| Inhale | |
|---|---|
 Kirby using Inhale in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. | |
| User | Kirby |
| Universe | Kirby |
| Article on WiKirby | Inhaling |
| “ | 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. | ” |
| —Melee's instruction manual | ||
| “ | Swallow your foes, then use their copied standard moves. Ditch the ability with the + Control Pad. | ” |
| —Brawl's instruction manual | ||
| “ | Inhale foes, and copy their standard special moves. | ” |
| —Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Foldout | ||
Inhale (Vacuum in Super Smash Bros. and Swallow in Melee) is Kirby's neutral special move in the Super Smash Bros. series. 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. Characters near the vortex will be sucked inside Kirby, who will bloat up with the character inside of him. Along with the increased weight, in Super Smash Bros. he is immobile in this state, while in later games he can walk extremely slow and even jump a short height. At this point, Kirby can swallow the victim by pressing down or the special move button, copying their neutral special move and popping the victim out of himself. Kirby can also spit them out as a star without copying their ability by pressing the attack button. Spitting deals a set knockback to the victim, and those hit by the star will take damage and moderate vertical knockback.
Kirby gets a unique hat depending on who was inhaled, such as Mario's hat if he swallows Mario. Kirby may lose his Copy Ability being attacked enough or KO'd. He can also discard it by taunting. If a Kirby attempts to copy another Kirby that has no Copy Ability, the swallowed Kirby will pop out normally, though a different sound will play. If a Kirby swallows a Kirby with a Copy Ability, he will steal it away from them.
Because Kirby is smaller than most of the characters he inhales, his copied moves are sometimes inferior versions to theirs due to his lower reach and smaller hitboxes. This is typically applicable for physical neutral special attacks, as exemplified by moves such as the Giant Punch, as well as certain projectiles; for example Kirby's lower release point causes Mario's Fireballs to bounce faster and therefore last a shorter amount of time. On the other hand, his small size and unique moveset allow for interesting setups with some copied moves. For example, Kirby's relatively lower height prevents some charactes from ducking under shots fired from the Blaster. He can also laser lock more characters than Falco can for similar reasons.
Copy Abilities gained from opponents in game modes with off-loading fighters (such All-Star Mode in SSB4) are lost once the corresponding character is off-loaded.
Swallowing Items
Just like King Dedede's Inhale and Wario's Chomp, Kirby can swallow items using Inhale. Inhaling certain items such as Food or Superspicy Curry will take effect promptly after being eaten. In addition, Kirby can inhale any item on the screen, automatically swallowing and keeping other characters from using it. In Super Smash Bros. 4, this heals Kirby by 1%. However, Poké Balls, Mr. Saturn, and other select items cannot be swallowed. If Kirby inhales large items such as crates, Kirby cannot move nor attack until it is fully swallowed, as it takes time to digest the item. If Kirby inhales an explosive such as a Bob-omb, he will receive 5% damage. Kirby cannot, however, inhale projectiles.
"Kirbycide"
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.
Inhaling Non-Playable Characters
Kirby cannot gain Copy Abilities from swallowing enemies, bosses, and thus all non-playable characters aside from Giant Donkey Kong and Melee's minor bosses. However, Kirby can still inhale and swallow members of the Multi-Man teams, Metal Mario in 1P Game, and the various enemies appearing in Smash Run and Master Fortress. Kirby can inhale and swallow whole enemies from Adventure Mode, as well as Waddle Dees and Doos thrown by King Dedede. In the Subspace Emissary, the vortex created by Inhale pulls in False Characters and constantly damages members of the Subspace Army.
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:
| 1. Inhale | 2. Ice Breath | 3. Jumping Inhale |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
| "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. Despite these downsides, 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
Collateral damage
In Smash 64, characters spit via Inhale deal 6% damage to bystanders. Starting in Melee, the damage dealt by a spit character is loosely based on their weight. Both Kirby's and Dedede's Inhales operate the same in this respect.
