Kirby (SSBM)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Melee
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/5d/c1/87/5dc18785e7ef3388939fdd5f5dbbf376.jpg
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	F (25) (North America) H (25) (Europe)

Announced at E3 2001, the Kirby of Disappointment (失望のカービィ, Kirby of Disappointment) is not a viable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Makiko Ōmoto once again voices Kirby in Melee, with some voice clips recycled from SSB, but more higher pitched, along with some new additional voice clips, most notably his hurt voice clips which will occur in gameplay very frequently.

Currently, the Kirby of Disappointment is ranked 25th in the F tier and H tier in NTSC and PAL respectively (which stands for F***ing Horrible), as the second-worst character in all of fighting game history. It is rumored that the only reason Kirby players ever play the character is that their opponents would have to stare at the Kirby of Disappointment for the whole minute that it takes them to JV5-stock the Kirby player, which can be highly demoralizing and possibly tilt the opponent for the rest of the tournament. This is, unfortunately, the only tilt you will be hitting your opponent with when you play Kirby. Poor range, slow attacks, and a low air speed ensure that the Kirby of Disappointment will never be able to participate in the neutral game, causing him to automatically lose games to infamous players such as unranked Falcos on Project Slippi.

But all of this aside, to be perfectly fair, the Kirby of Disappointment does have some notable advantages, those being that it only loses to Peach 10:90 instead of 0:100 like Bowser does, and... yeah we got nothing. Just like the tournament results that Kirby players have.

The Kirby of Disappointment has one of the worst matchup spreads in the game, with only two positive matchups against Bowser and Roy, according to meticulous labbing of both matchups and analysis of the character's many tournament results, gathered by all 2 top Melee Kirby players in 2010, although these are very frequently debated at length by top players. To the credit of the Kirby of Disappointment, in the modern metagame, he still has two very clear-cut positive matchups, those being against TheCrimsonBlur and a drunken Armada. Aside from this very respected niche, the Kirby of Disappointment has no place in the metagame.

Attributes

The Kirby of Disappointment acts as a light, weak character that is intended to be in the game just to suffer. He has awful mobility with terrible air speed, and must merely pray that his small size allows him to narrowly dodge the 57 different attacks that his opponent will throw at him in the time that it takes him to do a single back air.

Despite being a completely unusable character, Kirby has a good edgeguarding game, which is among his only advantages. Assuming Kirby can knock opponents off the edge, which is already a order much taller than Kirby's entire competitive career, his back air can initiate the Fence of Pain, an inconsistent edgeguarding technique with one of the stupidest names of all time. Kirby also has a defensive game that surprisingly isn't garbage. His small hurtboxes, decent sized shield, and low crouch allow him the brief fantasy of pretending to be Jigglypuff, before his players are snapped back to the harsh reality of Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube when their opponents break his crouch cancel and kill him off the top at 50% off one opening.

Kirby also has good tilt attacks as well; as stated in the preamble, his entire presence is tilting to opponents, as the Kirby of Disappointment's sadness might make some individuals feel guilty about brutally 4-stocking the Kirby player. Kirby's actual three tilts, however, are too short-ranged to have any utility in neutral. Kirby also has an above average grab range, but good luck actually getting any mileage out of his horrible throws. His forward and back throws allow him some opportunities to Kirbycide, if the opponent is terrible enough at the game to not know that you can mash out of them mid-animation. Alternatively, one could perform the Borp method of doing up throw instead near the edge of the stage, a technique that is guaranteed to get you at least one clip for your meme Melee highlight reel about how the game is broken.

The Kirby of Disappointment's most fatal flaw, which is often cited as the reason for his bottom tier placement, is his complete inability to participate in the neutral game. Kirby's awful attributes in both movement and hitbox placement result in a character that can never hope to approach any opponents, and can easily be walled out by the most simple and beginner-level, and/or degenerate neutral strategies, such as Marth spamming down tilt and forward aerial over and over, or Netplay Falcos whose only functioning button on their controller is the B button.

Kirby cannot even hope to copy good projectiles with Inhale, because even the moves themselves refuse to work properly with such a disappointing character. For example, Mario's fireballs immediately call in sick and take the entire day off after being summoned by the Kirby of Disappointment's stubby arms, voluntarily taking massive pay cuts to preserve their integrity to never serve a fighter as terrible as Melee Kirby.

The Kirby of Disappointment also reaps no rewards upon actually getting in. Once he lucks out and forces his way in with his back air, which is his only halfway passable move in neutral, he will soon find that his down, forward, and neutral aerials are almost useless, never being able to set up or extend combos or even KO until percentages nearing 999%. His only viable strings start with up tilt and end with up air or even more back airs. His only viable finishers also include the aforementioned up air or yet even more back airs. This makes him far from a fan favorite even among the most die-hard of low-tier enthusiasts, as commentators will struggle to describe anything that Kirby does without resorting to the infamous "nice back air," making him a boring, predictable character even against the lowest level of competitive opponents.

