stone has more startup lag in the air (frame 23 → 29).
  • Stone has more ending lag when cancelled (FAF 30 → 32).
  • Stone can no longer be cancelled immediately when used on the ground.
    • This also means that Kirby can no longer laglessly use Stone at an edge or when respawning.
  • Stone deals less damage (20% → 18%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 65/55).

PAL differences

Like other characters, Kirby received some changes in the PAL version of Melee, which slightly buffed him overall as he is faster, heavier and he overall has slightly more range and KO power. These changes however fail to properly address Kirby's flaws so while Kirby is less of a contender for the worst character in the game, he still remains one of the weakest characters overall.

• Kirby's weight has been increased (70 → 74).
• Kirby dashes faster (1.4 → 1.5).
• Forward tilt has increased base knockback (8 → 10).
• Up tilt's late hit's foot hitbox has been re-positioned (x offset: 4.8 → 5.6) giving it more range.
• Clean dash attack deals 1% more damage (8% → 9%).
• Dash attack has decreased knockback scaling (66 → 50), making it slightly weaker despite its higher damage.
• Forward smash's hitboxes have been re-positioned (x offset: 1.2/3.2 → 2/4 (clean), 2/3.6 (late)) giving it more range.
  • The clean hit has higher base knockback (24 → 32).
  • The late hit deals more damage (13% → 14%) and base knockback (18 → 26).
  • The late hit's angle has been altered (75° → 361°) granting it edgeguarding potential.
• Down smash's semi-spike hitboxes have increased base knockback (20 → 22).
• Forward and down aerials have less landing lag (20/10 frames → 18/9).
• Forward aerial's foot hitboxes have been re-positioned (z offset: 10.8 → 12) giving it more range.
• Back aerial's foot hitboxes have been re-positioned (z offset: -8.176 → -9.2) giving it more range.

Moveset

For a gallery of Kirby's hitboxes, see here.

