Meta Knight (SSBB)

Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Meta Knight
Universe	Kirby
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Galaxia Darkness
Tier	S (1)

Unveiled at E3 2006, Meta Knight (メタナイト, Meta Naito) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Originally from the Kirby universe, Meta Knight joins the brawl as a starter character who wields his short sword Galaxia as he fights.

He currently ranks first on the Tier List due to his extremely fast attack speed, his transcending priority found in a lot of his attacks (also found in lasers and needles), unpredictable recovery thanks to four recovery moves, ability to avoid being KO'd with his extremely fast up air momentum cancel, amazing edgeguarding ability, approach options, some fast and reliable killing moves, and amazing tournament results and match-ups. No match-up is thought to be a disadvantage for Meta Knight, although some matchups are approximately even.

Attributes

Meta Knight, as seen in the first trailer for Brawl at E3 2006.

Meta Knight is a small character roughly the same size and shape as Kirby (although Meta Knight has a cape that transforms into a pair of bat-like wings) and with the same weight as Pikachu. With proper Directional Influence and partial Momentum Canceling, he can be hard to KO, despite his light weight. Meta Knight's small size and low weight mean that he is difficult to chaingrab, but a few characters can chaingrab or grab release combo him because of his poor, short air release (the third worst behind Wario and Squirtle when including small characters). Meta Knight's dash speed and rolls are quite fast (fastest shield roll in the game), but his lateral aerial movement outside of a glide or any special move is very poor (in the bottom 5). His wings provide Meta Knight with five mid-air jumps and the ability to glide twice (by pressing and holding the jump button and then using his up special). His moveset is mostly comprised of fast, long-ranged moves with his sword Galaxia, which deal relatively low damage and knockback. The low power is compensated for by the fast speed and minimal lag of most of the attacks, allowing Meta Knight to easily set up combos and rack up damage, not to mention that only his dash attack and glide attack does not have transcending priority. In particular, his Mach Tornado (neutral special) can quickly put up to 26% damage on the opponent. Another example can be seen in his up aerial, which when combined with his multiple jumps can combo into itself to 30% or more damage and/or other moves because of its speed. Some of his attacks (notably down smash and up tilt) have a sweespot in the tip of sword (resembling Marth´s sweespot on most of his attacks) that does more damage and knockback. Many of Meta Knight's multi-hit attacks (such as forward and back aerials, forward tilt, up smash and Mach Tornado) are useful in racking up damage, but can all be escaped with Smash DI. Meta Knight's knockback comes from his down and forward smashes, glide attack, neutral aerial and his up special. These five moves are his only viable finishers, and none of them are meteor smashes (though he can gimp recoveries to remedy this and is considered by some to be the best edge-guarder). The up special and down smash are both especially notable for their quickness. Additionally, the up special puts Meta Knight into a glide, allowing him to use his extremely powerful glide attack. Meta Knight is one of only two characters, the other being Sonic, whose all special moves can be used for recovery (allowing him an unpredictable recovery and therefore making him nearly impossible to edgeguard) and put him into a helpless state. A common beginner's mistake for using Meta Knight's specials are to use any of his specials and accidentally go off stage, leaving to fall to his death (though this is not very common at higher levels of play). Meta Knight does lack a projectile, but Mach Tornado has high enough priority to break most opponents' projectiles, or he can just glide over them. Other abilities of Meta Knight include his ability to use his Dimensional Cape for mind games, Wing Dashing (an ability shared but more effectively used by Pit and Charizard) which involves canceling the attack and the landing lag while sliding forward, leaving him completely able to use another attack or defend, and having two excellent approach attacks: Mach Tornado and Drill Rush, giving him a very unpredictable approach game. Additionally, these two approach attacks are not affected by stale-move negation due to being natural combos. Meta Knight's final smash, Galaxia Darkness, is hard to land and does poor damage and knockback comparing to others final smashes. It can, however, hit numerous enemies. This is of no consequence to competitive play, where Final Smashes are always banned.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack - When held, Meta Knight yells and executes a lightning-fast series of slashes that also attack enemies behind him. Does 10% damage when just tapping the attack button. Start-up of 7 frames. Can set-up a down-smash if buffered right.
• Dash attack - Does a running kick. His only attack (other than all of his throws, excluding the back throw) that does not use his sword. When MK attacks with his foot, it does 6%. When the body hits it does 8% damage. Hits on frame 5-11.
• Strong side - Slashes twice in front of him, then once upwards. Only pressing the attack button once will cause Meta Knight to perform only the first hit; press it twice more to slash the second and third times. 1st slash does 4% damage, second slash does 3% and the last does 5%, inflicting 12% total. Start-up of 3 frames. At higher percentages, its difficult (if not impossible) to connect all three hits since the first hit has enough knockback scaling to prevent the other hits connect.
• Strong up - Stabs upward. Inflicts 10%. Decent vertical knockback, and in some cases at higher percents, makes up for his up smash's weak vertical knockback, altough it must sweetspoted to KO. Hitbox out on frame 8. Sweetspot is in the tip of the sword.
• Strong down - Thrusts his sword across the ground. Good for tripping (which sets up a grab or other follow-up), deceptive range (has more range then Marth´s down tilt, altough its only by a few pixels), very fast (start-up is 3 frames only), and it can be used to Pseudo Crawl. Does usually 4% to 6% damage.

