Meta Knight (SSB4)

Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Galaxia Darkness

Meta Knight (メタナイト, Meta Knight) is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was revealed on August 13th, 2014, being teased before hand on the 11th.

Atsushi Kisaichi (Japanese) and Eric Newsome (English) reprise their role as the voice of Meta Knight, albeit using the same voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Attributes

Meta Knight is a small, lightweight character, being about the same size that he was in his previous incarnation. However, his dominant presence in the Brawl metagame has brought a waterfall of nerfs upon him, although he has gotten a few buffs in regards to knockback.

His small size and light weight can be both a blessing and a curse to him; in Brawl, his small size gave him a hugely disjointed range, and, when combined with his absurdly fast and lag-less moveset, birthed a character whose fighting prowess was referred to as "broken" by many players. Because of the advantages that he possessed, Super Smash Bros. 4 toned down nearly all of his superior traits, aside from his insane speed. For example, his range has been gravely reduced; his hitboxes have been rebalanced to mostly match the visuals of his sword strikes, yet, in plenty of his moves, the hitbox is even shorter than the sword trail, ultimately forcing him to take a much more offensive style in replacement of his largely defensive gameplay in Brawl. Because of this, his combos are much harder to start, and players can have a hard time racking on damage with his shortened range. While his KOing potential is significantly buffed, said buffs only apply to a few of his attacks, giving him a very limited amount of KO options in comparison to the rest of the cast.

In addition to his range nerfs, his special moves have also been changed to make him more balanced in regards to the rest of the cast. A prime example is his Shuttle Loop, which, in Brawl, gave him a powerful and quick killing move and yet another tool for extending his recovery, even allowing him to glide under some stages. It has been changed to no longer transition into an automatic glide, removing many of his approach options, and also leaves him helpless afterwards, making this a risky move to safely pull off. While it received a second hit that may easily K.O. off of the upper blast line, it can be troublesome to land, and its aforementioned drawbacks leave him open to many punishment opportunities afterwards if it doesn't connect. Mach Tornado is still a very powerful move and has been given much more knockback on the last hit, but its added ending and starting lag make Meta Knight a less potent force in the neutral game.

However, although he has a steeper learning curve than in Brawl, Meta Knight can still be a viable character if used correctly. His incredible speed, one of his most valued traits from Brawl, has been left essentially untouched, and can let an offensive-minded player get in on other opponents easily, and he continues to possess a decent approach with his numerous specials. Although the lack of a projectile hurts him more in this game than in Brawl, the specific buffs to his Dimensional Cape and Drill Rush can help to circumvent this with careful use. His buffed smashes, are both very powerful and very fast for a character of his size, although these can sometimes be difficult to land with his reduced range. In addition, he still holds one of his most powerful tools: edgeguarding. His 5 jumps, when added to any of his special moves, make him a terror when airborne or offstage, as he can wall of pain nearly any character off the side blast lines, with his back aerial being especially effective. Additionally, his aerial game in general is nearly unrivalled despite Meta Knight's range nerfs, as he was given compensation with drastically increased air speed, and he can juggle most characters without issue. Most of his aerials can easily link into other moves, such as up aerial into Shuttle Loop, or forward aerial into Mach Tornado. All in all, while he does not possess the overwhelming power he once did, a practiced player well aware of Meta Knight's strengths and weaknesses can find plenty of success with him.

With customs turned on, Meta Knight benefits little, with none of his options being especially attractive. Both custom variants of Mach Tornado do have reasonably good KOing ability, but at the cost of Meta Knight's most damaging attack. The rest of his custom moves generally have, at best, only situational uses which are unlikely to be worth giving up the versatility of the originals.

Changes from Brawl

As he is infamous for being the best character in Brawl, to the point of being considered by many as "broken" due to possessing numerous extreme advantages that ranked him first in the tier list with his own tier category, Meta Knight was subsequently nerfed immensely in the transition to SSB4. While he received several buffs, they do not properly compensate for the loss of many of his traits that made him so overly dominant. As such, Meta Knight is one of few characters to have been truly nerfed from Brawl to SSB4, and was considered one of the worst characters in the game in very early versions of Smash for 3DS.