Kirby's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Vulcan Jab	3%	Kirby jabs forwards with both hands, followed by a short series of fast punches. Based on the Vulcan Jab move he can perform with the Fighter ability in his main games.
			4%
			1% (loop)
Forward tilt			11%	Kirby does a quick roundhouse kick forward. Decent range. Can be angled. Very quick and powerful and good for hitting an opponent offstage.
Up tilt			8% (clean), 6% (late)	Kirby thrusts his back leg upwards. Most useful if the opponent is behind Kirby. Was thought to be useless at one point, but is now considered to be one of his better moves. Can juggle opponents and lead to combos.
Down tilt			10%	Kirby kicks forwards while crouching. Fast with decent range. Very useful since Kirby can crouch under most attacks.
Dash attack		Burn	8% (NTSC clean), 9% (PAL clean), 5% (late)	Kirby dashes forward with a fiery spiraling headbutt. Based on the Burn move from the Fire ability in his games. Uniquely, it can fall off ledges and platforms. This attack has transcendent priority. This move has high ending lag and is punishable if missed.
Forward smash		Smash Kick	15% (clean), 13% (late)	Kirby slides forwards, delivering a very large jump kick. Has weak knockback for a forward smash. Can be angled up or down. Based on the Spin Kick from the Fighter ability.
Up smash			15%/13% (clean), 14%/12% (mid), 13%/12% (late)	Kirby does a bicycle kick. Deals more damage and knockback if the opponent is closer to Kirby's foot and the sweetspot has great knockback.
Down smash			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Kirby does a split kick, hitting on both of his sides. Has decent knockback. Both of Kirby's feet are intangible during the early part of the animation. Great move to use with crouch canceling.
Neutral aerial		Twinkle Star	10% (clean), 8% (mid), 6% (late)	Stretches out and spins rapidly in a somersaulting spin. Has a long lasting hitbox. The move is supposed to have four hitboxes with the clean hit dealing 12% however, it is overlapped by the 10% hitbox as the 10% hitbox spawns before the 12% hitbox.
Forward aerial			5% (hits 1-2), 8% (hit 3) (≈16.83% total), 3% (landing)	Kirby kicks forwards three times. Last hit has medium knockback. If not L-cancelled, it also has a landing hitbox that can stack up with the three kicks if timed perfectly. Good move to use off the edge and a decent approach move.
Back aerial			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Quickly crouches in midair then kicks both his legs behind him. Can be used in the fence of pain. Good knockback. Great kill move and one of his best moves in general.
Up aerial			15%	Kirby flips in midair, kicking upwards. Great knockback, possibly Kirby's best KO move and the sixth strongest up aerial in Melee. Sends opponents sideways and can set up an edgeguard.
Down aerial			3% (hits 1-6), 2% (landing) (≈18.47% total)	Kirby spins around, drilling downwards with both his feet. Has a somewhat long start-up, but acts as a weak meteor smash. It also has a landing hitbox that has horizontal knockback, and can stack up with the six hits. Good move to stop recoveries, it even stops Fox's Firefox.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	A quick jab to the opponent, but contains more ending lag than most pummels.
Forward throw			8%	Kirby does a suplex, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. Based on the Pile Driver from the Suplex ability in Kirby Super Star.
Back throw			8%	Kirby flips backward, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. Based on the Backdrop ability from Kirby's Adventure.
Up throw		Air Drop	10%	Kirby jumps high up into the air, and comes back down, ramming the opponent to the ground by doing a suplex. Can be used to Kirbycide on certain stages. During the fall, it can also pass through soft platforms. However, this move will remove all of Kirby's jumps. Based on the Air Drop from the Ninja ability in Kirby Super Star.
Down throw			7%	Kirby throws the opponent on the ground, then stands on the opponent, hitting the enemy with his feet. Despite the animation, only the final hit does damage. Send enemies vertically afterward. Based on the Quick Stamping from the Suplex ability in Kirby Super Star.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and does a spin kick.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up, quickly kicking on one side, then the other.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Kirby does a flip kick onto the stage.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			6%	Kirby does a spinning split kick onto the stage.
Neutral special		Swallow	8% (copy), 10% (spit), 8-19% (star collision)	Kirby sucks up his opponent. He can exhale them as a star to deal damage, or copy their neutral special move. The star Kirby spits out acts as a projectile and hurts nearby foes. Damage of the star depends on the character's weight.
Side special		Hammer	Ground: 23% (sweetspot), 16% (sourspot) Air: 4% (loop early), 2% (loop late)	Kirby swings his hammer. The sweetspot is located on the head of the hammer, while the sourspot is on the handle. In the air, Kirby does a vertical spinning attack that hits multiple times.
Up special		Final Cutter	8% (rise), 2% (drop), 6% (wave)	Kirby uses his Final Cutter attack. Kirby rises with a hitbox, then plunges down to the ground until a platform is hit. This move cannot be cancelled. Upon impact with the ground, the beam fires forward as a projectile.
Down special		Stone	18%	Kirby uses his Stone ability to turn into a heavy object and plunges to the ground, sliding on non-flat surfaces. While in this form, only grabs will affect Kirby. The attack will time out after a short period of time, and it can also be cancelled with another use of the move.

Taunt

• Waves and says his signature elongated "Hi!". The taunt's animation differs slightly, depending on what direction Kirby is facing.

Idle pose

• Hops a bit to look back, then hops again returning to normal position.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Kir-by Kir-by!	Kiiirrr-by!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

The "Level Complete" music that originated in Kirby's Dream Land.

• Moonwalks left, spins to the center, crouch slides to the right, spins back to the center, then holds his hand up.
• Skids right while looking up twice, bounces across the screen, shakes away from the camera, bounces to the center, then holds his hand up.
• Jumps to the right, spins across the screen, crouches twice, jumps to the center, then holds his hand up.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Kirby has one of the worst matchups spreads in the game. According to the 2010 matchup chart, he has two positive matchups (against Bowser and Roy), has two even matchups (against Link and Pichu), but is soft countered by four characters, countered by ten (the 2nd most out of any character, behind Roy), and hard countered by seven (2nd most behind Pichu). Even in the early metagame of Melee, Kirby suffered from his terrible approach, lack of KO ability, slow overall speed, and severe vulnerability to KOs. Although he still has useful tilts, a strong defensive game and a good edgeguarding game, he struggles in the neutral game and has inconsistent combos, and thus can rarely put his opponent into positions where they are susceptible to edgeguarding. Top- and high-tiered characters such as Fox, Samus, Marth, and Jigglypuff give Kirby the most trouble. Fox can KO Kirby vertically at very early percents in a multitude of ways and Kirby doesn't have many options to react; Jigglypuff, Samus and Peach all have great recoveries, stronger aerials, can easily edgeguard him and cannot be comboed by Kirby at all due to their floatiness; Marth can exploit his very poor approach and vulnerability to edgeguards.

