Kirby (PM)

Kirby in Project M and Project+
Universe	Kirby
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Kirby (SSBM), Kirby (SSBB)

Kirby is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. For his appearance in Project M he has been given a buffed moveset that draws from both his Brawl and Melee versions, along with other unique changes that provide Project M Kirby with a distinctive playstyle exclusive to the mod.

Kirby ranks 40th out of 41 on the tier list, in the middle of D tier. This is a large drop from his Brawl position as 20th out of 38, and a very small improvement over his Melee ranking of 26th out of 26.

Attributes

Kirby is a lightweight character with slow fast fall speed, making him difficult to combo but easy to KO once a hit lands. He can jump up to six times (five in the air, one on the ground), enabling him to edgeguard opponents for an exceedingly long time and at great distances, all the while being able to recover once the deed is done. His poor dash speed and limited approach options despite being a close-range fighter, however, make Kirby susceptible to camping and other defensive strategies. His small stature makes him a difficult target to hit, with his crouch shrinking to a very small height, making him unreachable against some attacks, including grabs.

Kirby's aerials are among the fastest in the game, coupled with his numerous jumps make his edgeguarding abilities especially dangerous. His neutral air comes out incredibly fast and attacks around Kirby's body, making it a great out of shield option. Kirby's back air is disjoint and relatively big in compared to Kirby's body, making it great for zoning out opponents and racking up damage. Kirby's back air is also capable of performing the Fence of Pain, making it great for both comboing and KOing. Kirby's up air, while a significant nerf compared to its Melee counterpart, is good for comboing opponents, with a sourspot that can semi-spike. Up air can also finish off opponents at high percents. Kirby's down air is great for gimping opponents, and while it has more lag than Kirby's other aerials, it can lead to a smash attack when used onstage.

Kirby's grab game is a useful part of his toolkit. Relative to his size, Kirby's grab range is quite large, with his pivot grab being deceptively long. His down-throw can lead to a tech-chase on most characters, allowing him to rack up easy damage and possibly net him a KO. Back throw is an excellent positional throw that, when used near the ledge, sets up easy edgeguarding situations, allowing Kirby to gimp his opponents at notoriously low percents. Up throw has several follow-ups at early and mid percentages (including his aerial hammer on fast-fallers), but is rather situational compared to the two aforementioned throws. Forward throw is also a situational move but has niches uses at very low percents, notably the move can be wavelanded into a grab once again on some characters.

Kirby's special moves are an important part of his tool kit. Kirby's neutral special, Inhale, is a command grab that allows him to copy the neutral special move of his opponent, providing him substantial options depending on the character he swallows (such as being able to short hop double laser with Falco's blaster). Kirby can also spit out his opponent, turning them into a star-shaped projectile for a brief period of time. Infamously, Kirby can use inhale to perform a kirbycide by jumping off the stage while the opponent is still in his mouth. Kirby's hammer is a cumbersome, yet very strong move that can rack up heavy damage, if not outright KO an opponent when landed successfully. While not recommended to be used during the neutral game due to its poor speed, hammer is a great follow-up on an opponent who missed their tech, and is especially useful in conjunction with Kirby's down throw tech-chase. The hammer when used in the air swings two times instead of only once, with the second swing being a semi-spike. Kirby's down special, Stone, has received significant changes since its Brawl and Melee iterations. Stone no longer provides invincibility when under transformation, and instead provides armor, making it easier to break the transformation with an attack. The move, however, has had significant decrease during start-up, and is now much more useful as a means to punish opponents trying to juggle Kirby, often outright KOing them. Final Cutter is Kirby's primary recovery move, giving good vertical distance and decent horizontal drift to provide subtle mix-ups. Final Cutter's downward strike can also spike, providing extra utility during edgeguards. Unique to Project M, Final Cutter can be aimed for a horizontal "Cutter Dash", providing Kirby with an extra recovery option. Using Cutter Dash provides Kirby with one jump remaining, which is useful for follow-ups if Kirby uses Cutter Dash as an approach option. Final Cutter, while a safe option most of the time, can be dangerous since it leaves Kirby with no jumps if he is knocked out of the move, making it nearly impossible for Kirby to recover again.

Changes from Melee to PM

Kirby's dash attack in Project M.

Kirby's Final Cutter aimed horizontally.

As he was at the bottom of Melee's tier list, and only mid-tier in Brawl, Kirby was heavily buffed in Project M, keeping most of his attributes from Brawl while gaining buffed ones from Melee, as well as receiving other new buffs (though with slight nerfs).