However, Meta Knight has gradually received a few buffs over time via updates. In update 1.0.4, his damage output and knockback were both improved and in update 1.0.8, his speed was improved. While these buffs do not make him nearly as potent as he was in Brawl, they are still helpful additions that help him recoup a bit of his initial lost offensive capability.

Aesthetics

• Visually, Meta Knight now has gauntlets over his gloves and small battle damage details on his armor. Additionally, the top corners of his mask opening are more pointed, with the sides curving inward instead of being straight.
• Meta Knight has a new rolling animation, where he wraps himself in his cape.
• Meta Knight's sword trails are visually brighter in color, being an intense yellow and blue trail compared to Brawl's, where his Galaxia's trail was light enough to the point of being white.
• Sound-wise, Meta Knight's sword swings sound less "sharp" and are noticeably less noisy than his attacks in Brawl. All his sword attacks now make softer, muted sounds of his Brawl sword swings, which is most obvious when comparing the sounds of Mach Tornado in Brawl and SSB4.

Attributes

• Meta Knight is slightly heavier (79 → 80) which along with his faster falling speed makes him harder to K.O.
• Meta Knight falls faster (1.39 → 1.66), making him more susceptible to combos but improving his vertical endurance.
• Meta Knight dashes slightly faster (1.847 → 1.9).
• Meta Knight walks slightly slower (1.22 → 1.18).
• Meta Knight's air speed is significantly faster (0.752 → 0.99), no longer being tied for the third worst.
• With the removal of gliding in SSB4, Meta Knight's recovery is overall much shorter.
• Meta Knight's range is much shorter, with some hitboxes not even matching his sword trails.
• Meta Knight's attacks no longer have transcendent priority, now clanging normally with opposing attacks.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack links into a finisher.
• Neutral attack's hits only connect in front of Meta Knight instead of both sides.
• Dash attack is slightly disjointed and has much more knockback (40 base/88 growth → (70 base/90 growth).
• Dash attack deals less damage (6/7/8 → 5/6%).
• Forward tilt has reduced range, increased start-up (frame 3 → 6), and less damage potential (11/12 → 8%), however its knockback was compensated.
• Up tilt deals less damage (6/7/8 → 5/6/7%) and the sweetspot deals much less knockback (35 base/130 growth → 60 base/90 growth).
• Down tilt has reduced range, and doesn't move forward as much, being less effective for pseudo-crawling.
• Down tilt now deals consistent damage throughout instead of having a sweetspot at the base and a sourspot at the tip, now consistently dealing 5% rather than 4% (tip), 5% (center) and 6% (base).
• Down tilt strangely shrinks Meta Knight's sword.
• Forward smash is significantly stronger, with increased damage (14 → 16%) and knockback (28 base/99 growth → 30 base/108 growth).
• Forward smash animation altered where Meta Knight slashes more outward with more recovery lag.
• Up smash's last hit is much stronger (62 base/145 growth → 66 base/166 growth).
• Up smash's animation is slightly altered: Meta Knight does three fan-like swings above him, the final swing making him do a full spin in the air before landing.
• Meta Knight only vocalizes after his forward and up smashes have been executed. While this seems cosmetic at first, it can generally make them less predictable.
• Down smash hits 1 frame earlier on each side (1st hit 5/6 → 4/5, second hit 10/11 → 9/10).
• Both hits of down smash are significantly shorter in range, and deal less damage (11/13 → 7/10%) without proper compensation on their knockback. The first hit can no longer KO reliably unless at 150% near the edge.
• Down smash also has a new animation; where Meta Knight slashes inward around himself in a single spin.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials deal less damage (Neutral aerial: 19 → 10%, Forward aerial: 10 → 7.4%, Back aerial: 10 → 8.4%, Up aerial: 6 → 5%, Dair 7/9 → 6%) with only Forward aerial and Back aerial having their knockback compensated.
• All aerials have significantly shorter range.
• All aerials except Neutral aerial have 5-6 frames of landing lag added to them.
• Neutral aerial, forward aerial and back aerial no longer auto-cancel in a short hop.
• Neutral aerial (frame 3 → 6), forward aerial (frame 6 → 9) and up aerial (frame 2 → 6) are slower.
• Forward aerial deals more knockback.
• Back aerial deals more knockback. It also has a small hitbox on the second hit where it sends opponents at an Autolink angle sending them downward if Meta Knight fastfalls at the same time, allowing to set-up combos and as a surprise attack, improving its utility.
• Up aerial has more ending lag.
• Down aerial has a higher trajectory (50 degrees) which, while still quite potent, hurts its edge-guarding utility and one of the best semi-spikes from Brawl.