Of particular note is Kirby's matchup against Mewtwo, one of the few true counter matchups among the bottom tiers. Kirby's movement is too sluggish to challenge Mewtwo's rolls well, making the matchup difficult as long as Mewtwo keeps a certain distance away from Kirby and uses its zoning tools such as Shadow Ball appropriately. However, this weakness can be alleviated somewhat by fighting on smaller stages which allows Kirby to catch up.

Current metagame

Due to this matchup chart being outdated, some of Kirby's matchups have changed for the better. He does surprisingly well against characters who can struggle to hit his small frame or are vulnerable to edgeguarding, most notably Sheik, Captain Falcon, and Ganondorf. These characters still win the matchup, and have the tools to defeat him should the opponent know the Kirby matchup well, but Kirby has many ways to aggravate them. Unlike other low-tiered characters, Kirby cannot be chaingrabbed by Sheik, and can crouch under many of these characters' attacks and almost all grabs in Melee, which is very useful defensively against the cast when combined with his small size. He can also exploit the top tier characters's poor recoveries with his good edgeguarding game, as he can notably gimp characters like Captain Falcon, Ganondorf and even Fox and Falco at low percents with his down aerial due to their short or slow recovery. This is particularly notable because many other bottom-tiered characters have seen no success at all against the top- and high-tiers in the modern metagame, indicating that Kirby may be better than the characters around him and stronger than once thought.

Notable players

See also: Category:Kirby professionals (SSBM)

Active

There are currently no notable active Kirby players in high-level Melee.

Inactive

•  Cereal Rabbit - Best Kirby in NorCal. Placed 33rd at HTC Throwdown. Took a set off Armada and TheCrimsonBlur (though both were intoxicated at the time).
•  Hack - Best Kirby in Sweden. Has taken some games off of Ice.
•  KirbyRage
•  KrazyKirbyKid
•  Nitrocidal - Best Canadian Kirby main.
•  Omnigamer
•  t1mmy
•  Triple R - The best Kirby player in the world.

Tier placement and history

Kirby has historically always ranked very low on Melee tier lists; compared to Pikachu, Kirby's nerfs from Super Smash Bros. was much more significant, removing almost all of the aspects that made him dominant in the original Smash Bros. and leaving him with considerably fewer options in both offense and defense. Players immediately noticed that Kirby was left with poor KOing power, a poor approach, and a severe vulnerability to edgeguarding and premature falls due to his light weight, low air speed and predictable, telegraphed recovery. Owing to Kirby's significant drawbacks, there have been only a few professional smashers that have developed his metagame for serious play, with a large number of them failing to place notably in large tournaments. While more prolific Kirby mains were active in the past, such as t1mmy and Omnigamer, there exist few such professionals in present-day competitive Melee, causing Kirby's metagame to remain highly stagnant. Additionally, even prior to the stagnation of his metagame, Kirby was seen as a fighter who relied too heavily on gimmicks and the opponent's severe lack of matchup experience to win matches.

As a result of this stagnancy and Kirby's numerous flaws, Kirby has consistently ranked as one of Melee's worst fighters. He is currently ranked last at 26th place on the current tier list, at the very bottom of the tier list. However, some professional smashers, such as Kira, believe that Kirby is underrated and that he is not the worst character in the game, as his tournament results and playerbase have been notably better than other characters around him, which include Bowser, Zelda, and Ness. Armada also disagrees that Kirby should be at the bottom of the tier list, placing him at 24th on his own, citing Kirby's crouch, tilts, and aerials as having mild utility and versatility.

In 1-P Mode

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Kirby can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or opponent in the team battles, alongside Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pichu, or the Ice Climbers, as a member of a multi-character battle, or as a metal opponent. In Kirby's appearances, he appears either on Fountain of Dreams or Green Greens, and on a team with the Ice Climbers, he appears on Icicle Mountain.

Adventure Mode

Kirby's sole appearance is on Stage 5: Green Greens. He first appears in a one-on-one fight then 15 Kirbys appear each possessing a Copy Ability. If the single Kirby and the Kirby team are KO'd in less than 31 seconds, the player must also fight a giant Kirby.

All-Star Mode

Kirby and his allies are fought on Green Greens.