Aesthetics

• Up and side taunt no longer remove Kirby's Copy Abilities, with only down taunt doing so, allowing him to taunt with abilities without losing them.
• As a down Smash Taunt, Kirby says "Hii!" in a higher pitch and accent similar to the Smash 64 and Melee versions. This is an otherwise unused voice clip from Brawl's sound test.

Attributes

• Kirby is heavier (70 → 74).
• Kirby dashes faster (1.4 → 1.5).
• Kirby's air speed is significantly faster (0.78 → 1.00), giving him an easier time with combos and recovery.

Ground Attacks

• All tilts retain their Brawl speeds while having their stronger damage values from Melee, making them faster and more effective at racking up damage.
• Dash attack has less ending lag and propels Kirby faster, in addition to hitting consecutive times, linking better and dealing more damage. This means it has more combo ability and can setup an edgeguard.
• All smashes have less start up lag.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial initiates much faster and doesn't last as long, dealing a strong hit with increased knockback if sweetspotted.
• Hits of forward aerial link better and rack up much more damage, while having their landing hitbox removed, thus giving Kirby a significant and much more efficient wall of pain with this move.
• Back aerial has more range at Kirby's front, similar to the Smash 64 version.
• Up aerial now semi-spikes when hitting late similar to Captain Falcon's and Ganondorf's up aerials, making it deadlier.
• Down aerial has faster startup and inflicts higher damage, acting as a better edge-guarding move, and it additionally has its landing hitbox removed, allowing Kirby to effectively follow on.
• Up aerial decays on damage (from 15% to 12%) depending on when it hits. This makes the semi-spike late hit even deadlier (as the lower knockback makes it harder to DI) at the expense of the middle hitbox having less KO potential.

Grabs and Throws

• Throws (except down throw) follow up better into aerial attacks, increasing Kirby's KO ability.
• Forward and back throws can no longer be escaped.
• Forward and up throws no longer cause Kirby to lose all of his jumps (a feature retained from Brawl).
• Down throw is faster, kicking less times while still doing the same damage, and acts better for tech-chasing.
• Forward and back throws can no longer be used for Kirbycides, and the former deals less damage.
• Up throw lands on platforms like in Brawl, achieving KOs more efficiently on certain stages, but deals less damage, making it weaker otherwise.
• All hits of down throw deal damage like in Brawl, instead of only the last hit as in Melee.

Special Attacks

• Inhale has faster startup, and Kirby can now move whilst using it in midair.
• Attacks with low enough knockback to not cause tumbling no longer cause Kirby to lose copied abilities.
• Most Copy Abilities are improved to match other characters' improved neutral specials.
• Grounded Hammer has less startup, and its sourspot is smaller along with dealing more damage. The aerial version is like in Brawl, with more powerful sweetspots, further improving its utility.
• Final Cutter can now be aimed horizontally for a "Cutter Dash" (named after the same move from the Cutter ability in Kirby games), which gives a single hit that can be quickly canceled into an aerial as it ends, extending combo options. Kirby can also use any action except another Final Cutter afterwards, including an air dodge, extending his recovery (though leaving him vulnerable against the grab release glitch).
  • The vertical Final Cutter is faster, matching its Brawl speed, and the downward hit now has stronger knockback and spikes.
• Stone starts and falls faster, and gives Kirby gradually more powerful armor during its transformation. It gives light armor during startup, then quickly turns into medium armor, and lastly it becomes heavy armor as Kirby transforms completely. Kirby can also slightly move sideways before falling and during the move's endlag, and landing with the move deals an additional hit like in Brawl.
• Inhale deals less damage to foes when copying abilities.
• Grounded Hammer retains its shorter range from Brawl, making it still a situational move.
• Stone deals less damage when falling, and Kirby can now receive damage when transformed. When on the ground, it also has a shorter duration of only one second.

