Meta Knight (SSBB)/Up special
Overview
Meta Knight's up special, Shuttle Loop, allows him to jump into the air a high vertical distance, go into a loop, and then glide forward. If he ends the glide early or does a glide attack, it will make him helpless. This special move makes Meta Knight the only character that can glide twice without touching the ground. The sweetspot (at the startup on the ground) does around 9% and has powerful knockback, making it a good finisher. However, after the initial sweetspot, the hitboxes deal weak knockback. Additionally, when sweetspotted in midair, it sends opponents on a semi-spike trajectory, and since it has almost no start-up lag and very strong base knockback, it is very deadly to the opponent, and almost guarantees a KO on some characters with poor horizontal recovery such as Ike. However, doing it while not facing the stage is risky as the move makes him helpless, and combined with Meta Knight's poor air speed, it can be difficult to return to the stage safely when performed this way. The initial upswing of the Shuttle Loop is mostly used at the end of Meta Knight's combos.
When the move is used as an edgeguarding move just above the edge, it is recommended to cancel the move with a jump button. Using a glide attack will cause Meta Knight to propel forward a further distance, with the momentum preventing him from being able to reach the edge, resulting in a SD. If a jump button if pressed, Meta Knight will simply drop down quickly. The move can also be cancelled by tilting the Control Stick back, though this cannot be performed quickly. A notable use of the move is that it can autocancel if Meta Knight uses it from below a soft platform at the right distance. This allows Meta Knight to execute any action immediately after he lands, including dropping through the platform without becoming helpless.
Attack data
Grounded
- Startup: frames 1-7
- Hits on frame: 8
- Invincibility frames: 5-8
- Strong hitbox hits: 8-13
- Weak hitbox hits: 22-31
- IASA frames: 32
Aerial
- Startup: frames 1-7
- Hits on frame: 8
- Strong hitbox hits: 8-14
- Weak hitbox hits: 15-36
- IASA frames: 38