Throws/other attacks

• Up throw deals 2% less damage (knockback compensated).
• Up throw has a hitbox during the landing proportion for non-grabbed opponents that deals massive knockback, increasing its utility in Doubles play.
• The removal of hitstun cancelling significantly benefits down throw, with follow-ups possible all the way into KO percents depending on poor DI, particularly with Shuttle Loop.
• Down throw deals less damage (11 → 7.5%) and has much more knockback growth (110 → 170), making it less reliable for followups at high pecents.

Special moves

• Mach Tornado is now significantly more difficult to SDI out of. Its final hit additionally has increased knockback growth.
• Mach Tornado lasts for a slightly shorter amount of time and has increased landing lag. It has worse hitbox placements and sizes, making it easier to intercept. In addition, Mach Tornado grants less vertical distance, has increased aerial cool-down and can no longer edge sweetspot at all, ruining its recovery potential.
• Mach Tornado has new special effects that no longer completely cover Meta Knight from sight.
• Drill Rush connects more reliably and is much stronger. The small jump at the end of the move also goes much farther.
• Drill Rush has more startup lag and cannot allow a small jump at the end unless the last attack connects with a solid object (such as an opponent, a wall or a floor).
• Shuttle Loop now has a second damaging upward loop, which deals more damage than in Brawl, and hits airborne foes fast. It also significantly benefits Meta Knight's vertical recovery even further. It has good KO potential if used near the upper blast line.
• The changes to Shuttle Loop make it much less effective at edgeguarding as it no longer has extremely high base knockback and doesn't send at a semi spike angle. Shuttle Loop no longer transitions into a glide, and now immediately puts Meta Knight into helpless once the move ends.
• Dimensional Cape is much stronger, now being one of his few reliable KO moves.
• Galaxia Darkness no longer attacks Meta Knight's teammates, and only attacks the opponents.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			1.2% each hit	Executes a lightning-fast series of slashes, ending with Meta Knight doing a somersault while doing a swift uppercut with his sword. The only neutral attack in the game that consists solely of a rapid jab; unfortunately, this makes it punishable if missed.
			2% last hit
Forward tilt			2%	Slashes twice in front of him, then once upwards. Last hit deals vertical knockback. Only pressing the attack button once will cause Meta Knight to perform only the first hit; pressing it twice more makes him slash the second and third times. Resembles a jab, and is safer to use than Meta Knight's actual jab.
			2%
			4%
Up tilt			7% (sweet), 5% (sour)	Stabs upward while spinning. Decent vertical knockback, and in some cases at higher percentages, makes up for his up smash's weak vertical knockback. Sweetspot is at the tip of the sword (similar to Marth's tipper sweetspots). Also has decent combo potential, though it can be tricky to land.
Down tilt			5%	Thrusts his sword across the ground. For some reason, this move shortens the length of Meta Knight's sword until it is complete. Really fast, and can trip opponents at low percentages. A fairly safe move, and a good combo starter.
Dash attack			6% (clean), 5% (late)	Does a running kick with vertical knockback. A reliable approach option due to the move's slightly disjointed hitbox, allowing Meta Knight to get in to start combos or interrupt approaches. His only attack (other than his pummel and all of his throws, excluding the b-throw) that does not use his sword.