The final nail in the coffin for the Kirby of Disappointment is his ridiculous ease of getting KOed. Imagine a character that has five jumps and yet still has one of the most abysmal recoveries in platform fighter history, and you have Melee Kirby, and that's assuming you even need to edgeguard him in the first place. Instead of listing every kill confirm against light, floaty characters that also works on Kirby, and even more confirms that are possible due to his bad air speed, it is instead easier to list the ones that don't work against him. They include the following:

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

Kirby was one of the best characters in Smash 64, which possibly resulted in Masahiro Sakurai getting backlash for making essentially his virtual son a god amongst mortals in the Smash Bros. universe. As a result of this, Kirby was nearly Thanos snapped out of existence in the sequel. He now has abysmal movement due to the weakening of pivots, no attacks that are safe on shield at all, shitty KO options, and much fewer viable out of shield options because his respectable neutral air kick from 64 was replaced with his garbage 64 up aerial, one of the worst moves in the entire game. Additionally, Kirby's up tilt, previously his best move and one of the best moves in the game, no longer has a hitbox over twice his size, a completely unnecessary and unfair nerf to make to such a character.

Kirby did receive some notable buffs, in that his attacks look cooler, such as the Burning effect on his dash attack, and his new side special, the Hammer- if only those moves did more than 5% damage and could actually impact the game. Overall, Kirby was not only the most severely nerfed character from Smash 64 to Melee but arguably the most nerfed character in all of the series. His nerfs are a perfect example of Sakurai's cruelty and shows that no one, not even his own son, is safe from his omnipotent wrath.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube give Kirby a rounder body. His skin tone is a slightly darker shade of pink and his feet are larger.
• Kirby’s green costume is now available outside of team battles.
  • Kirby additionally gains a white costume, referencing his original monochrome appearance on the Western box art and in-game for Kirby's Dream Land.