Copy Ability changes

• Shares all copied neutral specials' changes with the original characters, the only exceptions being Ganondorf, Bowser, Link, Samus, Fox, Falco, Pit, Wario, Ike, Ivysaur, Lucario, Mewtwo, Snake, Lucas, Olimar, Roy and Sonic.
  • Chomp remains unchanged from Brawl, with additional increases in damage; it holds enemies for longer and bites more times, inflicting 5% damage and biting a maximum of 6 times, dealing 30% damage total. It can also spit enemies backwards like Wario's version.
    • For Wario's hat, Kirby now wears the yellow "W" cap as opposed to the biker cap.
  • Flare Blade deals less damage when uncharged, but charges faster.
    • Kirby uses the Final Cutter sword rather than Roy's Sword of Seals to perform the attack, due to the difficulty in giving him a new prop.
  • Kirby's versions of both Fox and Falco's Blaster do not deal less damage at a distance.
    • The lasers from Fox's Blaster covers less distance.
    • Falco's Blaster fires slightly faster.
  • Kirby's version of Palutena's Arrow does not deal less damage at a distance, but does not posses its new juggling potential.
    • Kirby's arrows also retain their turning speed from Brawl so can be aimed better in some situations.
  • When copying Ivysaur's ability, Kirby will instantly have a charged SolarBeam. After using it, though, he won't be able to charge another and will be practically useless, so he has to drop the hat and copy Ivysaur again in order to use another SolarBeam. This allows Kirby to get a very quick KO, but he must then remove the ability in order to use his neutral special again.
    • With the re-introduction of Taunt canceling to PM, Kirby can quickly remove this copy with little lag in certain scenarios
  • Olimar's ability remains unchanged from Brawl, so Kirby cannot "stall" in the air with Pikmin Pluck.
  • Hero's Bow retains its charge speed from Brawl; charge speed is 33% slower than Link's.
  • Kirby does not possess Snake's new rolling Hand Grenade toss.
  • Cannot perform a Blast Attack with Homing Attack.
    • The range that Homing Attack locks has not changed from Brawl and Kirby does not go into the Helpless state after using (even if it misses), so Homing Attack can be used as a very effective recovery option***
  • Cannot charge Charge Shot in the air.
  • Eruption does not meteor smash at the tip of the blade.
  • Fire Breath startup can be land cancelled to perform a Flame Cancel (an advanced technique of 1.00 Melee Bowser), has greater range when fully decayed, but it doesn't possess an ending bite
  • Aura Sphere remains unchanged from Brawl; they can be charged longer than Lucario's, possess greater speed and size, and fully charged Aura Spheres travel in a straight path rather than a zig-zag pattern. Additionally, Kirby cannot use the Aura Bomb variation.
  • Nayru's Love retains many of its special momentum out of hitstun properties from Brawl, has the strange property of hitting opponents even if they are shielding, has invincibility on startup for both grounded and aerial versions, and can even be land cancelled at the end of the move.
  • For Lucas's ability, Kirby copies PK Freeze (side special) rather than Offense Up. It acts more like a traditional projectile; it still possesses high hitlag with 5% damage, but has faster start-up and is not land-cancellable.
  • For Mewtwo's ability, Kirby copies Disable (down special) rather than Shadow Ball, due to the difficulty in giving him a new projectile.
  • For Ganondorf's ability, Kirby copies Warlock Punch (old neutral special) rather than Dead Man's Volley/Drift.

Revisions

v3.01

• Cutter dash can be performed on the ground and is more lenient to perform. It can additionally be ledge-canceled.
• Ice Climbers' ability's aerial mobility and momentum matched to that of the original move, and hammer hit was also added.
• Ike's ability's armor matches that of the original move.
• Lucario's ability properly stores the Aura Sphere charge when canceling it.
• Sonic's ability bounces off of foes correctly.
• Samus's ability stores charge properly when firing from the air to the ground and goes into the proper cancel animation with the proper cancel duration. Hitbox also matches Samus's version.
• Meta Knight's ability matches the duration of Meta Knight's Mach Tornado.
• Mr. Game and Watch's ability doesn't fire bacon rapidly anymore, instead matching the speed of the original move.
• Yoshi's ability cannot grab from behind anymore.
• Falco's hat graphical effect and sound effect play on the proper frame.
• Pit's ability's arrow speed and control match the original move.
• Sheik's ability's glow displays properly, needle sound effect was fixed, and cancel works with a lightpress of the L/R Button.
• Wolf's ability's hitbox and duration match Wolf's lasers.
• Zero Suit Samus's ability's blaster shot sound effect stays out for the proper duration. Animation was fixed, and the uncharged blaster works like Zero Suit Samus's.

v3.02

• Kirby no longer freezes when storing Aura Sphere.

v3.5

• Down smash is active two frames faster.
• Dash attack is easier to hit.
  • It now has three frames of ending lag.
  • The move is no longer grab invulnerable.
  • SDIing after being hit by the move is more effective.
• Up tilt deals lower base knockback, more ending lag, and a late hit deals less damage.
  • However, the move's knockback growth has been increased.
• Dash grab range reduced.
• Neutral aerial lingering hit range reduced.
• Kirby is slower when drifting in the air with a swallowed opponent.
  • Kirby can also no longer drift when inhaling.
  • However, swallow can be interrupted sooner.
• Inhaled Ness' PK Flash lasts for less time.
  • The move's aerial vertical momentum has been increased.
• Cutter Dash has more endlag.
• Light armor removed during Stone transformation.
  • In addition, it takes longer for Kirby to cancel his fall.
  • Quake damage from the move has been reduced.
  • The move is worse as a combo starter, but now better as a KO move.
• Down throw now sends opponents forward instead of above Kirby.
• Kirby receives two new pallete swaps.