Forward smash			16%	Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes in front of him. Meta Knight's strongest move in terms of knockback, KOing at around 100% from the center of Final Destination and around 75% near the ledge. Some start-up, but very little end-lag.
Up smash			3% (1st hit), 2% (2nd hit), 4% (3rd hit)	Slashes above him three times and then holds his sword. Like Link's up smash, but much faster, with less range and less damage/knockback. KOs starting at around 120%. Not a lot of horizontal range, despite appearances.
Down smash			7% (front), 10% (back)	Slashes in front of him, then behind. Significantly weaker than in Brawl, front hit cannot KO until 150% near the ledge, and back hit KOs at around 110% near the ledge. Nonetheless, its extreme speed can make it useful to clear space and possibly catch foes offguard.
Neutral aerial			10% (clean), 7.5% (late)	Slashes while spinning in a circle. Decent for edgeguarding and escaping pressure due to its very quick startup and can KO at higher percentages.
Forward aerial			2.2% (hits 1-2 for opponents on the ground), 1.5% (hits 1-2 for opponents in the air), 3% (hit 3)	Slashes in front of him three times. Very fast, especially for a multi-hit move.
Back aerial			2.2% (hits 1-2 for opponents on the ground), 1.5% (hits 1-2 for opponents in the air), 4% (hit 3)	Like his forward aerial, but behind him and more slowly. Decent knockback, and its duration makes it relatively easy to hit with. Good for edgeguarding.
Up aerial			5%	Slashes above him very quickly. Can chain into itself at low-mid percentages, potentially leading into a high-altitude Shuttle Loop for an early KO.
Down aerial			6%	Slashes below him very quickly. Sends the opponent on a semi-spike trajectory and is quite deadly offstage, especially against opponents with poor horizontal recovery. Can also be used to pressure grounded foes.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Jabs opponents with his wings' claws.
Forward throw			6% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Flip kicks the opponent in front of him. A very fast throw.
Back throw			7% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Lays down the opponent behind him, warps, and slashes his/her back. Good knockback, as it KOs at high percentages. Good for putting opponents off-stage.
Up throw			10% (thrown opponent), 7% (other opponents hit by the throw)	Like Kirby's u-throw: jumps extremely high into the air holding his foe, and then crashes down. Other opponents who are hit by the throw are dealt high knockback.
Down throw			0.5% (hits 1-9), 1% (hit 10), 2% (throw)	Like Kirby's d-throw, but slower: stomps on opponent multiple times, then ends by slamming down on them, excellent follow-up potential. Can link into an up smash, forward air, and occasionally lead into a KO combo with Shuttle Loop if opponent DIs poorly.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Slashes on either side of himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Slashes on either side of himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Slashes with blade.
Neutral special	Default	Mach Tornado	1% (multiple hits), 3% (last hit)	Spins at high speed, trapping foes in a tornado. Mashing the button increases the move's duration and makes Meta Knight rise slightly; he can also move left and right. Deals a lot of damage if the entire move hits, aiding Meta Knight's otherwise low damage output. The last hit can KO near the upper blast line, but this is dangerous to attempt since the move leaves Meta Knight helpless. However, at certain heights Meta Knight will have reduced lag upon landing.
	Custom 1	Entangling Tornado	9%	Pulls enemies in, and then hits them straight up into the air. A little more startup lag. The more vertical knockback gives it better kill potential, but it hits only once and deals much less damage.