Attributes

• Kirby walks slower (0.35 → 0.85).
• Kirby dashes slower (48 → 1.4).
• Kirby's already low air speed has been decreased even more (28 → 0.78), hindering his recovery, edgeguarding and ability to escape aerial pressure.
• Kirby is slightly heavier (68 → 70) improving his endurance.
• Kirby's falling speed is higher (48 → 1.6).
• Kirby's gravity is higher (2.4 → 0.08).
• Kirby's fast falling speed is lower (76 → 2).
• Kirby's traction is higher (1.4 → 0.08) going from the third lowest out of 12 characters to the 7th highest out of 26.
• Kirby's short hop is lower (short hop air time: 47 frames → 38).
• Kirby's full hop is lower.
• All of Kirby's mid-air jumps grant less height.
• Kirby's foot hurtboxes now cover his entire feet, rather than ending just before the tips of Kirby's feet.
• Kirby's hands and feet no longer have grab immunity.
• The changes to pivoting have considerably hindered Kirby's grounded approach particularly with his up tilt.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first two hits of neutral attack have less ending lag (FAF 18 → 16 (hit 1), FAF 20 → 17 (hit 2)).
  • The first hit can transition into the second hit earlier (frame 10 → 6).
  • The first two hit's far hitboxes have been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 2.33 → 1.17).
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 3-5 → 3-4).
  • The loop hits have slightly larger hitboxes (1.66u → 1.75u).
  • The loop hits have more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
  • The loop hits only hit five times instead of six.
    • However, this decreases the move's ending lag if it is not held (FAF 45 → 38).
  • The loop hits far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 5.5 → 4.69).
  • There is a shorter gap between the first loop hit and the second loop hit (4 frames → 2).
  • The loop hit's ending animation is slightly longer (9 frames → 10).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt now deals consistent damage (11% (up)/10% (non-angled)/9% (down) → 11%), improving the non angled and angled down versions' KO potential.
  • Forward tilt has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-9 → 5-8).
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (4.16u/4.16u → 3.51u/3.9u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 5.33 → 4.3).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's clean hit's angle has been altered (96° → 92°).
  • Up tilt deals significantly less damage (14% (clean)/10% (late) → 8%/6%) without full compensation on its knockback (30/20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/(118/114)) hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
  • Up tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-5 (clean)/6-11 (late) → 4/5-7).
  • Up tilt has more ending lag (FAF 18 → 24).
  • Up tilt's far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 6.66 → 3.9 (clean)/4.68 (late)), noticeably reducing its previously infamous disjointed range.
  • The universal decrease to hitstun combined with the introduction of DI and its increased ending lag have significantly hindered up tilt's combo and juggling potential.
  • The move's lower damage and higher ending lag combined with the general reduction to shieldstun/shield damage have drastically hindered the move's shield pressuring potential with the move going from giving Kirby a rather significant frame advantage on shield to now being fairly punishable on shield.
    • This naturally removes the move's ability to perform shield break combos.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (9% → 10%).
  • Down tilt has increased base knockback (0 → 40), making it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, its knockback scaling is much lower (110 → 30), greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 4-10 → 4-7).
  • Down tilt has smaller hitboxes, especially the far hit (4.16u/6.83u → 3.9u/4.69u).
  • Down tilt has an altered animation where Kirby now swings his leg around, rathering than lunging forward.
    • This further reduces its range.
    • However, this also makes it a safer spacing tool.
• Dash attack:
  • Kirby has a new dash attack: he lunges forward in a fiery spiraling headbutt.
  • Dash attacks can now travel off ledges.
  • Dash attack deals less damage (10% (clean)/8% (late) → 8%/5%) and shield damage (1 → 0).
  • Dash attack has more startup lag (frame 5 → 9).
  • Dash attack has a longer total duration (FAF 41 → 60).
  • Dash attack launches opponents vertically (361° → 105°) hindering its KO potential and removing its edgeguarding potential.
  • Dash attack has altered knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 70/66 (clean), 50/66 (late)).
    • This makes it safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, this hinders its overall KO potential.
  • Dash attack has a smaller hitbox (5.33u → 3.52u) which has been positioned closer to Kirby (z offset: 6.66 → 3.52).
  • Dash attack has a longer duration (frames 5-8 (clean)/9-18 (late) → 9-15/16-43) which decreases its cooldown.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's late hit deals more damage (12% → 13%).
  • Forward smash can be angled now.
  • Forward smash now has an extra hitbox which is in the middle of Kirby's foot.
  • Forward smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 10-13 (clean)/14-23 (late) → 13-15/16-21) no longer being the fastest in the game.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 50).
  • The clean hit deals less damage (17% → 15%) and significantly less knockback (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 24/96), going from the strongest non-angled forward smash in Smash 64 to the sixth weakest in Melee.
  • The clean hit no longer deals extra shield damage (1 → 0).
    • When combined with its higher ending lag and the changes to shields, this significantly hinders the move's safety on shield going from giving Kirby frame advantage on shield to leaving him at a huge frame disadvantage on shield making the move easily punishable and naturally removing its use in shield break combos.
  • The late hit deals less knockback (12 (base), 120 (scaling) → 18/96).
  • The late hit now launches opponents vertically (361° → 75°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential while still not being a reliable combo starter.
  • The far hitbox is smaller (4.66u (clean)/4.16u (late) → 3.52u/2.73u) and has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 4.66u → 3.12u). This significantly reduces the move's range, going from being disjointed to now failing to fully cover Kirby's feet.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 14-23 → 13-23).
    • However, the clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 14-17 → 13).
  • Up smash now has an extra hitbox which is in the middle of Kirby's foot.
  • The clean hit deals less damage and the far hitbox is now a sourspot (16% → 15%/13%). The near hit's knockback was not fully compensated (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/118) while the far hit's knockback was reduced (20 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/110).
  • The clean hit sends opponents at a less favorable angle (90° → 75°) which along with its lower damage slightly hinders the sweetspot's KO potential despite its increased knockback.
  • The clean hit has smaller hitboxes (5.33u/4.66u → 3.52u/3.52u/3.52u).
  • The clean hit now has a slash effect when the sweetspot connects.
  • Up smash has received a mid hit which lasts two frames, deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 14%/12%) and has higher base knockback (10 → 20) compared to the previous late hit.
  • The mid hit launches opponents vertically unlike the previous late hit (361° → 88°).
  • The late hit deals more damage on its sweetspots (12% → 13%/12%).
  • The late hit's near hitbox is larger (3.33u → 3.512u/3.512u).
  • The late hit has much less knockback scaling (100 → 50) and sends opponents at a less favorable angle (361° → 50°).
  • The late hit's far hitbox is smaller (3.83u → 3.512u).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 56 → 50).
  • Down smash's near hit now consists of two hitboxes which are larger than the previous hitbox (3u → 3.9u/3.9u).
  • Down smash has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 7-9/10-22).
  • Down smash grants much less intangibility to Kirby's feet (frames 7-26 → 7-9).
  • Down smash's far hitboxes are smaller (5u/5u → 4.3u/4.3u) and have been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 6u/6u → 4.69u/4.69u).
  • Clean down smash deals less damage (18% → 14%) although its sweetspot's knockback scaling was compensated (75 → 100).
    • However, the move's increased knockback scaling makes the late hit much stronger.
  • The sweetspot now launches opponents vertically (34° → 76°) hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential.
  • The clean hit's sourspots' knockback was barely increased (30 (base), 75 (scaling) → 20/80) making it much weaker due to its lower damage.
    • However, the sourspots launch opponents at a lower angle (35° → 28°) improving the late hit's edgeguarding potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (16 frames → 15 (neutral), 30 frames → 20 (forward), 30 frames → 15 (back), 20 frames → 15 (up), 37 frames → 20 (down)).
• All aerials except up aerial auto-cancel later (frame 31 → 38 (neutral), frame 29 → 38 (forward), frame 26 → 28 (back), frame 33 → 48 (down)). When combined with Kirby's lower short hop, this means that neutral and forward aerial now require frame perfect timing to be auto-cancelled out of a short hop while down aerial can no longer auto-cancel out of a short hop at all. This is further exacerbated with the weakening of L-canceling.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Kirby's previous up aerial from Smash 64 has been moved to his neutral aerial.