v3.6

• Dash attack's final hit base knockback decreased and ends sooner, allowing better follow-ups.
  • However, the move's final hit's knockback growth increased.
• Up Smash hitboxes terminate 3 frames earlier.
  • However, the move's cooldown lag has been lowered.
• Final Cutter's down slash is now a spike instead of a meteor smash.
  • However, Kirby can only reverse ledge grab briefly after the spike hitbox comes out, making it significantly more difficult to gimp an opponent from onstage without self-destructing.
  • Changed the single hitbox on the down slash to two half-sized hitboxes along the sword.
  • The spike hitbox no longer shrinks in the middle of the animation.
• Transition from Final Cutter to Cutter Dash: Frame 23 → 10
• Cutter Dash's startup animation altered.
• Drift distance after transforming back from Stone has been significantly shortened.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.5.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Two quick punches followed by the Vulcan Jab from the Fighter ability. Based on the Vulcan Jab move he can perform with the Fighter ability in his main games.
			4%
			1-2% (loop)
Forward tilt			11%	Does a quick spinning roundhouse kick. Can be angled upwards or downwards.
Up tilt			8% (clean), 6% (late)	Thrusts his back leg upwards. A fast attack with some disjointed range; can be used repeatedly for juggling foes at low percentages.
Down tilt			10%	Does a crouching low kick. Weak knockback compared to his other tilts, but can be used effectively as a "counter" due to Kirby's very low position when using the move, which allows him to dodge most high attacks and projectiles.
Dash attack			3% (hits 1-2), 5-6% (hit 3)	Dashes forward with a fiery spiraling headbutt. Based on the Burning Attack move from the Burning ability in his games. Can fall off edges unlike most other dash attacks, setting up edgeguards against recovering opponents.
Forward smash	↗		16% (clean), 13% (late)	Lunges forward and delivers a thrust kick that slightly moves Kirby forward. This move can be angled upwards or downwards.
	→		15% (clean), 13% (late)
	↘		14% (clean), 13% (late)
Up smash			15%/13% (clean), 14%/12% (mid), 13%/12% (late)	Kirby performs a backflip upward kick, similar to Fox's up smash. Deals more damage and knockback if the opponent is closer to Kirby's foot. Can easily lead into aerials at low-mid percentages. Kirby's foot has some intangibility while the hitboxes are active.
Down smash			14% (clean), 12%/10% (late)	Kirby does a spinning split kick. Great range and knockback. The tip of his feet possess a semi-spike angle, making the move a deadly edgeguard. A great option for crouch cancel countering, due to Kirby's low position when crouching. Both of Kirby's feet are intangible during the early part of the animation.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Kirby spins in place, dealing damage with his arms and legs. Has a much faster startup and cooldown than its previous iterations, along with stronger initial knockback, now acting more as a sex kick in terms of hitbox properties. Both of Kirby's feet are intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Forward aerial			5% (hits 1-2), 7% (hit 3)	Alternating his feet, Kirby delivers three spin kicks forward. Good edgeguarding move, but can be SDI'd to cause Kirby to whiff the third hit or cause the knockback to send the opponent back on stage.
Back aerial			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Quickly crouches in midair and performs a reverse dropkick. A quick powerful hit, whose hitboxes also cover Kirby's body for some frontal range. Can lead to a Fence of Pain, and is one of his best edgeguarding tools.
Up aerial			15% (clean), 12% (late)	Kirby executes a flip kick in midair. Decent startup and is surprisingly his strongest aerial in terms of knockback, and also one of his best vertical KO options. The latter half of this move semi-spikes opponents.
Down aerial			3% (hits 1-6)	Kirby spins around, drilling downwards with both his feet. Delivers many hits that weakly meteor smashes opponents, serving as a combo starter on grounded foes at mid-high percents and a move for gimping poor recoveries. Has some startup, but is Kirby's most damaging aerial.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Punches the opponent with one hand.
Forward throw			4%	Kirby does a suplex forward, spinning in the air and hitting them into the ground. One of his more situational throws, can lead to some follow-ups at early-to-mid percentage. Unlike in Melee, it cannot be used to perform a Kirbycide.
Back throw			8%	Kirby suplexes the opponent backwards. Faster and stronger than his forward throw, with a slightly different angle. Cannot be used to Kirbycide.