Smash

• Side smash - Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes in front of him. Has below average knockback, but its his strongest move in terms of knockback. This is Meta Knight's only slow attack, although that's only the start-up which is 24 frames, it has a very fast charge release and has very little ending lag, less cooldown than his down smash. Does 15-21%.
• Up smash - Slashes above him three times. Like Link's up smash, but much faster, less range and less damage/knockback. Does 4% each slash, in total 12% (9% damage uncharged). Low knockback, but can KO at high percentages. First slash has a start-up of 8 frames, the second slash hits on frame 12 and the final slash hits on frame 17.
• Down smash - Slashes in front of him, then behind. Arguably his best kill move due to its extremely fast speed. One of the non-dragging down smashes that second hit attack has higher knockback than first hit. Front slash does 12-15%, and back slash does 15-18%. First hit on frame 5-6, second hit on frame 10-11. Does more damage and knockback if hit with the tip of the sword.

Other

• Ledge attack - Slashes with blade. 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack - Gets up slowly, then slashes with blade. 10% damage.
• Floor attack - Slashes on either side of himself. 6%, both slashes.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial - Slashes while spinning in a circle. Similar to Pikachu's neutral aerial. Surprisingly powerful. Can hit twice for a total of 19% damage. Good Out-of-Shield option because of its speed (frame 3) and power.
• Forward aerial - Slashes in front of him three times. Can perform a wall of pain variation. First slash does 3%, second does 3%, and last does 4% damage. Altogether inflicts 10%. Start-up of 6 frames.
• Back aerial - Like his fair, but behind him and more slowly. To compensate for the slower slashes, this move has slightly more knockback. However, it still has almost no start-up lag (7 frames, only slower than his fair by one frame) and the first two hits while landing set-ups a down smash on many characters. First slash does 3%, second does 3%, and the last does 4%. Altogether does 10% damage.
• Up aerial - Slashes above him very quickly, has decent knockback. Shortest ending lag aerial in the game and one of the fastest moves in the game (frame 2). Great for juggling opponents into the upper blast line. Does 6% damage. If tap jump is set to "on", Meta Knight will rise up with each slash. The distance varies depending on how many of Meta Knight's jumps remain. It chained itself at low percentages.
• Down aerial - Slashes below him very quickly. Sends the opponent at a horizontal trajectory and is quite deadly offstage, especially against opponents with poor horizontal recovery. Does 7-9% damage. Hits on frame 4.
• Glide Attack - Slashes in front of himself. A fairly powerful move with great vertical knockback. Inflicts 12% damage. Hits on frame 5.

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel - Jabs opponents with his wings' claws. A slow pummel. Does 3%.
• Forward throw - Kicks the opponent in front of him. A very fast throw. Does 8-10% damage.
• Back throw - Teleports and slashes the opponent behind him. 10% damage and good knockback. Good for putting opponents off-stage.
• Up throw - Like Kirby's: jumps into the air holding his foe, and then crashes down. The differences are that this throw doesn't create an explosion, like Kirby's, and has less launch power. Can KO at very high percents. 12%-13% damage.
• Down throw - Stomps on opponent multiple times, then ends by slamming down on him/her. It is much like Kirby's down throw, except its slower and does horizontal knockback. Does 12% damage. Depending on the opponent´s DI, it can be followed by other attacks, even another grab at low-percentages on fast-fallers.

Taunts

Both his side and down taunts provoke battle. This is because he would always challenge Kirby to an honorable fight.

• Up taunt - Wraps himself in his cape, as if teleporting via his down special, while grunting.
• Down taunt - Spreads his wings while shouting "Come!".
• Side taunt - Says "Fight me!", while examining his sword, slashing twice, and finally pointing his sword in front of him.

Special moves

Meta Knight's special moves

Neutral special	Mach Tornado
Side special	Drill Rush
Up special	Shuttle Loop
Down special	Dimensional Cape
Final Smash	Galaxia Darkness		Darkness Illusion

In competitive play

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

It is revealed that before the events of the Subspace Emissary, Meta Knight was attacked by the Subspace Army, who had the intent of taking the Halberd. He was able to hold them off until King Dedede attacked him, causing him to lose his ship.

Meta Knight in the SSE

When Meta Knight is first featured in the Subspace Emissary, he attacks a lone Marth outside of a large castle. He quickly learns that Marth is not his enemy when they are both surrounded by Primids. After a successful battle, both warriors chase the Ancient Minister, who is carrying a Subspace bomb. Both are unsuccessful in their attempts in destroying the bomb (Meta Knight's left wing was shot by the Ancient Minister's laser, forcing him to land and change to his cape to extinguish the flame); luckily, Ike appears and uses his Aether to catch the Minister off guard and destroy the bomb. With the bomb destroyed, all three head back to the castle to clear out any remaining Primids.

