Kirby (SSB18)

**Kirby** (カービー *Kirby*) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. OC 2018. He is the fourth to be revealed out of the Original 8 (Following behind Mario, Link and Pikachu). Kirby in total has the most highest jumps in which it would be less helpful to use his Up B to recover due to his fantastic jumping heights.

## Attributes

As in previous installments, Kirby is a small lightweight, being tied for the fifth lightest character in the game. This is also reflected in his mobility, which is poor; he has a slow walking speed, average dashing speed, a slow falling speed, a low gravity, lowest air speed, below average traction and average air acceleration. Despite having the second lowest jumps, he can jump a total of six times, making up for that flaw.

Kirby's greatest strength is the versatility of his moveset. Almost all of Kirby's moves are characterized by speed, and those that are not have very high power instead. Neutral attack and forward tilt are fast and have decent range, allowing Kirby to quickly fend off opponents. Up tilt is notorious for its combo capabilities, being very quick and having the ability to consistently combo into itself or an aerial attack. Down tilt is very fast, with its very low power being compensated by the Sakurai angle, allowing it to trip opponents even at percents as high as 270%. His smash attacks have good range and high power while not being particularly slow, making them excellent at ending an opponent's stock. His aerial game is also powerful and all of his aerials have less than 18 frames of landing lag. Neutral aerial lasts for a long amount of time, and its very low landing lag grants Kirby a lot of protection and allows him to take full advantage of buffering. Forward aerial is powerful, chains fluidly and can allow additional follow-ups at low percents. Up aerial has vertical knockback, low landing lag and has a good amount of autocanceling frames, allowing many potential follow-ups. Back aerial has decent range, lasts for a decent amount of time and is Kirby's fastest and strongest aerial, making it a very good all-purpose aerial attack. Lastly, down aerial, though it has slow start up, drags opponents downwards before meteor smashing them, making it a deceptively powerful edgeguarding tool. In addition, it is an effective combo starter with guaranteed followups on grounded opponents.

His grab game is also useful. His grabs are either fast or have good range, making up for the lack of the other. Despite dealing little damage, his pummel is very fast, allowing Kirby to rack up damage quickly. His forward throw, notorious in *Brawl* for its highly damaging combo options at 0%, has been improved even further, now possessing follow-ups even at medium percents, including down aerial to re-grab. Back throw can be followed up by a back aerial at 0% on certain characters, tech-chase fast-fallers and KO at high percents. Up throw is his strongest throw and is able to KO almost all characters at 170%, or even earlier if it lands on a platform. Down throw, despite being near useless, can rack up plenty of damage when no other throw can yield better results.

His special moveset has some interesting options. Inhale is Kirby's signature move, allowing him to either copy the neutral special move of any character he Inhales or spit them out as a weight-dependent projectile. The latter can be used to Kirbycide or put the opponent below the stage, almost eliminating their chances of recovering. The former, depending on what character he Inhales, can give Kirby a small help (Unibeam and Spin Wheel). Hammer Flip is extremely powerful, especially when fully charged. Its low speed, however, makes it very difficult to use outside of edgeguarding or after a shield break]. Final Cutter is Kirby's primary move for recovery and is decent at that, granting good vertical and horizontal distance, as well as decent protection on the way up and on the way down. It also releases a beam upon landing, making it difficult to punish if not at point-blank range. Finally, Stone causes Kirby to plummet straight down and ignore damage by any move that deals less than 30%. It is also very strong and can be canceled at any time, making it useful for playing mindgames.

However, Kirby has noticeable flaws. As mentioned, Kirby has poor mobility, giving him significant trouble approaching and pressuring opponents. It also gives him trouble against fast characters (such as Pikachu) or those with disjointed hitboxes (like Luffy). In addition, despite being very long, his recovery is extremely slow, making aggressive edgeguarding and gimp-oriented moves (such as F.L.U.D.D. or meteor smashes) detrimental to him. Kirby's range is also mediocre at best, and his strongest moves happen to be his slowest, making it difficult for him to KO opponents outside of edgeguarding or without a set-up. His most prominent weakness, however, is his endurance. Being light and floaty, Kirby cannot survive strong hits at high percentages. He is also very vulnerable to juggling, due to the aforementioned slow falling speed and slow air speed. The introduction of rage further compounds these issues, as Kirby will get sent flying even earlier, and will usually not last long enough to take advantage of it.

## Moveset

### On-screen appearance

* Rides on a Warp Star and crashes it onto the stage.

### Taunts

* Up: Shuffles to one side, then shuffles to the opposite side before spinning and then holding his arm up. It is almost identical to one of his victory dances in the Kirby series.
* Side: Spins repeatedly, then stops to balance on one leg and extend one arm and say "Eeu!" It is almost identical to the "preview" animation shown when he is chosen in the original Super Smash Bros.
* Down: Leans inward to face the screen and wave his arms while saying "Hi!"

### Idle poses

* Hops to look off-screen, then hops back into his default position.
* Briefly nods off, then shakes his head and wakes up.

### Victory poses

* Spins to turn his back to the screen and then briefly wiggles, does a front flip to face the screen, and then holds his arm up.
* Skids to the right, spins and then holds his arm up.
* Brings his arms down twice, does a cartwheel, and then holds his arm up.