    • Because of this, neutral aerial's animation is significantly longer (49 frames → 79) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 3-6 (clean)/7-30 (late) → 10-17/18-29/30-34).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged giving it less ending lag.
    • Additionally, the clean hit has a longer duration (4 frames → 8).
  • Neutral aerial has much less horizontal range.
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (15% (clean)/10% (late) → 10%/8%/6%) and knockback (30/10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/80) significantly hindering its KO potential going from one of the strongest neutral aerials to one of the weakest.
  • Neutral aerial no longer has a landing hit.
  • Neutral aerial's hitbox is larger (3.66u/4.33u (clean)/3.16u/4.33u (late) → 5.08u), giving it better coverage around Kirby and allowing it to hit opponents above him more reliably.
• Forward aerial:
  • Kirby has a new forward aerial: he kicks three times in front of him, instead of drilling eight times in front of him.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag (frame 8 → 10).
  • Forward aerial has a shorter duration overall (frames 8-9/11-12/14-15/17-18/20-21/23-24/26-28 → 10-11/17-18/25-26).
    • As a result of this, forward aerial has more ending lag overall.
  • Forward aerial's new animation is longer (39 frames → 49) increasing the amount of time Kirby cannot grab the ledge or use an airdodge/special after performing the move.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage overall (2% (hits 1-7)/6% (hit 8)/20% (total) → 5% (hits 1-2)/8% (hit 3)/16.83% (total)).
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (6.33u/6u → 4.69u/3.52u).
  • The knockback (30 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30 (base)/70) and angles (-90° → 60°) for the first two hits have been altered which along with their higher damage, the wider gap between them/the final hit and the introduction of DI; makes forward aerial connect less reliably.
    • Altogether, these changes combined with the weakening of L-canceling have hindered forward aerial's combo and edgeguarding potential.
  • Forward aerial's far hitbox has been repoistioned further out (z offset: 7.33 → 10.55).
  • The last hit deals more damage (6% → 8%) and knockback (10 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/130), improving its KO potential.
    • However, this also hinders its combo potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 36).
  • Back aerial has a shorter duration (frames 6-9 (clean)/10-25 → 6-8/9-20), slightly increasing its ending lag.
  • Back aerial deals less damage (16% (clean)/12% (late) → 14%/10%), hindering its KO potential.
  • Back aerial has a new animation which is longer than the previous animation (39 frames → 43).
  • Back aerial's late hit's hitboxes are smaller (6.33u/6u → 5.08u/4.3u), which gives it less range and makes it cover less of Kirby's body.
• Up aerial:
  • Kirby has a new up aerial: a bicycle kick.
  • Up aerial deals much more damage (10% (clean)/8% (mid)/6% (late) → 15%) and no longer has set knockback (10 (base), 100 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30/0/100), making it his best KO move (being as powerful as his previous neutral aerial).
    • However, this hinders its edgeguarding potential at lower percents.
  • Up aerial has a larger hitbox (3.5u → 4.32u).
  • Up aerial has more vertical range.
  • Up aerial has drastically lower ending lag (FAF 80 → 36).
  • Up aerial auto-cancels much earlier (frame 46 → 17).
    • However, it can no longer auto-cancel while its hitboxes are still out.
  • Up aerial has more startup lag with a much shorter duration (frames 10-79 → 11-13) with its hitboxes no longer lasting the entire animation once they have been activated.
  • Up aerial's hitbox is positioned in a more awkward spot on his foot which along with its shorter duration, makes it much harder to land (especially if Kirby's opponent is below him) unless Kirby's opponent is above him.
  • Up aerial no longer has a landing hit.
• Down aerial:
  • Due to the increase to the tumble threshold, down aerial does not put opponents into tumble until much higher percents; making it more reliable against grounded opponents.
  • Down aerial only hits 6 times instead of 10 which in turn:
    • Makes it deal much less damage (30% → 16%).
    • Shortens its duration (frames 4-5/7-8/10-11/13-14/16-17/19-20/22-23/25-26/28-29/31-32 → 18-19/21-22/24-25/27-28/30-31/33-34).
  • The landing hit deals less damage (3% → 2%).
    • Due to the changes to L-canceling, the landing hitbox will now appear when the move is L-canceled (as well as naturally having higher landing lag) making it more difficult to combo with.
  • The landing hit has smaller hitboxes (5u/5u → 3.12u/3.12u) and they are positioned closer to Kirby (z offset: 5 → 3.9).
  • The landing hit has reduced set knockback (80 → 60).
  • Down aerial has much more startup lag (frame 4 → 18) as well as increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 55).
  • Down aerial's angle has been slightly altered (-90° → 270°) which when combined with the introduction of meteor canceling, makes the move much less reliable for edgeguarding.
  • Down aerial has smaller hitboxes (6.33u/6u → 6.05u/4.69u).
  • The changes to shields combined with the weakening of L-canceling has significantly hindered down aerial's shield pressuring potential no longer being able to lead into shield break combos.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • As with all returning veterans, Kirby has gained an up throw, down throw and a pummel.
  • As with all returning veterans without a tether grab, Kirby's grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
  • Kirby's standing grab has smaller grabboxes (4.33u/2.66u → 3.52u/1.95u) and its animation has changed: with Kirby no longer taking a step forward. This noticeably reduces its range, despite the far hitbox being moved further out (z offset: -0.66 → 0).
    • The near grabbox however is now positioned inside of Kirby, making it easier for Kirby to grab opponents on top of him.
  • Kirby's new forward throw and back throw can now be escaped at any time before the animation ends, leaving Kirby vulnerable and wide open to a punish. This can also result in Kirby Sacrificing himself while his opponents easily survive.
    • As a result, this makes Kirby's forward and back throws completely useless; being easy contenders for the worst throws in the entire series.
• Forward throw:
  • Kirby has a new forward throw: he suplexes the opponent forward. It is based on the Pile Driver from the Suplex ability. It is faster than his previous forward throw and can set up into a Kirbycide more reliably but it is also weaker.
  • Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using forward throw.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has been altered: Kirby now jumps up and moves slightly backwards.
    • Because of this, it can now be used as a Kirbycide although since the throw can be escaped, this hurts the throw overall.
  • Kirby releases his opponent from back throw later (frame 24 → 29).
    • This gives the throw less ending lag if it connects.
    • However, this gives the opponent more time to DI or (more importantly) escape the throw.
  • Back throw deals much less damage (16% → 8%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 80/50).
• Up throw:
  • Kirby's previous forward throw is now his up throw.
    • In the process, it deals damage (13% → 10%) and base knockback (100 → 70) considerably hindering its KO potential despite it sending opponents at a higher angle (70° → 90°).
  • Kirby releases his opponent from up throw earlier (frame 58 → 51).
  • Up throw no longer has a collateral hit.
  • Kirby now loses all of his jumps after using up throw.
  • If Kirby does not land with his forward throw, he will always be KOed first when he reaches the lower blastzone rather than being KOed at the same time as his opponent if he has the lower controller port.
  • Kirby's up throw can no longer land on platforms above him unless they are close enough to the ground (such as the lower platforms on Fountain of Dreams or Yoshi's Story).
• Edge attacks:
  • Edge attacks deal more damage (4% → 6%).
  • Edge attacks have less set knockback (100 → 90).
• Fast edge attack:
  • Fast edge attack has slightly reduced ending lag (FAF 57 → 56).
  • Fast edge attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 15-24 → 19-23).
• Slow edge attack:
  • Kirby has a new slow edge attack: he does a split kick instead of a lunging headbutt. It has more horizontal range but less vertical range.
  • Slow edge attack has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 60-67 → 43-59).
  • Slow edge attack has less ending lag (FAF 95 → 80).
• Edge getup:
  • Fast edge getup has less ending lag (FAF 37 → 34), no longer being slower than other fast edge getups.
  • Fast edge getup has increased intangibility (frames 1-25 → 1-30), no longer having less intangibility than other edge getups.
  • Slow edge getup has less ending lag (FAF 72 → 60).
  • Slow edge getup has less intangibility (frames 1-71 → 1-55), no longer lasting the entire animation.
• Edge roll:
  • Slow edge roll has less ending lag (FAF 100 → 80).
  • Fast edge roll has more ending lag (FAF 47 → 50).
  • Edge rolls have less intangibility (frames 1-46 (fast)/1-79 (slow) → 1-28/1-53). Fast edge roll notably no longer lasts for the entire animation.

