List of Copy Abilities

In every Super Smash Bros. game, Kirby has the ability to copy another character's neutral special move with his own neutral special move, Inhale. If Kirby swallows another Kirby, only damage is dealt, but if he swallows another Kirby that has a Copy Ability, it can be stolen. When Kirby copies an opponent, he will also bear a resemblance to that character, usually in the form of a hat that displays a prominent visual part of the character copied. When performing copied attacks, Kirby often mimics their voices or sounds as well as their poses, and uses the same weapons as their owners; however, unless otherwise noted, alternate costumes have no effect on his Copy Ability. Aside from the obvious range differences, copied attacks are functionally identical to the originals except where noted.

Kirby can discard the ability at any time by taunting. He may also lose it when taking damage (though there is a temporary "grace period" where this will not occur), and he will also lose it upon being KO'd. Also, anything spawned by the ability will vanish if Kirby loses it. For example, if Kirby tosses a Metal Blade onto the ground, picks it up, and taunts, the blade will vanish. Kirby will also lose his ability if the inhaled character's damage meter vanishes (indicating the character has been unloaded from memory), such as in Smash 4's All-Star Mode or certain Event matches.

Super Smash Bros. 4 introduced custom moves. Regardless of whether a neutral special has been customized or not, Kirby will only copy the default version of the move (with the exception of Olimar, as noted below). This applies to Palutena and the Mii Fighters' neutral specials as well.

In Ultimate, when using his copy ability, Kirby gains a 1.2x damage multiplier for the copied move; however, knockback is not affected.

Character						Special move	Notes
Banjo & Kazooie						Egg Firing / Breegull Blaster	Kirby uses an animated Kazooie plush for the attack. Like Banjo and Kazooie, Kirby can use his aerial jumps while using the Breegull Blaster, though he benefits more as he can use all five of his aerial jumps (compared to the duo's two).
Bayonetta						Bullet Climax	Although Bayonetta will always aim in the same place, Kirby's shots from the handguns are lower than the shots from his feet.
Bowser						Fire Breath	Kirby can flame cancel in all versions of Melee, while Bowser can only do so in NTSC 1.0 and 1.1. Kirby's pose while breathing fire resembles the corresponding pose of Fire Kirby. In SSB4, Kirby imitates a monster grunt when performing this move, despite Bowser not vocalizing when he performs Fire Breath.
Bowser Jr.						Clown Cannon	Unlike Bowser Jr., Kirby is silent when using Clown Cannon.
Byleth						Failnaught
Captain Falcon	File:Kirby cfalcon ssb.jpg					Falcon Punch	In SSB, Kirby can use the Falcon Punch as a horizontal recovery move. In Brawl, throwing it immediately after a jump gives him large boost upward. The visor was blank until Ultimate, when it was given the same "eyes" as Captain Falcon's visor and also became opaque for the first time since Smash 64. In Ultimate, Kirby slides backwards further after throwing out the punch, ending up closer to where he was before using the move.
Charizard						Flamethrower
Chrom						Flare Blade	Unlike Chrom, Kirby only vocalizes after charging the move at least for 2.5 seconds. Inflicts recoil damage to Kirby if fully charged.
Cloud						Blade Beam	Does not gain Cloud's Limit Gauge and thus cannot perform the Limit Break version of the move.
Corrin						Dragon Fang Shot
Daisy						Toad
Dark Pit						Silver Bow	Prior to version 1.0.5 (3DS only), if Kirby uses the move at the end of his forward, back, or up throw, a glitch will occur in which he floats in the air until he stops charging the move.
Dark Samus						Charge Shot
Diddy Kong						Peanut Popgun	Strangely, if Kirby's gun explodes, and then the game is paused, Kirby will appear normally-colored instead of a burnt black.
Donkey Kong	File:Kirby Donkey Kong SSB.jpg					Giant Punch	In imitation of Donkey Kong's grunts, Kirby says "Gao!" when unleashing a fully-charged punch, which is a Japanese onomatopoeia for an animalistic roar. In SSB, Kirby can charge-cancel the wind-up to turn more easily in the air.
Dr. Mario						Megavitamins	In Melee, Kirby's Megavitamins make the Koopa Shell sound upon impact. The Doctor ability, introduced in Kirby: Planet Robobot, has a similar appearance and allows Kirby to use a similar move.
