Kirby (SSB)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros.
Kirby
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	A (2)

Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros.. He is known for his great recovery, quick attacks, and surprisingly long-range aerials. His trademark move is Swallow, which allows him to suck in enemies and copy their neutral special attacks.

Kirby ranks 2nd due to having fast aerials, a moderately good recovery, and tilts which allow him to perform easy combos, and zero-death most of the cast in many situations. His up tilt is possibly the best move in the entire series as it can break shields alone, has a massive disjointed hitbox, and can combo into itself multiple times, as well as other moves. Kirby's only disadvantageous matchups are Pikachu and arguably Fox on Hyrule Castle.

Attributes

File:Kirbyending.jpg

Kirby's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Kirby is a small, floaty, and lightweight character. This means he is difficult to combo, but easy to juggle and KO (especially vertically). His signature move is Swallow, which allows him to use an opponent's neutral special move and copy their apperance.

In general, Kirby possesses quick, powerful moves. Some of his moves are infamous for possesing disjointed hitboxes (such as his up tilt), making them difficult to counter and punish. His aerials can easily be used in combos, and his forward aerial can rack up damage quickly - being a very fast multi-hit attack with the first few hits having set knockback so they can lead into the final hit easily, it can deal over 20% damage. His up tilt is an incredible combo move, as it can chain into itself multiple times, then follow up with another move, such as a back aerial or up smash. Kirby's smashes are powerful, with his forward smash being the strongest f-smash in the game and, when combined with its very quick startup, a great KO move. Kirby's throws are also fairly powerful, and his quick grab speed allows him to use them efficiently.

Kirby has an excellent recovery and offstage game. He has five midair jumps, and his Final Cutter can extend his vertical recovery even more, with it being able to travel horizontally if the Control Stick is held left/right while using the move. While his recovery can be predictable, it covers a large distance, only rivaled by Pikachu's recovery. His aerials can edgeguard effectively, with his down aerial being an especially effective meteor smash that can drag opponents down, and is easy to recover from.

Kirby's main weaknesses is his above mentioned light weight and floatiness. He is rather vulnerable to powerful aerial attacks that knock him straight up, such as Fox's up aerial and Captain Falcon's up aerial. His attacks also have rather low priority compared to other characters.

Moveset

File:SSBKirbyUTiltHurtbox.gif

Kirby's up tilt, showing its huge disjointed range.

Kirby's hitboxes while ducking.

Kirby's aerial attacks

Kirby in the SSB instruction booklet.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		{{{neutralname}}}	3%	{{{neutraldesc}}}
			3%
			1% per punches
Forward tilt		Roundhouse Kick	10%	Rather short range, but fast. Can be angled for a 1% change in damage either way.
Up tilt		Vertical Kick	14% clean, 10% late	Kicks vertically upwards, slightly behind himself.
Down tilt		Low Kick	9%	Puts his foot out with a slightly longer duration compared to most down tilts in the game. Great gimping move.
Dash attack		Sliding Tackle	10%	This move is fast and good for comboing use, though shielding proves otherwise.
Forward smash		Jump Kick	17%	Fast, good range with long hitbox. Good power and knockback scaling as well, being able to KO most of the cast at around 80%-100%. It is the strongest f-smash in Smash 64. Has some ending lag.
Up smash		Flip Kick	16%	A fast flip kick that is very similar to Fox's and Pikachu's, but with slower start-up and slightly less knockback. Rarely used competitively outside of vs. Jigglypuff.
Down smash		Spinning Splits	18%	Spins with his feet flat on the ground with decent duration, this move knocks the opponent horizontally with power.
Neutral aerial		Aerial Kick	15%	Extends body with feet out and arms out, making Kirby's whole body a hitbox. Sex kick properties. Useful OoS move, good finisher.
Forward aerial		Forward Drill Kick	22% if all hits connect	8 hits, 2%/hit, 6% on the 8th. Has decent knockback, allowing use for edgeguarding. Gives Kirby a slight increase in horizontal movement allowing for a slightly better recovery. Can be easily DI'd out of. If only the last hits are connected, it is guaranteed to combo into a forward smash.
Back aerial		Back Kick	16%	Puts both of his feet behind him, making a viable move for edgeguarding.
Up aerial		Aerial Spin	10% if all hits connect	Multi-hitting attack. This move would be his nair in later Smash Bros. games. The hitbox lasts amazingly long. If the move is not Z-cancelled, there is an extra hurtbox at the end that deals slight knockback and damage (still recommended to Z-cancel).
Down aerial		Drill Kick	Up to 30%	3% per hit, up to 10 hits. The move can be used as a meteor smash, and can drag opponents down, as well as being easy to recover from.
Grab			—
Forward throw		Jump Throw	13%	Jumps high in the air, similar to a warpstar, and slams down. One of the few f-throws to launch foes upward. Has very high knockback, but low knockback scaling, meaning that it does not KO until 120% for most characters. Sends the opponent to the side in the Japanese version.
Back throw		Back Suplex	16%	Performs a backwards suplex, slaming the opponent behind him. Sends the foe upwards and behind Kirby at an angle.
Forward roll Back roll		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Kicks on both sides and gets up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Kicks on both sides and gets up.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			5%	Flips whilst getting back on stage.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			5%	Slowly picks himself up and slides forward, like his dash attack.
Neutral special		Inhale	6% (copy ability), 10% (spit out), 6% (spit out characters to bystanders)	If Kirby inhales an opponent, he can either copy their ability (gains their neutral special move and a hat resembling them; see here for a list of copy abilities) or spit the opponent out as a projectile, dealing damage to bystanders.
Up special		Final Cutter	8% (initial upswing), 2% (falling), 3% (landing), 6% (shockwave)	Swings upward with his Final Cutter and falls down. The cutter can deal damage, and it also emits a shockwave when it lands. Used for recovery, along with Kirby's five midair jumps. Meteor smashes anyone below it with set knockback.
Down special		Stone	20%	Transforms into a stone. If used in the air, he falls down until he reaches the ground.

Taunt

• Turns to his right, stands on tiptoes, inflates, and says "Hi!" while waving his arms three times in the air.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Kirby professionals

• Isai
• Kikoushi

In Single Player

In Single Player mode, the player must face eight Kirbys in succession with each Kirby wielding the power (and the hat) of the original characters beside Kirby and Kirby himself or a secret character's hat.

Defeating all of the Kirbys that appear in order rewards the player the Kirby Rank bonus, giving 25000 points.

Description

From the Game

The 8-inch high Kirby hails from a distant, peaceful star. Like his simplistic appearance, he is an easily-understood character. True to his instincts, Kirby eats when he gets hungry and sleeps as soon as he grows tired. Nevertheless, Kirby remains a formidable opponent. In addition to his distinct flying and swallowing skills, he also has the ability to copy enemy attacks for ever-changing action.

Works:

• Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
• Kirby's Pinball Land (GB)
• Kirby Super Star (SNES) (Kirby's Fun (mispelled as Fan) Pak in the PAL version)

From the Instruction Booklet

An 8-inch high creature from a distant star. He may look harmless, but using his Copy ability, Kirby becomes a formidable opponent.

Costumes

File:Alt-kirby.jpg

Kirby's palette swaps in SSB

Trivia

• Kirby's SSB appearance is his only appearance where his down special move, Stone, can turn him into only one object. In later games he could turn into five different objects.
• Kirby shares quite a few of his attack animations with Jigglypuff, such as the ducking animation and neutral aerial.
• Kirby's up aerial in SSB was, in later games, changed to his neutral aerial, while his neutral aerial from SSB was never used again.
• Kirby's green palette swap is only usable in team battles.