Special moves

• Swallow:
  • Swallow has less startup lag (frame 20 → 17).
  • Kirby can now walk and jump after inhaling an opponent.
  • Swallowing an opponent to obtain their copy ability has less startup lag (frame 8 → 7).
  • Swallowing an opponent to obtain their copy ability deals more damage (6% → 8%).
  • Spitting opponents has less startup lag (frame 7 → 6).
  • Spat opponents have increased base knockback against bystanders (60 → 70).
  • Captain Falcon, Link and Samus deal more damage to bystanders when spat out (17% → 18%).
  • After the opponent breaks out of Inhale, Kirby and his opponent will now go into a grab release state rather than both characters going into a tumble state.
  • Spat opponents launch bystanders at a higher angle (361° → 70°).
  • Swallow has more ending lag (FAF 79 → 80).
  • Swallow has smaller grabboxes (4.83u/6u → 3.52u/5.47u).
  • Spitting opponents has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 30).
  • A swallowed or spat opponent no longer takes damage until Kirby has swallowed them/spat them out (frame 1 → 7/6).
  • A swallowed opponent can now get out of the star animation at any point by simply moving or pushing a button.
  • Spat opponents have a shorter hitbox duration (frames 7-40 → 6-34).
    • Additionally, a spat opponent can now get out of the star animation starting from frame 11, significantly hindering its reliability.
  • A majority of the cast deals less damage to bystanders when spat out (17% (Jigglypuff/Kirby/Pikachu/Fox/Ness) → 10% (Jigglypuff)/12% (Kirby)/13% (Pikachu)/16% (Fox/Ness), 25% → 18% (Yoshi), 30% → 19% (Donkey Kong)), making it less reliable in doubles or free-for-alls, especially when Jigglypuff and Donkey Kong are spat out.

• Hammer:
  • As with all returning veterans, Kirby has gained a side special move: Hammer. Kirby takes out a hammer and swings it. It has a powerful sweetspot and can be used in the air also to quickly rack up damage although the grounded version is slow (and has a much weaker sourspot which is easier to land) while the aerial version can be escaped very easily.
• Final Cutter:
  • Kirby can now reverse Final Cutter.
  • Final Cutter has slightly reduced landing lag (35 frames → 34).
  • The rising hit has a longer duration (frame 23 → 23-24).
  • The wave has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 4-22 → 2-26).
  • Aerial Final Cutter no longer increases Kirby's size.
  • The rising hit has slightly lower set knockback (121/105 → 117/102).
  • Final Cutter travels less horizontal and vertical distance, hindering its recovery potential.
  • The falling hit's first hitbox has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 46-49 → 47-49).
  • The falling hit's second hitbox is much smaller (7.5u → 3.84u).
  • The falling hitbox has significantly reduced set knockback (200 → 100) along with a slightly altered angle (-85° → 275°).
    • When combined with the introduction of meteor canceling, this significantly hinders its edgeguarding potential.
  • The wave deals much less knockback (70 (base), 50 (scaling) → 60/30).
  • The wave no longer does extra shield damage (1 → 0).
  • The wave is smaller (4.16u → 3.12u).
• Stone:
  • As well as a Stone, Kirby can also change into a block, a spiky ball, a 100 ton weight or a thwomp when using Stone.
  • Stone launches opponents at a higher angle (50° → 70°).
  • Stone has more startup lag in the air (frame 23 → 29).
  • Stone has more ending lag when cancelled (FAF 30 → 32).
  • Stone can no longer be cancelled immediately when used on the ground.
    • This also means that Kirby can no longer laglessly use Stone at an edge or when respawning.
  • Stone deals less damage (20% → 18%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 65/55).
  • Stone has a much smaller hitbox (6.66u → 2.73u).