Duck Hunt						Trick Shot	Unlike Duck Hunt, Kirby does not flinch when the can is shot nearby.
Falco						Blaster	Kirby sports the same "mohawk" that Falco had in his Melee design, even in later games. In Brawl, shots fired from the copied Blaster do not have the electric effect that Falco's Blaster has. Kirby's shorter stature means that he can laser lock characters that Falco himself cannot.
Fox	File:Kirby fox ssb.jpg					Blaster	Gives Kirby the ability to short hop double laser and even short hop triple laser as a result of his floatiness.
Ganondorf						Warlock Punch	In Ultimate, Ganondorf no longer slides forward slightly on the ground when the punch comes out, but Kirby still does, which somewhat makes up for Kirby's hitboxes having a smaller offset.
Greninja						Water Shuriken
Hero						Frizz / Frizzle / Kafrizz	Kirby gains Erdwin's Coronet (which closely resembles Erdrick's silver headpiece), the Supreme Sword of Light, and Erdwin's Shield, all items available to the Luminary in Dragon Quest XI. Unlike similar recharging abilities, such as Robin's tomes and Inkling's ink, Kirby also gains the Hero's MP Gauge system and follows the same rules when using it.
Ice Climbers						Ice Shot	Kirby does not gain a partner through this ability, so he can only fire one block of ice at a time. The Freeze ability's hat, introduced in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, has a similar appearance.
Ike						Eruption	Inflicts recoil damage to Kirby if fully charged.
Incineroar						Darkest Lariat	While Incineroar's lariat trail will match its palette color, Kirby's will always be gray.
Inkling						Splattershot	If Kirby uses up all of his ink, he loses his Inkling Copy Ability entirely, in a similar manner to Robin's Copy Ability; he cannot manually restore his ink either, since he doesn't copy the unique input. Although he always copies the orange Inkling's hairstyle, Kirby will use the first ink color that is not being used by another fighter. For example, if Kirby is fighting an orange Inkling, he will use blue ink; if he is fighting both an orange Inkling and a blue Inkling, he will use yellow ink; and so forth.
Isabelle						Pocket
Ivysaur						Bullet Seed	In Brawl, while Ivysaur can only hold Bullet Seed for 5 seconds, Kirby can hold it for significantly longer, allowing him to rack up higher amounts of damage.
Jigglypuff	File:Kirby jigglypuff ssb.jpg					Pound	Differs from Jigglypuff's Pound in that using this move toward a ledge sends Kirby off of the ledge, and it is notable for having much higher distance if Kirby leaves the ground at the end of the Pound animation; it is capable of traveling nearly the length of a Dream Land soft platform if spaced correctly. The hat's color changes based on Kirby's alternate costume.
						Rollout	Regardless of the game's current language settings, Kirby says "Purin," Jigglypuff's Japanese name, upon performing this move. In SSB4, Kirby can move left and right in midair after hitting an opponent with Rollout, due to having a higher fall speed than Jigglypuff. He also rebounds further backwards, due to his air friction being lower than Jigglypuff's. In Ultimate, Jigglypuff's ears fold inwards during Rollout; Kirby's do not follow this trait. With the exception of SSB4, the hat's color changes based on Kirby's alternate costume.
Joker						Gun	As Kirby does not copy the Rebellion Gauge, he does not have access to Arsene or Gun Special.
Ken						Hadoken	Like Ken, Kirby cannot perform the Shakunetsu Hadoken (which is not part of Ken's moveset), but can use a stronger Hadoken through the traditional input. However, Kirby cannot perform the Oosoto Mawashi Geri or the Nata Otoshi Geri as Ken can. Incidentally, Kirby has separate voice clips for Ken's Hadoken instead of using the same voice clips used for Ryu's version. Unlike Ken, Kirby remains quiet if he attempts to fire a Hadoken while one's already in play. The hat's skin color (above the eyebrows, but below the hair) changes with Kirby's alternate costume.
King Dedede						Inhale	Kirby can use this to perform the obscure "Kirkirkircide". Kirby is noticeably less bloated after inhaling someone compared to both his normal Inhale and Dedede's Inhale.
King K. Rool						Blunderbuss	Unlike K. Rool, Kirby does not don a pirate hat, but still mimics the animation of K. Rool taking off the hat at the end of the move.