Up throw			7%	Kirby jumps with the foe skyward to the upper blast line, then drops down with them against the floor, generating an explosion. Weaker than its previous iterations, but can be followed-up with aerials or special moves depending on the opponent's percentage and DI. On the drop down, Kirby and his opponent will collide with any soft platforms in the way.
Down throw			1% (hits 1-6), 2% (throw)	Repeatedly and very quickly stomps the opponent on the floor. Kirby's only throw that can damage nearby opponents. Inflicts weak, straightly vertical knockback, acting as a tech-chasing move at most percentages depending on the character.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Kirby gets up and does a spin kick.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Kirby gets up, then kicks on one side, then the other.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Kirby gets up then spins around, kicking.
Edge attack (fast)			6%	Kirby does a flip kick onto the stage.
Edge attack (slow)			6%	Kirby does a spinning split kick onto the stage.
Neutral special		Inhale	3% (copy), 10% (spit), 9-18% (star)	Kirby uses his trademark swallowing move, opening his mouth and dragging any opponents or items at close ranges into his stomach. Upon swallowing an opponent, Kirby can either spit them out as a star projectile (which cannot be reflected for absorbed) that deals damage based on the spat out foe's weight, or suck them to acquire a nearly-identical version of their neutral special move (or other special for a few characters), sending them away at his back afterwards. These copied abilities can be removed voluntarily by performing a taunt. If none of these options is chosen, Kirby can move around with the swallowed foe at a rather sluggish speed and jump, though they can then mash out of the move like with a regular grab. In midair, Kirby can move sideways whilst inhaling and drag swallowed foes with himself into the bottom blast line, known as a Kirbycide.
Side special		Hammer	23% (ground head), 18% (ground handle), 18% (air hit 1 head), 12% (air hit 1 handle), 15% (air hit 2 head) 10% (air hit 2 handle)	Kirby takes out a hammer and swings it horizontally. Has slow startup, but its sweetspot is very powerful and can KO at early percentages, though having a small range and punishable sourspot. When used in midair, Kirby swings it two times; the second swing has a semi-spike angle useful for edgeguarding, though both hits still have sourspots.
Up special		Final Cutter	8% (rise/cutter dash), 2% (drop), 5-6% (shockwave)	Kirby takes out a silver blade, swinging it upwards, then downwards, and lastly generating a shockwave as he lands with it. The first hit has a straight upwards angle, while the second hit is a spike, leading into the projectile afterwards. Kirby can slightly move horizontally during the move, and the down slice cancels upon sweetspotting a ledge, making it an useful recovery move. The shockwave can be reflected and absorbed. If the B button is held and the control stick is held forward while preparing the move, Kirby will instead perform a single horizontal slice (dealing the same damage as the first hit of the original version), which can be ledge-canceled and/or quickly followed up with an aerial as it ends, making the move useful for combos. Both versions don't cause helplessness, and the horizontal version leaves Kirby with one midair jump.
Down special		Stone	13% (fall), 10% (quake)	Kirby turns into a heavy object, then quickly falls down (if started from the air). He then stays transformed for one second upon landing. Unlike in the original Super Smash Bros. games, this move is much faster in startup, but doesn't protect Kirby from attacks, instead just giving him launch resistance; this begins as light armor as he starts the move, then changes to medium and finally heavy armor as he transforms completely. The move's falling hitbox also deals less damage and knockback with a weak upwards trajectory, functioning more as a quick countering attack rather than a KOing one. Landing with the Stone produces quake hitboxes, which are stronger and inflict horizontal knockback. Kirby can slightly move left and right with the move during startup, but the fall then negates all horizontal momentum. Kirby can transform into 5 different objects, which include: a pink stone or 100-ton weight (from Kirby Super Star), a garbage block from Panel de Pon, a spiked ball, and a Thwomp from Super Mario 64.
Final Smash		Cook Kirby	2% (12 hits), 10% (release)	Kirby pulls in nearby opponents into a pot and cooks them. If items are on, then certain items will pop out of the pan as soon as the players are released.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Alex
•  ChuDat
•  G-Rabbit
•  Gnosis
•  JetX
•  Tetraflora
•  YadoR
•  Robm
•  Ostrich Glue

Alternate costumes

Kirby received two new recolors based on the Carbon and Grape Spray Paint from certain Kirby games.

Kirby's alternate costumes in PM