In Melee, the percentages dealt are exactly the same in the NTSC and PAL versions, despite the weight differences.
| Damage | Character | Weight (NTSC) | (Weight (PAL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9% | Pichu | 55 | 55 |
| 10% | Jigglypuff | 60 | 60 |
| 12% | Kirby | 70 | 74 |
| 13% | Mr. Game & Watch | 60 | 60 |
| Pikachu | 80 | 80 | |
| 14% | Young Link | 85 | 85 |
| 15% | Falco | 80 | 80 |
| Roy | 85 | 85 | |
| Marth | 87 | 85 | |
| Peach | 90 | 90 | |
| Sheik | 90 | 90 | |
| Zelda | 90 | 90 | |
| 16% | Fox | 75 | 73 |
| Ice Climbers | 88 | 88 | |
| Ness | 94 | 94 | |
| 17% | Mewtwo | 85 | 85 |
| Dr. Mario | 100 | 100 | |
| Luigi | 100 | 100 | |
| Mario | 100 | 98 | |
| 18% | Captain Falcon | 104 | 104 |
| Link | 104 | 104 | |
| Yoshi | 108 | 111 | |
| Ganondorf | 109 | 109 | |
| Samus | 110 | 110 | |
| 19% | Donkey Kong | 114 | 114 |
| Bowser | 117 | 118 |
| Damage | Character | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 9% | Jigglypuff | 68 |
| 11% | Mr. Game & Watch | 75 |
| 12% | Squirtle | 75 |
| Kirby | 78 | |
| Meta Knight | 79 | |
| Pikachu | 79 | |
| Fox | 80 | |
| Zero Suit Samus | 81 | |
| Falco | 82 | |
| 13% | Olimar | 82 |
| Sheik | 85 | |
| Zelda | 85 | |
| Marth | 87 | |
| 14% | Peach | 90 |
| Ice Climbers | 92 | |
| Toon Link | 92 | |
| Diddy Kong | 93 | |
| Lucas | 94 | |
| Ness | 94 | |
| Pit | 94 | |
| 15% | Sonic | 95 |
| Luigi | 97 | |
| Mario | 98 | |
| Ivysaur | 100 | |
| Lucario | 100 | |
| 16% | Wolf | 102 |
| Captain Falcon | 104 | |
| Link | 104 | |
| Ike | 105 | |
| R.O.B. | 106 | |
| Wario | 107 | |
| Yoshi | 107 | |
| 17% | Samus | 108 |
| Ganondorf | 109 | |
| Charizard | 110 | |
| Snake | 113 | |
| 18% | King Dedede | 112 |
| Donkey Kong | 116 | |
| Bowser | 120 |
| Damage | Character | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | Jigglypuff | 68 |
| 11% | Mewtwo | 72 |
| Mr. Game & Watch | 75 | |
| Kirby | 77 | |
| 12% | Rosalina & Luma | 78 |
| Pikachu | 79 | |
| Olimar | 79 | |
| Fox | 79 | |
| Meta Knight | 80 | |
| Zero Suit Samus | 81 | |
| Falco | 82 | |
| Little Mac | 82 | |
| 13% | Sheik | 85 |
| Zelda | 85 | |
| Peach | 89 | |
| Marth | 90 | |
| Lucina | 90 | |
| 14% | Duck Hunt | 91 |
| Palutena | 91 | |
| Diddy Kong | 93 | |
| Toon Link | 93 | |
| Ness | 94 | |
| Greninja | 94 | |
| Sonic | 94 | |
| Pac-Man | 95 | |
| Robin | 95 | |
| Pit | 96 | |
| Dark Pit | 96 | |
| Wii Fit Trainer | 96 | |
| Luigi | 97 | |
| Villager | 97 | |
| 15% | Mario | 98 |
| Dr. Mario | 98 | |
| Lucario | 99 | |
| Mii Fighter | 100 | |
| Cloud | 100 | |
| Mega Man | 102 | |
| Shulk | 102 | |
| 16% | Link | 104 |
| Yoshi | 104 | |
| Captain Falcon | 104 | |
| R.O.B. | 106 | |
| Wario | 107 | |
| Ike | 107 | |
| Bowser Jr. | 108 | |
| Samus | 108 | |
| 17% | Ganondorf | 112 |
| Charizard | 115 | |
| 18% | King Dedede | 119 |
| Donkey Kong | 122 | |
| 19% | Bowser | 128 |
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. Kirby Super Star introduced unique hats indicating different Copy Abilities. A single attack from an enemy or damage incurred from the environment was usually enough to make Kirby lose his Copy Ability, though later Kirby games feature entire health bars instead of health points, so it is possible for him to occasionally keep his Copy Ability even after being damaged. After Kirby loses his Copy Ability, it takes form of a star bouncing around the screen. Kirby can inhale and swallow it to regain the ability before it disappears after it contacts a hazardous surface or enough time passes.
One of Kirby's custom moves, Ice Breath, is based on his Ice ability, which first appeared in Kirby's Adventure.
