| “ | Inhale foes, and copy their standard special moves. | ” |
| —Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Foldout | ||
| Inhale | |
|---|---|
 Kirby using Inhale in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. | |
| User | Kirby |
| Universe | Kirby |
| Article on WiKirby | Inhaling |
Inhale is Kirby's neutral special move attack in all four of his incarnations in the Super Smash Bros. series, though it was previously called Vacuum in Super Smash Bros. and Swallow in Super Smash Bros. Melee. When the special move button is pressed, Kirby opens his mouth and begins to inhale, creating a vortex of wind. Kirby will not stop inhaling until the button is released. If a character comes near the vortex, they will automatically be sucked inside Kirby, who will bloat up with the person inside of him. He cannot move in Super Smash Bros., while in later games, he can move at extremely slow speeds and jump a short distance. Increased weight causes Kirby to fall faster as well. The goal of the attack is to swallow the victim (by pressing down or the special move button), which will make Kirby copy their powers, enabling him to perform that character's neutral special move (the character pops out after being swallowed and can still perform their neutral special attack). If Kirby traps the wrong character in his mouth, or simply doesn't want the character's move, Kirby can spit the character out by pressing the attack button. The spit has set knockback. Any player who is hit by the character that was spit by Kirby will take damage and decent vertical knockback.
Kirby has a unique hat depending on who was inhaled, such as wearing Mario's hat if he swallows Mario. The copied special attack will sometimes be lost if Kirby is attacked enough, is KO'd, if he decides to discard it by taunting. If a Kirby attempts to copy another Kirby that has no copied ability, the swallowed Kirby will pop out the same way as normal; however, it makes a different sound and the swallowing Kirby doesn't receive a copied ability. If a Kirby swallows a Kirby with a copied ability, then the swallowing Kirby copies the power, as well as removing the ability from that Kirby.
Because Kirby is smaller than most of the characters he inhales, his copied moves are sometimes inferior versions to theirs, due to lower reach and smaller hitboxes, such as Giant Punch and Mach Tornado. This usually applies for physical attacks and can also affect certain projectiles; for example Kirby's lower release point causes Mario's Fireballs to bounce faster and therefore not last as long. On the other hand, his small size and unique moveset allow for interesting setups of some copied moves. For example, Kirby shoots his Blaster at a lower height than their original users, preventing some characters from ducking under the shots. He can also laser lock more characters than Falco can for similar reasons.
If Kirby copies an opponent who is then fully off-loaded with another character respawning in their player slot (such as in All-Star Mode in SSB4), the copy ability is removed when the character is off-loaded.
Swallowing Items
Just like King Dedede's Inhale and Wario's Chomp, Kirby can swallow items using the attack. Any item meant to be eaten will have the same effect (such as Food). However, Kirby can eat any item on the screen. Kirby will automatically swallow the item when it is in his mouth, meaning he can keep other characters from using it. Poké Balls, Mr. Saturn and other "live" items cannot be swallowed. If Kirby inhales large items such as a crate, Kirby cannot move nor attack until it is fully swallowed and it will take some time to digest the item. If Kirby inhales an explosive such as a Bob-omb, he will receive 5% damage.
"Kirbycide" applications
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. 4, Kirby is capable of slowly walking around the stage while carrying opponents in his mouth, or swallowing a foe while slightly off-stage. This allows for some forms of Kirbycide, wherein Kirby jumps off the edge with someone in his mouth and releases them at a distance or position from which they are unable to recover, forcing a KO. One may Swallow at the last second for a K.O. (usually during Time Mode for an extra point) and may survive due to Kirby's tall recovery.
Kirby can also jump off the stage and then Inhale the opponent who is conveniently standing by. This is the only way to Inhale Kirbycide in the original Super Smash Bros., as well as the easiest.
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:
| 1. Inhale | 2. Ice Breath | 3. Jumping Inhale |
|---|---|---|
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 |
 |
| "Inhale an opponent. You can then copy one of their abilities or spit them out as a star." | "Breathe cold air to freeze nearby opponents." | "Leap forward and inhale an opponent. The star you can spit out won't do damage, though." |
- Inhale: Default.
- Ice Breath: Ice Kirby's attack. Breathes out cold air to deal damage with a freezing effect. The customization move itself is based on Kirby's Ice copy ability from the mainstream Kirby games.
- Jumping Inhale: Kirby jumps and moves a significant distance forwards as he inhales. It lacks the vacuum hitboxes outside of Kirby's mouth, and enemies that are spit out as stars don't deal damage to other enemies they hit - though they still cause knockback. These two downsides are completely trivial however, as the move has far better range than the default even without the suction, and spitting enemies into others is an extremely situational attack, respectively. It was initially considered much better than the default Inhale until the 1.1.0 patch, with the default Inhale now coming out faster and having less endlag by 4 frames.
Ice Breath in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Jumping Inhale in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Description from the Melee Instruction Booklet
Press File:GCN BButton.png to swallow an enemy, then File:GCN BButton.png again to copy his or her power. Press File:GCN DPad U.png to discard the copied power.
Description from the Brawl Instruction Booklet
Swallow your foes, then use their copied standard moves. Ditch the ability with the + Control Pad.
Origin
Inhaling and spitting has been Kirby's trademark attack since Kirby's Dream Land, but it was not until Kirby's Adventure was he able to swallow an enemy to copy their attack. This is called his "Copy Ability". It wasn't until Kirby Super Star that Kirby also had different hats that indicated what copy ability was held. A single attack from an enemy or damage incurred from the environment was usually enough to make Kirby lose his copied power. Kirby then had to quickly reabsorb the ability (resembling a star bouncing around on the screen) by inhaling and swallowing it again, or else it would be destroyed after it contacted a hazardous surface or enough time had passed. In the later Kirby games featuring entire health bars instead of a display of remaining health points, it is possible for him to occasionally keep his copy ability even after being damaged.
One of Kirby's custom variants, Ice Breath, is based on his Ice Copy Ability in the games.
Trivia
- When Kirby uses Inhale on enemies in the Subspace Emissary, they will take small constant amounts of damage because Kirby can't copy NPC enemies' abilities. It's also noteworthy that Kirby is unable to inhale False Characters. In Melee's Adventure Mode, however, Kirby can swallow enemies such as Topis and Goombas. If he attempts to copy their abilities, however, they will be swallowed and removed from gameplay, much like games in his own series. Kirby can also inhale Waddle Dees and Doos and then swallow them in Brawl, although he will not get any Copy Abilities from them.
- In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS's Smash Run game mode, Kirby can swallow any enemy that can be grabbed, and hold, walk around with, and spit them like a normal character. Unfortunately, Kirby still can't gain an ability from his victim, even if the enemy is from his own universe. Trying to do so makes them pop out of Kirby while taking damage, or reel if they're HP is depleted this way.
- In Super Smash Bros., Kirby can swallow Metal Mario, but is unable to absorb his usage of Fireballs.