Version history

Like other characters, Kirby received some changes in the PAL version of Melee, which slightly buffed him overall as he is faster, heavier and he overall has slightly more range and KO power. These changes however fail to properly address Kirby's flaws so while Kirby is less of a contender for the worst character in the game, he still remains one of the weakest characters overall.

PAL

• Kirby's weight has been increased (70 → 74).
• Kirby dashes faster (1.4 → 1.5).
• Forward tilt has increased base knockback (8 → 10).
• Up tilt's late hit's foot hitbox has been re-positioned (x offset: 4.8 → 5.6) giving it more range.
• Clean dash attack deals 1% more damage (8% → 9%).
• Dash attack has decreased knockback scaling (66 → 50), making it slightly weaker despite its higher damage.
• Forward smash's hitboxes have been re-positioned (x offset: 1.2/3.2 → 2/4 (clean), 2/3.6 (late)) giving it more range.
  • The clean hit has higher base knockback (24 → 32).
  • The late hit deals more damage (13% → 14%) and base knockback (18 → 26).
  • The late hit's angle has been altered (75° → 361°) granting it edgeguarding potential.
• Down smash's semi-spike hitboxes have increased base knockback (20 → 22).
• Forward and down aerials have less landing lag (20/10 frames → 18/9).
• Forward aerial's foot hitboxes have been re-positioned (z offset: 10.8 → 12) giving it more range.
• Back aerial's foot hitboxes have been re-positioned (z offset: -8.176 → -9.2) giving it more range.

Moveset

For a gallery of Kirby's hitboxes, see here.

Kirby's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Vulcan Jab	3%	Kirby jabs forwards with both hands, followed by a short series of fast punches. Based on the Vulcan Jab move he can perform with the Fighter ability in his main games.
			4%
			1% (loop)
Forward tilt			11%	Kirby does a quick roundhouse kick forward. Decent range. Can be angled. Very quick and powerful and good for hitting an opponent offstage.
Up tilt			8% (clean), 6% (late)	Kirby thrusts his back leg upwards. Most useful if the opponent is behind Kirby. Was thought to be useless at one point, but is now considered to be one of his better moves. Can juggle opponents and lead to combos.
Down tilt			10%	Kirby kicks forwards while crouching. Fast with decent range. Very useful since Kirby can crouch under most attacks.
Dash attack		Burn	8% (NTSC clean), 9% (PAL clean), 5% (late)	Kirby dashes forward with a fiery spiraling headbutt. Based on the Burn move from the Fire ability in his games. Uniquely, it can fall off ledges and platforms. This attack has transcendent priority. This move has high ending lag and is punishable if missed.
Forward smash		Smash Kick	15% (clean), 13% (late)	Kirby slides forwards, delivering a very large jump kick. Has weak knockback for a forward smash. Can be angled up or down. Based on the Spin Kick from the Fighter ability.
Up smash			15%/13% (clean), 14%/12% (mid), 13%/12% (late)	Kirby does a bicycle kick. Deals more damage and knockback if the opponent is closer to Kirby's foot and the sweetspot has great knockback.
Down smash			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Kirby does a split kick, hitting on both of his sides. Has decent knockback. Both of Kirby's feet are intangible during the early part of the animation. Great move to use with crouch canceling.
Neutral aerial		Twinkle Star	10% (clean), 8% (mid), 6% (late)	Stretches out and spins rapidly in a somersaulting spin. Has a long lasting hitbox. The move is supposed to have four hitboxes with the clean hit dealing 12% however, it is overlapped by the 10% hitbox as the 10% hitbox spawns before the 12% hitbox.
Forward aerial			5% (hits 1-2), 8% (hit 3) (≈16.83% total), 3% (landing)	Kirby kicks forwards three times. Last hit has medium knockback. If not L-cancelled, it also has a landing hitbox that can stack up with the three kicks if timed perfectly. Good move to use off the edge and a decent approach move.
Back aerial			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Quickly crouches in midair then kicks both his legs behind him. Can be used in the fence of pain. Good knockback. Great kill move and one of his best moves in general.
Up aerial			15%	Kirby flips in midair, kicking upwards. Great knockback, possibly Kirby's best KO move and the sixth strongest up aerial in Melee. Sends opponents sideways and can set up an edgeguard.
Down aerial			3% (hits 1-6), 2% (landing) (≈18.47% total)	Kirby spins around, drilling downwards with both his feet. Has a somewhat long start-up, but acts as a weak meteor smash. It also has a landing hitbox that has horizontal knockback, and can stack up with the six hits. Good move to stop recoveries, it even stops Fox's Firefox.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	A quick jab to the opponent, but contains more ending lag than most pummels.
Forward throw			8%	Kirby does a suplex, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. Based on the Pile Driver from the Suplex ability in Kirby Super Star.
Back throw			8%	Kirby flips backward, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. Based on the Backdrop ability from Kirby's Adventure.
Up throw		Air Drop	10%	Kirby jumps high up into the air, and comes back down, ramming the opponent to the ground by doing a suplex. Can be used to Kirbycide on certain stages. During the fall, it can also pass through soft platforms. However, this move will remove all of Kirby's jumps. Based on the Air Drop from the Ninja ability in Kirby Super Star.
Down throw			7%	Kirby throws the opponent on the ground, then stands on the opponent, hitting the enemy with his feet. Despite the animation, only the final hit does damage. Send enemies vertically afterward. Based on the Quick Stamping from the Suplex ability in Kirby Super Star.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and does a spin kick.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up, quickly kicking on one side, then the other.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Kirby does a flip kick onto the stage.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			6%	Kirby does a spinning split kick onto the stage.
Neutral special		Swallow	8% (copy), 10% (spit), 8-19% (star collision)	Kirby sucks up his opponent. He can exhale them as a star to deal damage, or copy their neutral special move. The star Kirby spits out acts as a projectile and hurts nearby foes. Damage of the star depends on the character's weight.
Side special		Hammer	Ground: 23% (sweetspot), 16% (sourspot) Air: 4% (loop early), 2% (loop late)	Kirby swings his hammer. The sweetspot is located on the head of the hammer, while the sourspot is on the handle. In the air, Kirby does a vertical spinning attack that hits multiple times.
Up special		Final Cutter	8% (rise), 2% (drop), 6% (wave)	Kirby uses his Final Cutter attack. Kirby rises with a hitbox, then plunges down to the ground until a platform is hit. This move cannot be cancelled. Upon impact with the ground, the beam fires forward as a projectile.
Down special		Stone	18%	Kirby uses his Stone ability to turn into a heavy object and plunges to the ground, sliding on non-flat surfaces. While in this form, only grabs will affect Kirby. The attack will time out after a short period of time, and it can also be cancelled with another use of the move.