Link	File:Kirby link ssb.jpg					Boomerang	Unlike Link's Boomerang, Kirby can throw it through solid walls if he is touching them, allowing for pseudo-sharking on stages like Hyrule Castle (especially from the Greenhouse side) or Dream Land. Resembles Sword Kirby.
						Hero's Bow	Resembles Sword Kirby.
						Bow and Arrows	Although Link's default design is based on his Champion's Tunic, Kirby gains the familiar green cap from his Hero of the Wild outfit when copying him. Resembles Sword Kirby.
Little Mac						Straight Lunge	Does not gain Little Mac's Power Meter and thus cannot perform the KO Uppercut. The hitbox is much lower down due to Kirby's size, enabling it to hit opponents hanging on the ledge. Also, if Kirby swallows Little Mac in his wireframe costume, his Straight Lunge will utilize the 8-bit sound effects unique to Wireframe Mac.
Lucario						Aura Sphere	Kirby's Aura Sphere is not linked to his current damage, due to not copying Lucario's aura. Essentially, Kirby's Aura Sphere acts like Lucario's at its base power (75% in Brawl, 70% in SSB4 and 65% in Ultimate). However, should Kirby's damage output be significantly augmented in some way, such as with the use of custom equipment or Amiibo power level, the Aura Sphere he uses will emit the characteristic sound it does when Lucario charges it at high percentages.
Lucas						PK Freeze
Lucina						Shield Breaker	Kirby wears the mask used by Lucina in her guise as "Marth", which she herself dons temporarily for her on-screen appearance and down taunt.
Luigi	File:Kirby luigi ssb.jpg					Fireball
Mario	File:Kirby mario ssb.jpg					Fireball	In Melee and Brawl, Kirby's Fireballs hang much lower to the ground than Mario's due to the height difference, and disappear earlier as a result. This was adjusted in Smash 4, and they now bounce at the same height for both characters.
Marth						Shield Breaker	Lacks transcendent priority in Melee.
Mega Man						Metal Blade
Meta Knight						Mach Tornado	Kirby's eyes while wearing the mask are light-green in Brawl and yellow in SSB4 and Ultimate. The green coloration in Brawl is due to the mask giving a yellow tint to Kirby's blue eyes and Meta Knight's silver eyes (though they are currently depicted as yellow even without the mask). Kirby's Mach Tornado only does half the damage of Meta Knight's, and unlike Meta Knight's version of the attack, the bottom-most hitbox does not cause aerial opponents to flinch. Functionally resembles Kirby's Tornado ability.
Mewtwo						Shadow Ball	As Kirby is much shorter than Mewtwo, his Shadow Ball is more likely to collide with the ground in Melee unless he jumps first. The hat's color changes with Kirby's alternate costume.
Mii Brawler						Shot Put	Kirby wears a headband with the face of the Mii he copied. He doesn't copy headgear. In Ultimate, Kirby retains the original spinning Charge Blast animation from SSB4.
Mii Gunner						Charge Blast
Mii Swordfighter						Gale Strike
Min Min						Punch	Kirby lacks a unique aerial version of the move, and instead uses the attack in the air as he would on the ground. Kirby also lacks the Kung Fu Combo that Min Min gets when neutral special is tapped while grounded and her powered-up left arm after she performs a throw. Kirby's version is actually Min Min's forward smash; containing a different close, middle, and far hitbox and able to shoot a homing laser when held, whereas Min Min's neutral special has the same hitbox throughout and can't shoot a laser. Unlike Min Min, Kirby can't angle his attack or walk while punching. Because Kirby is replicating Min Min's forward smash, he always uses the Dragon ARM, regardless of the ARMS Min Min has equipped on her right arm. It is also worth noting that, because Kirby's animations are mirrored and Min Min's are not, the arm Kirby uses depends on which direction he's facing.
Mr. Game & Watch						Chef	Kirby does not become 2D, though he mimics Mr. Game & Watch's choppy animation while using the move.
Ness	File:Kirby ness ssb.jpg					PK Fire	Kirby wears his cap backwards, similarly to Yo-Yo Kirby, Wheel Kirby, and Paint Kirby. The ESP ability, introduced in Kirby: Planet Robobot, resembles a color-inverted version of Ness's cap and allows Kirby to use a move similar to PK Flash.
