Kirby (SSBM)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	F (26)

“	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.

Currently, Kirby is ranked 26th in the F tier at the very bottom, a huge drop from his 2nd position in Smash 64. While he has some interesting throw options 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, and numerous other flaws on both the ground and air prevent Kirby from easily approaching enemies, and he struggles against almost all characters as a result of this. Kirby currently has 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 outmanuver opponents. While having an average dashing speed and poor air speed, Kirby's 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 airspeed, Kirby has an above average 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 hitboxes 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 hitboxes 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.

Despite these benefits, Kirby's greatest flaw is his nearly nonexistent approach. With a poor SHFFL, short wavedash, poor 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 or powerful pressure games, such as Marth and 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 Link) 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. Kirby does have an above average grab range, allowing him to potentially use his powerful and unusual throws to his advantage. Kirby's three tilts, while short-ranged, have a variety of practical applications; his forward and down tilt can act as spacing tools, while his up tilt can potentially be used as a combo starter.

Assuming he can approach opponents, however, Kirby's various attributes also give him very poor combo ability; a low air speed prevents him from easily pursuing enemies in the air, and all of his aerials either have long startup and cooldown periods (down and neutral air), high knockback (up and back air), or poor hitbox placement (forward air). Kirby's only noteworthy combo is his Fence of Pain as mentioned earlier, and even this combo is not foolproof. As Kirby's above average grab range can allow him to easily grab opponents, however, he can potentially use his 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. While able to theoretically KO at any percentage, the technique is unreliable; his up throw requires proper placement at the edge of a stage, and both his forward and back throws can be potentially broken out of, causing the opponent to remain unharmed while Kirby loses a stock.

Outside of his poor approach, Kirby also heavily struggles with KOing other characters. A majority of Kirby's finishers suffer from poor range (such as his down smash) or have small sweetspots that make them unreliable (such as his Hammer and up smash). Arguably Kirby's only effective finisher is his up aerial, which itself requires a proper read and correct timing from the player in order 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. 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 unarguably the most severely nerfed character from Smash 64 to Melee, and possibly the most severely nerfed character in all of the series. Kirby's nerfs primarily harmed his excellent finishers and good approach, with his various buffs failing to address his lack of reliable combos or significant survivability issues from the previous game; on the contrary, his nerfs lowered his combo potential and made him easier to KO in Melee. Below are the changes:

Attributes

• Kirby generally is slower, weaker, and easier to combo, while he also has largely reduced combo ability and less range.
• His already low air speed has been decreased even more, making his recovery much easier to gimp.

Standard attacks

• New dash attack is much more laggy and easier to punish, and no longer does extra shield damage.

Tilt attacks

• His forward tilt deals 1% more damage.
• Up tilt is slower, has less range (though still slightly disjointed), is a less reliable juggling and combo move, and can no longer be used for shield break combos.

Smash attacks

• Up smash is a more reliable KO move.
• Forward smash has much more startup and ending lag, no longer being the fastest in the game, and is drastically weaker, going from the strongest forward smash in Smash 64 to among the weakest in Melee. It also no longer deals extra shield damage.

Aerial attacks

• New up aerial is much more powerful.
• Back aerial has a slightly different animation, removing the hitbox in front of Kirby.
• Down aerial lands differently and gives a small hit, even when L-cancelled. This makes it more difficult to combo with.
• Down aerial drill is slower, making the meteor smash less reliable for edgeguarding. The first few hits also no longer have high power, meaning the last hit must be landed to properly utilize the meteor smash.
• New forward aerial.
• Up aerial from Smash 64 moved to neutral aerial.

Grab and throws

• Back throw can Kirbycide.
• New forward throw and Back throw can be escaped.
• New forward throw (his old forward throw is now his up throw).

Special attacks

• Can walk around after inhaling an opponent.
• Final Cutter can now grab edges while Kirby is facing the opposite direction.
• Final Cutter gains a shorter distance, which along with Kirby's lower air speed, further hampers Kirby's recovery. Both the hitbox while dropping and the wave are also weaker, and the wave no longer does extra shield damage.
• Stone can change Kirby into five objects, as opposed to one.

PAL differences

Like other characters, Kirby received some changes in the PAL version of Melee, which slightly buffed him overall, but are not enough to heavily affect his tournament results.

• Weight increased from 70 to 74.
• Dashing speed increased from 1.4 to 1.5.
• Dash attack deals 1% more damage.
• Forward aerial has 2 frames less of landing lag (1 frame less of L-cancelled landing lag).
• Dash attack knockback growth decreased from 66 to 50.

Moveset

Kirby's aerial attacks.