Taunt

• Waves and says his signature elongated "Hi!". The taunt's animation differs slightly, depending on what direction Kirby is facing.

Idle pose

• Hops a bit to look back, then hops again returning to normal position.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Kir-by Kir-by!	Kiiirrr-by!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

The "Level Complete" music that originated in Kirby's Dream Land.

• Moonwalks left, spins to the center, crouch slides to the right, spins back to the center, then holds his hand up.
• Skids right while looking up twice, bounces across the screen, shakes away from the camera, bounces to the center, then holds his hand up.
• Jumps to the right, spins across the screen, crouches twice, jumps to the center, then holds his hand up.

In Competitive play

Notable players

See also: Category:Kirby professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Captain Pretzel
•  Kuya - Has taken sets off players such as King Momo and Gahtzu with Kirby.

Inactive

•  Cereal Rabbit - Considered to be the best Kirby in NorCal. Placed 33rd at HTC Throwdown. Took a set off Armada and TheCrimsonBlur (though both were intoxicated at the time).
•  Hack - Best Kirby in Sweden. Has taken some games off of Ice.
•  KrazyKirbyKid - A top Kirby player in the early metagame. Has taken sets off players such as Rob$. Placed 5th at EVO South.
•  Nitrocidal - Best Canadian Kirby main.
•  Omnigamer - A primary innovator of the Kirby metagame.
•  t1mmy - A well-known innovator of the Kirby metagame.
•  Triple R - The best Kirby player in the world. Has taken sets off AbsentPage and Luigikid. Placed 5th at Push More Buttons, 7th at Kings of the North V, and 25th at Smash 'N' Splash 2. Has been ranked 3rd at the Minnesota Power Rankings several times.

Tier placement and history

Kirby has historically always ranked very low on Melee tier lists; compared to Pikachu, Kirby's nerfs from Super Smash Bros. was much more significant, removing almost all of the aspects that made him dominant in the original Smash Bros. and leaving him with considerably fewer options in both offense and defense. Players immediately noticed that Kirby was left with poor KOing power, a poor approach, and a severe vulnerability to edgeguarding and premature falls due to his light weight, low air speed, and telegraphed recovery. Owing to Kirby's significant drawbacks, there have been only a few professional smashers that have developed his metagame for serious play, with a large number of them failing to place notably in large tournaments. While more prolific Kirby mains were active in the past, such as t1mmy and Triple R, there exist few such professionals in present-day competitive Melee, causing Kirby's metagame to remain highly stagnant. Additionally, even prior to the stagnation of his metagame, Kirby was considered to rely on the opponent's lack of matchup experience to win matches.

As a result of this stagnancy and Kirby's numerous flaws, Kirby has consistently ranked as one of Melee's worst fighters. He is currently ranked second-to-last at 25th place on the current tier list. However, some professional smashers, such as Kira and Ginger, believe that Kirby is underrated, as his tournament results and player base have been notably better than other characters such as Bowser, Zelda, and Ness. Armada himself places Kirby at 24th on his own tier list, citing Kirby's crouch, tilts, and aerials as having mild utility.