						PK Flash
Olimar						Pikmin Pluck and Pikmin Throw	Kirby's version of this move is specially adapted for him due to Pikmin not being completely tied into his moveset, unlike Olimar. Kirby will pluck a Pikmin and immediately throw it, hitting opponents for minor damage and dying once it hits the ground. The order in which Kirby plucks Pikmin follows the same rules as Olimar; in Brawl, it varies depending on the terrain, while in SSB4 and Ultimate, he always follows a set order. The hat's nose color changes with Kirby's alternate costume. In SSB4, the version of Pikmin Throw that Kirby performs correlates with whichever side special move of Kirby's is set via character customization. Namely, if Kirby's side special move is set to Hammer Bash, his second side special, Kirby will perform Sticky Pikmin Throw, Olimar's second side special. The same is true if Kirby uses his third side special Giant Hammer, which will result in him performing Olimar's third side special, Tackle Pikmin Throw. However, this is less noticeable as Kirby's usage of the move is already quite similar to Tackle Pikmin Throw. Kirby can only have three Pikmin out at a time. If he attempts to pluck more while three are out, the move will fail.
Pac-Man						Bonus Fruit	Kirby can Fruit Recycle in Ultimate. The hat's color changes with Kirby's alternate costume.
Palutena						Autoreticle	Unused audio files in SSB4 include Kirby saying the names of Heavenly Light and Explosive Flame, Palutena's custom neutral special moves. In the final game, he only copies Autoreticle.
Peach						Toad	The animation was changed in Ultimate to match the changes made to Peach's version of the move.
Pichu						Thunder Jolt	Inflicts recoil damage to Kirby.
Pikachu	File:Kirby pikachu ssb.jpg					Thunder Jolt
Piranha Plant						Ptooie	Kirby's model has a unique facial expression exclusively for this move.
Pit						Palutena's Arrow	Resembles Cupid Kirby in both design and function.
Richter						Axe
Ridley						Plasma Breath
R.O.B.						Robo Beam	While R.O.B. does not emit a vocalization during this move, Kirby says "beep" in a monotone voice. Resembles Laser Kirby in both design and function.
Robin						Thunder	Once Kirby exhausts the Thunder tome, he loses the Copy Ability entirely. Unlike Robin, he does not drop a tome to throw.
Rosalina						Luma Shot	A yellow, unvoiced Luma appears when the button is pushed, and vanishes after losing momentum. Unlike Rosalina, Kirby's Luma cannot be attacked, and cannot block projectiles either. Also, the attack cannot be spammed, as it requires a cooldown before it can be used again. In Ultimate, Kirby's version has slightly different properties than Rosalina's.
Roy						Flare Blade	Inflicts recoil damage to Kirby if fully charged.
Ryu						Hadoken	Retains Ryu's ability to perform a stronger Hadoken and the Shakunetsu Hadoken with the appropriate input. Resembles Fighter Kirby, who is also capable of performing Ryu's other special moves in certain games. Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby: Triple Deluxe also include the ability to fire stronger fireballs (called "Mega Force Blast", or "Hadou-Shot" in Japan) instantly by performing the traditional Hadoken input.
Samus	File:Kirby samus ssb.jpg					Charge Shot	Originally a flat texture, the visor was made translucent from Melee to Smash 4, before being given an opaque glow in Ultimate that makes it more closely resemble Samus's own visor.
Sheik						Needle Storm
Shulk						Monado Arts	The Jump Art does not cause Final Cutter to go any higher than usual.
Simon						Axe
Snake						Hand Grenade	Kirby covers where his ears would be if a grenade explodes near him, mimicking Snake's behavior. He also walks differently while carrying a grenade that has not been thrown, again imitating Snake. He wears a headband similar to the ones worn by Fighter Kirby, Suplex Kirby, and Backdrop Kirby.
Sonic						Homing Attack	Kirby jumps higher when rebounding after connecting the attack, due to his lower gravity. This makes the move safer to use offstage, but also effectively increases the ending lag onstage.
Squirtle						Water Gun
Steve					‎	Mine / Create Block	Kirby's mechanics are altered compared to Steve. He gains 4 dirt, 2 wood, and 1 iron when copying the ability, he uses unbreakable iron tools to mine, and he can only mine materials used for building (dirt, wood, stone, and iron). His total inventory limit is 20 materials. Unlike Steve, Kirby cannot craft weapons; he is unable to create a crafting table or interact with existing ones. The ability's actual appearance is reminiscent of how Kirby's hurtbox is coded in Smash 64, and also mildly resembles Square Kirby, an April Fools' joke by the official Kirby Twitter account.