	Custom 2	Dreadful Tornado	1.5% (hits 1-5), 6% (last hit)	More damage per hit and much stronger knockback than Mach Tornado, but the amount of spins cannot be increased, reducing its maximum damage potential. KOs around 135%.
Side special	Default	Drill Rush	1% (hits 1-8), 3% (last hit)	Flies forward while spinning in a drill motion, hitting multiple times. Meta Knight will bounce backwards a bit if he connects with the last hit or flies into terrain. He can also change the course of the attack, allowing it to be used as a recovery.
	Custom 1	High-Speed Drill	0.8% (hits 1-7), 3% (last hit)	Faster than Drill Rush, but the angle can't be changed. Makes for a quick horizontal recovery, though at the cost of the default version's good diagonal recovery.
	Custom 2	Shieldbreaker Drill	1% (hits 1-9), 2% (last hit)	A Drill Rush designed to break shields. Attack power and distance are reduced.
Up special	Default	Shuttle Loop	9% (1st hit on the ground) or 6% (first hit in the air), 6% (last hit)	Flies in a swift loop, striking with Galaxia. Hits twice and it can reach high distances. Great for KOing early near the upper blast line, although it does leave Meta Knight helpless, making it punishable. On the ground, it can KO starting from about 120%.
	Custom 1	Blade Coaster	8% (1st hit on the ground) or 5% (first hit in the air), 5% (2nd hit)	Flies forward instead of up. Enemies hit will be launched at a lower angle, which can be deadly near the side blast lines, but on a typical stage this cannot be fully exploited without self-destructing.
	Custom 2	Lazy Shuttle Loop	9% (clean), 6% (late)	Does a slow loop that doesn't inflict damage, and then strikes hard while rising quickly.
Down special	Default	Dimensional Cape	15% (stationary slash on the ground); 14% (retreating slash); 16% (advancing slash and stationary slash in the air.)	Teleports in a direction, controllable with the Control Stick. If the attack button is pressed or the special button is held, he will perform a very powerful slash that can KO at about 100% near the edge. Meta Knight will slash differently depending on the direction the control stick is held and the direction he is facing. Great anti-edgeguarding move, and can be used to punish laggy attacks from a distance.
	Custom 1	Shield Piercer	1%, 8% (neutral slash on the ground); 1%, 7% (retreating slash); 1%, 9% (advancing slash and neutral slash in the air.)	The attack penetrates shields but is less powerful. Less horizontal distance than the default, but a bit more vertical distance.
	Custom 2	Stealth Smasher	16% (neutral slash on the ground); 15% (retreating slash); 17% (advancing slash and neutral slash in the air)	Longer travel distance (about half the length of Final Destination), but Meta Knight is vulnerable while moving. The attack deals more knockback and KOs around 100% from the middle of the stage.
Final Smash		Galaxia Darkness	40% to trapped opponents, 10% to others	Swings his cape out directly in front of him while shouting "Know my power!" or "Behold....". If he misses with his cape, Meta Knight pauses for a brief time, and the Final Smash fails. When it connects, characters nearby become trapped, the screen then darkens to black, and after a few seconds, a large, single slash appears near Meta Knight, as he then slices the trapped opponents with one, powerful strike. Characters who are trapped by Meta Knight's cape always receive high, upwards knockback that can KO above 50%, with super armor ignored. Any opponents who are not trapped are also attacked, but instead take reduced damage and weak, upwards knockback. The weaker slash part of Galaxia Darkness can be avoided by dodging with correct timing.