In 1-P Mode

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Kirby can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or opponent in the team battles, alongside Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pichu, or the Ice Climbers, as a member of a multi-character battle, or as a metal opponent. In Kirby's appearances, he appears either on Fountain of Dreams or Green Greens, and on a team with the Ice Climbers, he appears on Icicle Mountain.

Adventure Mode

Kirby's sole appearance is on Stage 5: Green Greens. He first appears in a one-on-one fight then 15 Kirbys appear each possessing a Copy Ability. If the single Kirby and the Kirby team are KO'd in less than 31 seconds, the player must also fight a giant Kirby.

All-Star Mode

Kirby and his allies are fought on Green Greens.

Event Matches

Kirby is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 6: Kirbys on Parade: The player chooses any character and must defeat three tiny Kirbys on Fountain of Dreams.
• Event 16: Kirby's Air-raid: As Kirby, the player must defeat 10 other yellow Kirbys in 38 seconds using only Warp Stars. The yellow Kirbys are immune to the player's attacks.
• Event 28: Puffballs Unite!: The player chooses any character and must defeat a total of 14 Kirbys, each possessing a Copy Ability, on Green Greens. Unlike Adventure mode, the Kirbys appear in groups of four instead of three.
• Event 30: All-Star Match 3: Kirby is the first opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles him on Fountain of Dreams, which will transition to the next stage if Kirby gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with Pikachu, Ness, and the Ice Climbers.
• Event 36: Space Travelers: The player uses Ness must defeat Samus, Kirby, Fox, Captain Falcon and Falco. The player battles the first three characters on Fourside and battles the last two on Battlefield.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Kirby as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing both Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Kirby on any difficulty:

Kirby

A denizen of the far-off, peaceful planet Pop Star, Kirby became a citizen of Dream Land after defeating King Dedede. Even though he's only about eight inches tall, Kirby is an extremely skilled technician. He has the ability to absorb the powers of his enemies, and his elastic body makes him a versatile adventurer.

• Kirby's Dream Land 08/92

Kirby [Smash]

Kirby's small size lets him dodge many attacks, but his light weight makes him fly far when struck. Using his ability to inflate, he can jump five times. His Swallow attack creates wild combos; not only can he copy foes' moves, but he'll also put on special hats and mimic their voices. His Hammer is unwieldy but powerful.

• B: Swallow
• Smash B: Hammer

Kirby [Smash]

Because of his light weight, Kirby is always in danger of being sent flying, but his ability to puff up and fly allows him to come back from amazing distances. His Final Cutter strikes on the way up and on the way down, and it sends out a beam of force upon landing. Kirby transforms into various objects and crashes down when he uses his Stone technique.

• Up & B: Final Cutter
• Down & B: Stone

• 

  Classic

• 

  [Smash]

• 

  [Smash]

Kirby is also the subject of five trophies that can be considered its own trophy series: the Kirby Hat series, with information about the powers Kirby gains when he uses Swallow on each opponent. The first three are "normally collectible" trophies that can be found during normal play and in the Trophy Lottery, but the last two are awarded once the player has unlocked all the playable characters involved on those trophies.

• 

  Kirby Hat 1

• 

  Kirby Hat 2

• 

  Kirby Hat 3

• 

  Kirby Hat 4

• 

  Kirby Hat 5

Finally, the character Kirby himself is depicted on some other trophies not related to gameplay: Ball Kirby, Fighter Kirby and Fire Kirby.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork of Kirby

• 

  Standing with Donkey Kong, Ness, and Luigi on Great Bay

• 

  Posing with Link on Green Greens

• 

  Standing with Young Link and Pikachu on Green Greens

• 

  Taunting with Ness and Pikachu on Temple

Trivia

• Kirby's special moves from Melee are used in the game Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, through the use of the ability called Smash. The moves he gets are Twinkle Star (neutral aerial from Melee, although in this game it has much more range), Hammer, Final Cutter, Stone, and Vulcan Jab. He does not, however, receive Burning, which is his dash attack. He gets the ability from Master Hand, who is a boss in the game.
• Kirby has the shortest taunt, followed by Mr. Game & Watch.
• Kirby is one of the only two characters in the entire Super Smash Bros. series that has had escapable throws, the other being Olimar.
• As the first nine hits of Kirby's down throw are meteor smashes, KO'ing an opponent with the move will earn the Meteor Smash bonus, even though neither the last hit nor the throw itself are meteor smashes.
• A glitch exists where Kirby can dash attack off an edge, land on a different platform, and immediately perform a dash grab. This requires the player to use the dash attack within one or two frames of leaving the edge and then hold down a shield button until Kirby lands. The glitch likely exists because the game allows a buffer between "attack" and "shield" inputs to count as a "grab" input while dashing, which is not properly reset when Kirby attacks off the edge.
  • There is another glitch where if Kirby swallows an opponent and falls off the stage, the opponent will be KO'd and Kirby will not lose a life. With proper timing, a good Kirby player can even recover from a successful KO of this manner. This glitch exists due to the foe's hitboxes reacting to the blast zone before Kirby's, thanks to his small size relative to the rest of the cast.
• Similar to Donkey Kong, Ness, and Samus, Melee is the final game where Kirby is the sole fighter from the Kirby universe.
• Kirby, Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Link, Young Link, Falco, and Pikachu are the only characters whose portraits on the character select screen match their official artwork.

External links

• Kirby Video Archive
• The Competitive Kirby - t!mmy's Kirby Guide