Terry						Power Wave	Kirby imitates Terry's "Power Wave!" and "Rock you!", and may also use a generic attack grunt when performing the move. Kirby cannot perform Power Geyser or Buster Wolf.
Toon Link						Hero's Bow	Resembles Sword Kirby.
Villager						Pocket
Wario						Chomp	Kirby can use this to perform the obscure "Kirbiocide". If he is misses while using the move, he will say “Ow!”.
Wii Fit Trainer						Sun Salutation	Unlike with most other copy abilities, Kirby doesn't mimic Wii Fit Trainer's "Salute the Sun!"/"Sun Salutation!"/"太陽礼拝！" yell. Resembles Snow Kirby's coloration from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad.
Wolf						Blaster	In Ultimate, the thrusting sound effect is out of sync, playing when Kirby takes out his Blaster rather then during the thrust.
Yoshi	File:Kirby yoshi ssb.jpg					Egg Lay	Starting in Brawl, Kirby mimics the vocalization that Yoshi does when unleashing his tongue. Starting in SSB4, the egg that Kirby lays matches the color of the copied Yoshi.
Young Link						Fire Bow	Resembles Sword Kirby.
Zelda						Nayru's Love	In Melee, Brawl, and SSB4, Kirby wears the same hat as the younger version of Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, despite the latter two games featuring Zelda in her Twilight Princess design. In Ultimate, this was changed to her hair and tiara from A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds.
Zero Suit Samus						Paralyzer

Trivia

• The Smash copy ability from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Planet Robobot allows Kirby to use his standard moveset from the Super Smash Bros. series in the mainline Kirby games.
• Link is the only character whose copy ability hat is based solely on an alternate costume, as in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby uses Link's cap from his "Hero of the Wild" armor set in spite of Link's default costume no longer including a cap.
• Sakurai has noted that adding DLC characters is made even more difficult by the fact that Kirby has to have another copy ability added every time one is included.
• Zelda, Falco, and Hero are the only characters whose copy ability hats are not solely based on the character's concurrent appearance in Smash. Zelda's is based on young Zelda's hat from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in all games prior to Ultimate, despite Zelda not wearing this hat in any of her playable appearances. Falco's is based on his head design in Star Fox 64, despite this only being accurate to his depiction in Melee, as his design is changed in later Smash games. The Hero's incorporates a piece of equipment that the Luminary can wear in his original game, despite him not doing so in Smash.
  • Zelda is the only character whose copy ability hat has been based on a different version of the character copied, as Brawl and SSB4 use the Twilight Princess incarnation of Zelda.
• Hero is the only character whose weapon Kirby can copy, but not use.
  • While he doesn't use the Monado as a weapon, Kirby can still use it to apply Monado Arts to himself.
• Yoshi, Little Mac, and Inkling are the only characters whose alternate costume affects Kirby's copy ability aesthetically.
  • Additionally, while their alternate costumes do not affect Kirby's copy ability, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Steve's copy ability hats will change color based on Kirby's costume.
• Terry is the first, and so far only, character whose Copy Ability adds a cosmetic to the tips of Kirby's hands when copied, being Terry's gloves. He gains "sleeves" when copying Donkey Kong, but they do not fully cover his arms.
• Steve is the first, and so far only, character whose Copy Ability completely changes Kirby's model, rather than simply adding something to it; when copied, Kirby takes on an entirely blocky appearance.
• According to Kirby's voice actress—Makiko Ohmoto—she is usually not given any context when recording Copy Ability voice clips, in order to maintain confidentiality. However, when recording the voice clips for copying Terry, she immediately figured out who it was solely based on the two lines she had to record, as she was familiar with Terry's dialogue through playing Fatal Fury with her brother.
• Although Bowser has historically lacked his traditional voice from the Super Mario series, Kirby's imitation of Bowser in Smash 4 is somewhat more similar to his canon voice.
• Because Kirby is able to jump six times in a single sitting, selecting the Jump art from Shulk's copy ability allows him to remain in mid-air longer and reach greater heights than nearly any other character, except through the use of items like the Bunny Hood and Rocket Belt.