Event Matches

Kirby is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 6: Kirbys on Parade: The player chooses any character and must defeat three tiny Kirbys on Fountain of Dreams.
• Event 16: Kirby's Air-raid: As Kirby, the player must defeat 10 other yellow Kirbys in 38 seconds using only Warp Stars. The yellow Kirbys are immune to the player's attacks.
• Event 28: Puffballs Unite!: The player chooses any character and must defeat a total of 14 Kirbys, each possessing a Copy Ability, on Green Greens. Unlike Adventure mode, the Kirbys appear in groups of four instead of three.
• Event 30: All-Star Match 3: Kirby is the first opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles him on Fountain of Dreams, which will transition to the next stage if Kirby gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with Pikachu, Ness, and the Ice Climbers.
• Event 36: Space Travelers: The player uses Ness must defeat Samus, Kirby, Fox, Captain Falcon and Falco. The player battles the first three characters on Fourside and battles the last two on Battlefield.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Kirby as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing both Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Kirby on any difficulty:

Kirby

A denizen of the far-off, peaceful planet Pop Star, Kirby became a citizen of Dream Land after defeating King Dedede. Even though he's only about eight inches tall, Kirby is an extremely skilled technician. He has the ability to absorb the powers of his enemies, and his elastic body makes him a versatile adventurer.

• Kirby's Dream Land 08/92

Kirby [Smash]

Kirby's small size lets him dodge many attacks, but his light weight makes him fly far when struck. Using his ability to inflate, he can jump five times. His Swallow attack creates wild combos; not only can he copy foes' moves, but he'll also put on special hats and mimic their voices. His Hammer is unwieldy but powerful.

• B: Swallow
• Smash B: Hammer

Kirby [Smash]

Because of his light weight, Kirby is always in danger of being sent flying, but his ability to puff up and fly allows him to come back from amazing distances. His Final Cutter strikes on the way up and on the way down, and it sends out a beam of force upon landing. Kirby transforms into various objects and crashes down when he uses his Stone technique.

• Up & B: Final Cutter
• Down & B: Stone

• 

  Classic

• 

  [Smash]

• 

  [Smash]

Kirby is also the subject of five trophies that can be considered its own trophy series: the Kirby Hat series, with information about the powers Kirby gains when he uses Swallow on each opponent. The first three are "normally collectible" trophies that can be found during normal play and in the Trophy Lottery, but the last two are awarded once the player has unlocked all the playable characters involved on those trophies.

• 

  Kirby Hat 1

• 

  Kirby Hat 2

• 

  Kirby Hat 3

• 

  Kirby Hat 4

• 

  Kirby Hat 5

Finally, the character Kirby himself is depicted on some other trophies not related to gameplay: Ball Kirby, Fighter Kirby and Fire Kirby.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork of Kirby

• 

  Standing with Donkey Kong, Ness, and Luigi on Great Bay

• 

  Posing with Link on Green Greens

• 

  Standing with Young Link and Pikachu on Green Greens

• 

  Taunting with Ness and Pikachu on Temple

Trivia

• Kirby's special moves from Melee are used in the game Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, through the use of the ability called Smash. The moves he gets are Twinkle Star (neutral aerial from Melee, although in this game it has much more range), Hammer, Final Cutter, Stone, and Vulcan Jab. He does not, however, receive Burning, which is his dash attack. He gets the ability from Master Hand, who is a boss in the game.
• Kirby has the shortest taunt, followed by Mr. Game & Watch.
• Kirby is one of the only two characters in the entire Super Smash Bros. series that has had escapable throws, the other being Olimar.
• As the first nine hits of Kirby's down throw are meteor smashes, KO'ing an opponent with the move will earn the Meteor Smash bonus, even though neither the last hit nor the throw itself are meteor smashes.
• A glitch exists where Kirby can dash attack off an edge, land on a different platform, and immediately perform a dash grab. This requires the player to use the dash attack within one or two frames of leaving the edge and then hold down a shield button until Kirby lands. The glitch likely exists because the game allows a buffer between "attack" and "shield" inputs to count as a "grab" input while dashing, which is not properly reset when Kirby attacks off the edge.
  • There is another glitch where if Kirby swallows an opponent and falls off the stage, the opponent will be KO'd and Kirby will not lose a life. With proper timing, a good Kirby player can even recover from a successful KO of this manner. This glitch exists due to the foe's hitboxes reacting to the blast zone before Kirby's, thanks to his small size relative to the rest of the cast.
• Similar to Donkey Kong, Ness, and Samus, Melee is the final game where Kirby is the sole representative of the Kirby universe.
• Kirby, Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Link, Young Link, Falco, and Pikachu are the only characters whose portraits on the character select screen match their official artwork.

External links

• Kirby Video Archive
• The Competitive Kirby - t!mmy's Kirby Guide