| Mach Tornado | |
|---|---|
 Mach Tornado in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. | |
| User | Meta Knight |
| Universe | Kirby |
| Article on WiKirby | Mach Tornado |
Mach Tornado (マッハトルネイド Mahhatoruneido) is Meta Knight's neutral special move. When activated, Meta Knight spins at high speed, causing a slight pull on nearby opponents. He slashes them multiple times and traps them. This makes escape via directional influence difficult. When the Tornado is finished, the last hit dealt causes slightly more than moderate knockback, but can be very dangerous if used near the top of the screen as Meta Knight could suicide himself if below stage edges or put him into a helpless state. Mach Tornado can be controlled by pressing left or right to move in that direction, and going upwards is done by pressing the button for a special move rapidly, which also extends the amount of time Meta Knight spins.
Along with being a great attack, it's a great recovery move. It gains great horizontal distance on top of some vertical distance, especially if Meta Knight jumps before using the move. It also has near instantaneous start-up lag, and with multiple large hitboxes that can clash with ground and aerial hitboxes, it provides great protection to Meta Knight. As a result, it is arguably one of the best recovery options in Brawl. However, something to note is that Meta Knight will bounce off of edges rather than grabbing them if he hits them while he is in the tornado. He also cannot grab edges during the first few frames of his helpless animation out of the tornado.
Mach Tornado also has another use, of which is being able to go through and cancel most projectiles it hits, save for projectiles with Transcendent priority and those with hitboxes that deal 10% or more (as they deal too much damage to be clanged with by Mach Tornado's hitboxes).
Description from the Instruction Booklet
Attack by turning into a tornado. Move left and right while spinning.
Origin
Control-wise, this move is like Kirby's "Tornado" ability that appears in many of the Kirby games. Holding B will make him gain height. Meta Knight first used it in Kirby Super Star, where he transformed into a yellow tornado to attack. In the actual Kirby games, Mach Tornado refers to an attack that he (and Dark Meta Knight) uses where he flies to the side of the screen and launches a gigantic tornado towards the other side of the screen by charging and then stabbing his sword to the ground, similar to Eruption.