Later, they are all seen traveling the wastelands together and battling Galleom. Meta Knight then saves Lucas and an unconscious Pokémon Trainer from a giant free-fall after they defeat the same boss. Meta Knight then begins to ascend a large cliff face, followed by the Ice Climbers (who see his ascent as a racing challenge), in order to reach the Battleship Halberd. At the summit, Lucario challenges Meta Knight to a sparring duel. To the relief of the Ice Climbers, the winner revives the loser, having no hostile feelings. The Halberd then crashes into the side of the mountain in an attempt to destroy the defeated Great Fox, which is being held by the arm of the Combo Cannon. Meta Knight and Lucario quickly board the Halberd, while the Ice climbers fall off the summit, into the canyon.

The pair run into Solid Snake while on board and join forces with him to take back the Halberd. After rescuing Peach and Zelda, the trio continues on to the control deck. There they discover that the ship is being piloted by a gang of Shadow Bug Mr. Game & Watches. Snake runs towards them and throws them all out of the window and onto the bridge, who fuse together to form a gigantic metallic monster called Duon. Once Duon is defeated, Mr. Game & Watch joins the group, along with Peach, Sheik, Fox, and Falco. (Meta Knight remains in the Halberd's control center and does not take part in the battle.)

Meta Knight takes back control of the Halberd and reunites with the members from other groups. The aircraft of the other heroes is placed inside the Halberd, which heads towards the Subspace Gunship with all of the Super Smash Bros heroes on board (except for Wolf, Toon Link, Jigglypuff, Sonic, Ness, King Dedede and Luigi). After using the Subspace Battleship's main cannon to create another Subspace portal, Ganondorf spots the Halberd on the horizon and orders the battleship to open fire. The Halberd is struck down, but the heroes are able to escape on board Samus's Gunship, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Olimar's Hocotate ship, and Falco's Arwing. Kirby destroys the Subspace Battleship by slicing through it is with the Dragoon racing machine and the heroes enter Subspace to pursue Ganondorf and Bowser.

Meta Knight is turned into a trophy by Tabuu along with the rest of the Super Smash Bros heroes upon their entrance into Subspace. He is later revived by Kirby. He rejoins the others in the fight against Tabuu.

Exclusive Stickers

The following stickers can be used only by Meta Knight or by a select few including him:

• Bonkers: [Weapon] Attack +16
• Cell Phone: [Slash] Resistance +4
• Dyna Blade: Launch Resistance +46
• Gordo: [Throwing] Attack +5
• Hot Head: [Flame] Attack +10
• King Dedede & Kirby: [Specials: Direct] Attack +21
• King Dedede (Kirby Super Star): [Leg] Attack +28
• Kirby (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards): [Body, Spin] Attack +22
• Kirby (Kirby Air Ride): [Arm, Leg] Attack +17
• Maxim Tomato: Maxim Tomato Effect +50
• Meta Knight: [Slash] Attack +32
• Meta Knight Ball: Launch Power +8
• Nruff: [Body, Spin] Attack +5
• Starman (Kirby: Squeak Squad): Launch Power +33
• Whispy Woods: [Weapon] Attack +4

Costume Gallery

File:Alt-metaknight.jpg

Meta Knight's various costume changes

Trivia

• Meta Knight is one of the few characters in "Brawl" to lack a meteor smash other than Footstool Jumps. However, he is equipped with two potent semi-spikes.
• Meta Knight is the only character that is able to glide twice.
• Meta Knight, Snake, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, and Luigi are the only characters to have ever been placed in their own tier on the tier list.
  • Meta Knight is the only character in Smash history to have been alone in a tier more than once.
• All of Meta Knight's special moves will put him in his Helpless state if performed in the air, however, they are all capable of being useful recovery moves.
• Meta Knight is one of only three characters in Brawl able to perform three aerials in one short hop, the others being Lucario and Luigi.
• Out of all the Kirby characters, Meta Knight is the only one to speak in complete sentences.
• Meta Knight's eyes never close, but they do change in size.

Potential Banning

• It has been intensely debated if Meta Knight should be banned from tournaments. A rumor saying that Meta Knight had been banned from Italian tournaments ran through the Smash Community in September, 2008. This rumor was later proven to be false by Italian Smashers themselves, who were just having a poll in the Italian Smashboards asking users if they thought Meta Knight deserved a ban (these kinds of polls were popular in all the Smashboards around the world at the time). The results of the poll were misunderstood and posted on Smashboards as if Italy had banned Meta Knight.
• However, the community had been continuing the debate over whether or not to ban Meta Knight, and the SBR promised they would have a decision after Genesis, a major tournament. The SBR has decided to allow community input on the decision, and thus a poll was created along with a forum as to help decide Meta Knight's tournament future. The forum can be found here. Pro-Ban won the poll, but did not win the super majority (2/3) so Meta Knight will in all likelihood not be banned from the tournament environment.
• The Melee Back Room poked fun at his potential banning in their latest ruleset, claiming that "For all Melee tournaments, the character Meta Knight is banned."

External links

• Meta Knight's page at Smash Bros Dojo!!
• Special Move Set
• Meta Knight Character Guide at SWF
• Video of Meta Knight's hit boxes