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 he's about to teleport, while scoffing.
• 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.

Idle Poses

• He glances behind him.
• Puts his cape around him and back.

On-Screen Appearance

• Warps in with his cape.

Victory Fanfare

A rock-based remix directly from Brawl. It is a remix of the short recurring theme that plays when Kirby completes a stage or defeats a boss, debuting in Kirby's Dream Land.

Victory Poses

• Disappears while saying, "Come back when you can put up a fight."
• Turns and spins his sword while saying "Victory... is my destiny.", then hits it against the ground.
• Flings out his cape and says "You have much yet to learn."

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Meta Knight	1211	1311	2211	2111	2311
	1212	1312	1121	1112	3111

Notable players

•  Tyrant
•  Ito

Alternate costumes

Trophies

Meta Knight

Kirby's mysterious rival, this masked swordsman appears in several Kirby games. His cape transforms into wings to grant him flight. In Smash Bros., his quick sword skills and aerial agility set him apart. He can jump up to five times in a row, and he has a special move to soar higher.

A mysterious masked swordsman from the Kirby series. His cape can turn into wings, which gives him the ability to fly. His swift swordplay and ability to stay in the air give him an edge in this game. He can combine five mid-air jumps with a special move to make recovering a cinch. If you use him, try to keep battle airborne.

: Kirby's Adventure (05/1993)

: Kirby Super Star (08/1996)

Meta Knight (Alt.)

Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape lets you teleport, changing where you'll reappear with directional inputs and attacking by holding the button! His Mach Tornado special can draw in and attack multiple opponents. Rise by pressing the button repeatedly, and press left or right to move.

Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape lets you teleport. After vanishing, you can move to reappear somewhere else. You can also keep holding the button to turn it into an attack! His Mach Tornado special can mix up multiple opponents in the fray. Press the button repeatedly to rise up, and move left and right to create extra havoc.

: Kirby's Adventure (05/1993)

: Kirby Super Star (08/1996)

Galaxia Darkness

Meta Knight swings his cape to ensnare foes. Darkness falls, enveloping them in an empty void and then a giant sword slash cleaves the blackness. If the cape doesn't capture anyone, this Final Smash will fail. It has more range than you might think, though and you only have to catch one foe to deal damage to everyone!

Meta Knight swings his cape to ensnare foes. Darkness falls, enveloping them in an empty void, and then a giant sword slash cleaves the blackness. If the cape doesn't capture anyone, the Final Smash will fail. It has more range than you might think, though, and as long as it catches at least one foe, everyone will take damage!

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  Classic (3DS)

• MetaKnightAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

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  Galaxia Darkness

Update History

1.0.4

• Neutral aerial deals 10% damage sweetspotted and 7.5% sourspotted instead of 7% sweetspotted and 5% sourspotted.
• Dimensional Cape now sends opponents in a more horizontal angle and it can KO sooner.
• Back aerial deals more knockback.
• Forward throw now deals 9% damage to all opponents instead of only dealing 3% to most opponents.
• Back throw deals slightly more knockback.
• The sword trails of up aerial and down aerial attacks match the hitboxes better.
• The hitboxes of up aerial and down aerial are slightly farther from Meta Knight.
• The second hit of forward aerial is no longer the autolink angle, meaning it can't be used to drag opponents downward.

1.0.6

• Screen shakes slightly more violently when using Down throw.
• Dimensional Cape: Landing lag glitch has been fixed.

1.0.8

• Jab's hitboxes split to cover more area.
• Jab is harder to SDI out of.
• Jab knockback scaling: 40 → 30
• Jab's final hit has an increased hitbox size: 5.7 → 8
• Forward tilt's final hit deals 4% damage instead of 3%.
• Forward tilt has reduced ending lag (by about 10 frames).
• Forward tilt final hit angle: 65° → ~40°, giving it KO potential at 150% near the edge, but making it harder to start combos with.
• Neutral air landing lag reduced.
• Jab damage increased from 1% to 1.2% and ending lag reduced by about 12 frames.

Gallery

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  Reveal image.

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  Meta Knight's amiibo, which is exclusive to Best Buy.

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  Meta Knight as he appears in the Wii U version.

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  Meta Knight and Kirby.

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  Dimensional Cape on Mega Man.

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  Meta Knight in Final Smash standby.

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  Meta Knight slashes Samus with his forward smash.

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  Drill Rush on Mario and Yoshi.

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  Meta Knight appearing with Marth and Ike

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  Meta Knight wielding a Star Rod with Kirby wielding Palutena's copy ability.

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  Meta Knight as he appears in the 3DS version.

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  Meta Knight appearing in Smash Run.

Trivia

• Meta Knight was the last veteran fighter revealed before the launch of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS in Japan. This is ironic, considering he was the first announced newcomer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• Meta Knight is the only Kirby character to not receive a new Final Smash in SSB4.
• Meta Knight is the only Kirby character to have recycled voice clips.
• Meta Knight is the only Kirby character to use the more subdued tripping sound generally used for "realistic" characters, despite his similar aesthetics to the other characters in his series.