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

Normal

• Neutral attack: Kirby jabs forwards with his hand, followed by a short series of fast punches. 3% damage for the first punches, then each punch does around 1%-2%. Based on the Vulcan Jab move he can perform with the Fighter ability in his main games.
• Dash attack: Kirby dashes forward with a fiery spiralling headbutt. Based on the Burning ability in his games. Uniquely, it can fall off ledges and platforms. This attack has transcendent priority. 8% damage if it hits clean, or 4% if it hits late.
• Down tilt: Kirby kicks forwards while crouching. Fast, decent ranged. 10%
• Forward tilt: Kirby does a quick roundhouse kick forwards. Decent range. 10% normally, 11% angled up, 9% angled down.
• Up tilt: Kirby thrusts his back leg upwards. Infamous for its shield damage. 8% clean, 7% late.

Aerials

• Neutral aerial: Stretches out and spins rapidly in a somersaulting spin. Has a long lasting hitbox. 10% clean, 6% late.
• Forward aerial: Kirby kicks forwards three times. Last hit has medium knockback. 16% if all hits connect. If not L-cancelled, it also has a landing hitbox that deals 2% damage, and can stack up with the three kicks if timed perfectly.
• Back aerial: Kirby does a no-look kick backwards. Can be used in the Fence of Pain. Good knockback. 14% clean, 8% late.
• Up aerial: Kirby flips in mid air, kicking upwards. Great knockback, possibly Kirby's best KO move. 15%
• Down aerial: Kirby spins around, drilling downwards with his feet. 6 hits, 12% if all of them connect. Has a somewhat long start-up, but acts as a decent meteor smash. It also has a landing hitbox that deals 2% damage with horizontal knockback, and can stack up with the six hits.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash: Kirby slides forwards, kicking. Has below average knockback. 15% clean, 12% late.
• Up smash: Kirby does a back-flip, kicking upwards. Has high knockback if sweetspotted. 15% at the front, 11% up, and 7% at the back.
• Down smash: Kirby does a split kick, hitting on both of his sides. Has decent knockback. 14%

Grabs & throws

• Pummel: A quick jab to the opponent, but contains more ending lag than most pummels. 3% damage.
• Down throw: Kirby throws the opponent on the ground, then stands on the opponent, hitting the enemy with his feet. Only the final hit does damage. Send enemies vertically afterwards. 8% damage.
• Back throw: Kirby flips backwards, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. 8%
• Forward throw: Kirby does a suplex, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. 8%
• Up throw: 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. 10% damage. During the fall, it can also pass through soft platforms.

Special moves

Kirby's special moves

Neutral special	Swallow		Inhale
Side special	—	Hammer		Hammer Flip
Up special	Final Cutter
Down special	Stone

Taunt

• Waves and says "Hi!" If Kirby has an ability from an opponent while using this move, it gets discarded.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Kirby professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Triple R
•  Cereal Rabbit

Inactive

•  Hack
•  KirbyRage
•  Omnigamer
•  t1mmy

Tier placement and history

Kirby has historically always ranked very low on Melee tier lists; compared to Pikachu, Kirby's nerf 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 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 professional 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, with some smashers even claiming that Kirby's potential is worse than that of Pichu, a fighter that injures itself with almost all of its attacks. This argument reflects in Kirby's current tier placement; he is currently ranked last at 26th place on the current tier list, making him the least viable character in the current Melee metagame.

In Single Player Modes

In Classic Mode

Kirby appears in a one-on-one, as an ally, on a team with Pichu, Jigglypuff, Pikachu, or Ice Climbers, in a multi-man battle, or in a metal battle. Kirby appears on Battlefield in the metal battle and on Icicle Mountain on a team with Ice Climbers. Otherwise, he appears on Fountain of Dreams or Green Greens.

In 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 fight a giant Kirby.

In All-Star Mode

Kirby and his allies are fought on Green Greens.

In Event Matches

Kirby appears in the following event matches:

• Event 6: Kirbys on Parade: The player must KO three Kirbys each with 2 stocks while only having 1 stock.
• 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 pink Kirby's attacks.
• Event 28: Puffballs Unite!: The player must defeat 14 Kirbys each possessing a Copy Ability. 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 the Fountain of Dreams stage, and the player's character has 2 stock while Kirby has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other three characters with the overall time and life they have: Pikachu, Ness, and the Ice Climbers.
• Event 36: Space Travelers: Kirby is one of the opponents Ness must fight along with Samus, Fox, Captain Falcon, and Falco in a 1 stock battle. Ness fights the first three on Fourside and the last two on Battlefield.

Ending images

• Kirbyclassic.jpg

  Classic Mode

• Kirbyadventure.jpg

  Adventure Mode

• Kirbyallstar.jpg

  All-Star Mode

Trophy descriptions

Kirby is the single most represented character in trophy format in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Being a playable character, Kirby has his own set of "gameplay" trophies that are acquirable by completing any of the three modes in the single-player modes with Kirby: Classic, Adventure, and All-Star.

Kirby (Adventure)

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 (All-Star)

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

• 

  Adventure

• 

  All-Star

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

Kirby's palette swaps in SSBM

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 the only character in the entire Super Smash Bros. series that has had escapable throws.
• 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.

External links

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